Authors: Nathan Erez
‘Very few people will agree with you, Elijah.’
No, but I can prove it.
‘Prove it.’
Mentally, Elijah began to lecture his audience – which consisted this time only of himself. The only others present were the trees and rocks. No one was in the garden.
If Gardi can talk to the trees and the rocks, so can I
, he thought to himself.
At first, the Persians tried to persuade the inhabitants to surrender peacefully, without a battle. The masses refused point-blank.
Elijah was unable to concentrate. It was already noontime and the sun beat down on him mercilessly. He forced himself to think about the conquest.
All the valuables in the many religious edifices had been taken away, including the Holy Cross, upon which, by Christian tradition, Jesus had been crucified. Even that holy relic had been shipped to Persia.
OK, how does that help me now?
For the first time in his life, Elijah thought that his obsession with the different conquests had been nothing but a waste of time.
That’s a strange way to show your patriotism. Maybe I’m crazy.
He decided to stop thinking along these lines, but all the different conquests that he had thought about so often simply refused to let him go.
Some people think the conquests by Babylon and Rome were the worst, because in both cases the Temple was destroyed. Elijah, on the other hand, believed that the worst of all of Jerusalem’s conquests was that of the Persians. Ever since the Persian conquest, for all practical purposes the Jews had abandoned any further hope of a natural redemption based on reclaiming the land acre by acre. And with it, all hope of reconstituting an independent Jewish state had crumbled. In fact, from that time on, until the beginning of the 20
th
century, there were no further Jewish attempts to rule the Holy Land, or even just the holy city of Jerusalem. That, to Elijah, was the worst consequence of the Persian conquest.
In reality, the situation then in a way very much parallels the situation today
, thought Elijah.
Then, too, there was constant friction with our neighbors.
One of the other consequences of the loss of all hope in reconstituting a Jewish state by natural means was the opening of the field to every type of messianic idea, no matter how wild. This included all those who believed that the only possible avenue of redemption was through miraculous means, outside the normal realm of the historical process; for redemption could not come through natural means. On the other hand, there were those who objected - and many that object to this day - to any human intervention in the Divine plan.
Throughout his life, Elijah had developed a theory that Jewish mysticism had only begun after the Persian conquest. Only one who really understands the different conquests of Jerusalem can appreciate the originality of this theory. If there were any mystical elements present before that time, Elijah believed, they were only marginal. He found support for his theory in the large number of works in this area, which appeared after the Persian conquest. He thought of the classic case of Shabbetai Zevi, who arose at a time when the Jews seemed to have lost all hope of being rescued from their terrible fate by natural means.
Suddenly, at the insane asylum, Elijah realized that for the past two weeks he had been assembling all types of facts that contradicted his theory, but that had not been enough to totally demolish it.
Sefer Yetzirah
had clearly been written centuries before the Persian conquest. The Bar Kokhba revolt took place in 135 C.E., and even by that date
Sefer Yetzirah -
the oldest Kabbalistic text we are aware of - was already in existence. Already at that time, Rabbi Akiba had ordered all copies to be burned, and, in fact, the vast majority of copies of that work were destroyed. All that we have is a short section of it, totaling about 1500 words. What Norman had found was that Nehemiah had only pretended to burn the copies, as the son of Rabbi Simon Ben Yohai had bribed him to make seven copies.
Gardi’s claim had evidently been that he was able to save the world simply with words. Could Gardi have known the verses of these scrolls? Elijah was convinced that it was Norman who financed Gardi’s hospital care, and that he was the “American” who visited Gardi from time to time. Indeed, something to that effect had been on Norman’s to-do list: visit Gardi in the hospital. Maybe Norman was indeed the son of Rabbi Moreno, and maybe both Gardi and Norman had learned the appropriate verses from Norman’s father. And maybe the Kabbalists were right in claiming that by such verses they could change the world! This was in total contradiction of what Elijah had always believed. And maybe Norman made a point of visiting Gardi because he knew that it was Gardi’s study of the Kabbalah that had driven him to insanity, just as it had Ben Zoma.
In the end, Elijah decided he had no choice but to enter the building. Casting all his reservations and hesitations aside, he walked in, making a conscious effort, difficult though it was, to appear nonchalant, hoping to be inconspicuous, to avoid attracting any untoward attention. That, he believed, was the only possible way to gain access to Gardi. He believed he now knew how to accomplish this. Of course, Gardi would not know the man as “Norman”. Norman was a name he had adopted much later.
Peeping into each doorway, he finally saw Gardi sitting in a chair near his window.
“Absalom Moreno, the son of Rabbi David Moreno, sent me to see how you are and how you feel.”
This time it worked. That was the name by which Gardi knew him! Gardi perked up immediately and asked, “Where is he? Why hasn’t he come?”
“He’s not feeling well,” apologized Elijah. By now, lying was second nature to him in all matters concerning Luzzato.
“They all ran away and I cried. Absalom said to me, ‘Come with me and I will protect you.’ We ran from the so-called Lifta gate in the wall around Me’ah Shearim, to the gates facing the Old City. All the Jews were running, but Absalom and I ran in the opposite direction. We stood and saw them running toward us. The Arabs were screaming ‘Death to all the Jews!’ Absalom told me what words to recite, and we said them together.”
Gardi started breathing more heavily. He began to talk louder. “Then the Arabs all ran away. The Heavens fought on our behalf. There had never been anything like it since ancient times.” Naeel looked in and stood at a distance.
Elijah was familiar with the story of the Lifta gate. In 1929, an Arab mob, inflamed by rabble-rousers, had left the Old City by the Nablus Gate. At its head were the rabble-rousers themselves, carrying a variety of objects to use as weapons against the Jews - swords and bayonets. Some of them had ancient hunting guns, with bandoliers full of ammunition. Their cries and gestures made their intentions very clear when they came across any Jews. Soon they approached the wall that surrounded the Jewish neighborhood of Me'ah Shearim.
“I believe you,” said Elijah. “Absalom himself told me about it.”
“He himself?” said the old man. Suddenly, he became very suspicious. “It was supposed to be a big secret.”
“I’ve been busy helping him to find the scrolls. He showed them all to me.”
“Including the one he stole from the Yeshiva?” said Gardi, doubtfully. “And including the one that old Rabbi Moreno was given by the old woman from China?”
“All of them, including the one which speaks about the longest day.” By now, Elijah felt no reason not to gamble. He had to check out the details which Orna had found in Norman’s medical file.
“None of the people here believe me. Mualem and all the doctors here are complete ignoramuses.”
“They’re weaklings,” Elijah reassured him. “When the redemption comes, they will all come to you on their knees to beg for your forgiveness.”
“Amen,” said Gardi. He appeared to doze off, but was suddenly wide awake. “Where do you live? With Rabbi Moreno?”
Elijah remained silent.
“I see the wall from my window and I await the messiah,” said Gardi. His head flopped backward.
Naeel rushed over. “I was afraid he’s having another attack, so I gave him his medicine.”
“I see that you do an excellent job caring for him.”
“Thank you. Really, thank you.” Naeel insisted on escorting Elijah to the exit, and this time he thanked him profusely for the envelope. He had evidently had time to count the sum of money it contained.
Never in his wildest dreams would Elijah have imagined acting like this at the beginning of that summer, before all this began. In his professional life, he was always interested in finding the true facts behind every document, and had never needed to resort to lies. In general, he had very little contact with people. Yet here he was acting like a born - maybe even pathological - liar.
It was early afternoon, and Jerusalem was bathed in strong sunshine. As he stepped out of the hospital, Elijah was almost blinded by the sunlight.
He had seen the light, the other light that surrounded the entire case in which he had become involved inadvertently. Norman was Absalom Moreno, who had rebelled against his father, just as the Biblical Absalom had rebelled against his father, King David. In 1929, he, along with Gardi, had used the verses his father had taught him to repel the Arabs who had attacked them. It is a historical fact that the Arabs retreated after the first assault. What no one knew was that two small Jewish youths had been the ones who routed them, with the help of Kabbalistic verses.
The picture was finally clear, and the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. As the boys knew only some of the verses, and as they had not practiced saying them in unison, the deliverance from the Arabs had been only a partial one. Gardi had lost his mind, while Norman had been almost blinded by the forces they had unleashed. Absalom had stolen a scroll from his father’s yeshiva, and that was why he had fled. His father would never forgive him for the sin of using the verses to alter reality. Such actions by impetuous youngsters explain why it is forbidden to study the Kabbalah until the age of forty. Rabbi David Moreno had made a major mistake in teaching his son Kabbalah at a very tender age. Absalom Moreno had fled from Israel, and adopted the name John McDonald. He later adopted an additional name, Norman, an inversion of the family name of Moreno. This inversion, with slight modifications, had given him an American-sounding name, and he called himself David Norman.
He had devoted his life to finding the copies of the original
Sefer Yetzirah
, which included the seven hints. In order to do so, he had employed all his considerable wealth, which he amassed as a result of his remarkable ability to foretell the future; and that ability had evidently come from his knowledge of the Kabbalah. It was his aim to put together all the different words and word combinations, using the supercomputers he had bought and tried to smuggle out of the United States. By doing so, he would bring the fountain to the heart, and would change Nash’s equilibrium point. He would accomplish it in a marble building surrounded with water, in accordance with the legends of the
Pardes
. The computers had to be somewhere close to the Temple Mount, opposite the
Even Shetiyah
, and this must be done from a house from whose window it would be possible to see the Western Wall, part of the wall which had surrounded the Temple Mount. That house was one which had belonged to Norman’s father, Rabbi Moreno. Elijah was convinced that the scroll stolen by Norman, the only one that Elijah had not seen, specified the time of the equilibrium point. Elijah realized how naive he had been in thinking that he could conceal the knowledge of the scroll belonging to Rabbi Batzri. After all, as soon as Norman sat across from him he could read his thoughts, and he must have realized that this year was an appropriate one for the redemption. Maybe the reason Norman had summoned him to the Spanish island had not been to have him read the scroll, but for Norman to read his mind. The puzzle was almost complete. He was missing only one link: the seventh scroll! It, too, was apparently in Norman’s possession.
It was evidently time to confront Norman, but before doing so, Elijah did what every good academic would. He visited the university library and immersed himself in the abundant literature regarding messianic movements and messiahs. He was sure that in his confrontation with Norman all this information would be vital. Only when the university library closed, many hours later, did he pick himself up and head for home. At least he felt that he finally had a framework for understanding what Norman was planning.
About two hundred years after King David conquered Jerusalem, in about 1790 B.C.E., Joash, King of Israel, conquered Jerusalem. Unlike other rulers and madmen, Joash did so almost against his will.
A pragmatic king, Joash devoted most of his efforts to freeing his country from the yoke of Aram, which exerted great pressure on the Kingdom of Israel at that time. A short while before the prophet Elisha died, Joash visited him and expressed his admiration for the aged prophet.
"My father, my father, Chariot of Israel and its horsemen," cried Joash on his sickbed. This term for the prophet, as the source of the nation's strength and as equal in power to its military might, had hereto been said only by the prophet Elijah. King Joash was the first to use it in reference to Elisha. Elisha, who had been complimented, blessed Joash and told him that he would vanquish Aram three times - and that was indeed what he did.
After the monarchy of David and Solomon, the country was divided into two kingdoms - of Judea and of Israel. For two hundred years, up to the reign of Joash, King of Israel, and Amatziah, King of Judea, the two kingdoms developed side by side. Sometimes the relationship was one of peace, tranquility, and fraternal love; at other times there were bloody confrontations. Amatziah, though, was the first to dream openly of uniting the two kingdoms. And if that could not be achieved by peaceful means, Amatziah would do so by war. He sent messengers to Joash and invited him to wage battle. Amatziah was a dreamer and, like many Jerusalemites before him, hoped that hope would triumph over experience, a hope which was dashed on the rocks of reality.
Opposed to him, Joash moved away from Jerusalem and tried not to provoke Amatziah. He would not even have come close to the gates of the city had not Amatziah attempted to realize his dream at Joash’s expense.
Joash must be credited for having done everything possible to avert war. He warned Amatziah that he was in for a defeat and tried, to the best of his ability, to foil any attempt by Amatziah to wage a needless struggle.
"Rejoice and stay at home, for why you should meddle to your harm, so that you should fall, you and Judah with you?" asked Joash. However, Joash was a Jerusalemite and its stubborn climate affected him.
The armies of Judah and Israel confronted one another in Bet Shemesh. Joash gained a decisive victory over Amatziah. Not only did the men of Judah flee ignominiously in defeat, but, also, Amatziah himself was taken captive by Joash. Joash ascended to Jerusalem, and took as booty for himself and his men the treasuries of the Temple and of the Royal Palace. In order to prevent another war, Joash made a major breach in the walls of Jerusalem and took hostages of the royal family to Samaria with him. Joash eventually freed Amatziah and did not kill him, so as to prevent a hundred-year war between their heirs.
Amatziah lived to a ripe old age after his failed attempt, but his time was not a tranquil one. Fifteen years after this war, a conspiracy was hatched against him in Jerusalem. He was forced to flee to Lachish, but was pursued, caught, and put to death. His body was dragged by a horse to Jerusalem, where he was buried in his ancestral plot, and with him his dreams, too, were buried.
In spite of his overwhelming victory, Joash never thought of uniting the two kingdoms under one ruler. He did not even want to remain in Jerusalem, and immediately after his victory he returned to Samaria. But like all conquerors of Jerusalem, Joash did not find it easy going. Like the others, he found that it was easier to conquer Jerusalem than to flee from it. The city took its revenge on Joash, and less than a year after his victory, he died the death of an ordinary mortal
.