Time-viewer

From Turtledove

The time-viewer was a device that allowed people to view the past. Initially, the time-viewer was used by police and prosecutors. Soon after, it was put towards more lurid uses, recording sensational murders and sex-scandals for legal and bootleg sale. Then it was put to more academic purposes, as historians, astronomers, and cosmologists used the time-viewer to investigate history and the universe.

However, it was when the cosmologists tried to look before the Big Bang that the course of humanity truly changed. After three cosmologists inexplicably died looking at the period before the beginning, the French government began an investigation (the last victim, Jacques Carpentier was French). The first inspector on the case, Jean Darlan, also died, and so his friend and colleague, Jacob Dreyfus (a Jew and descendant of Alfred Dreyfus), to determine what had happened.

Dreyfus carefully went over Darlan's copious notes and viewed Darlan's death. He finally reached a possible theory, and decided to look into the past himself. After saying the Shima, he looked into the past, and into the face of God. He survived, and the brief exchange he had with God proved that indeed, the Jews were God's chosen people. The world converted to Judaism in short order.