Authors: Nathan Erez
Elijah contemplated the idea of Jerusalem on High, as he wandered around Jerusalem below. Hundreds of years ago, the Old City, enclosed by the wall built by Suleiman, had already been divided into four quarters - Jewish, Armenian, Muslim and Christian - but the borders delineating each were never firm, with one quarter encroaching on another. Elijah reached the Jewish Quarter in order to search Norman’s home, which he had heard was located somewhere in the vicinity.
The Jewish Quarter as we know it was, in Second Temple times, the richest and most prestigious of the city. Ancient Jerusalem at the time of David and Solomon was built on the slopes of Silwan. At the time of the First temple you had to climb up a steep and winding road, in order to reach the Temple. In contrast, at the time of the Second Temple, the wealthy would descend to the Temple Mount.
The streets of the Jewish Quarter were, as usual, crowded. Like the rest of the Jewish Quarter, they were paved with rock, and only rock. The roads were remarkably narrow, only two or three yards wide, enough to accommodate pedestrians but not cars. The roads themselves sloped inward to the center, to allow rain to drain off. Elijah walked the length of one street after another, observing each entrance and seeking in vain some kind of link to Norman or Moreno. He had no specific plan of attack and merely placed his trust in luck.
Like all cities built in the Roman tradition, Byzantine Jerusalem had a central road spanning its entire length and another spanning its breadth. The road that spanned the length of a city was always called the Cardo, and the other was called the Decumanus. These streets, which were wider than the others, were used by carts to bring in merchandise, as well as by pedestrians, and they were the commercial centers of each city. Various stores plied their business along these streets. When the Jewish Quarter was rebuilt by Israel after the Six-Day War, part of the Cardo was unearthed and reconstructed, taking care to preserve the houses above it. In order to recreate some of the atmosphere of that time, shops were built on both sides of the Cardo, most of them selling tourist souvenirs and trinkets of the Holy Land. Elijah found himself walking along the Cardo and surveying the area. On his left he saw part of an old wall, which had been reconstructed. According to a plaque posted on the wall, it dated back to First Temple times, and most of it was probably destroyed at the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Above it stood a yeshiva founded a hundred years ago, and nearby a three-century-old mosque. They all stood close to one another, but had very little mutual tolerance.
Elijah thought about the fate of the city. Old Jerusalem is one big archaeological site. Wherever you dig you will find many kinds of antiques and relics. After all, of all the famous ancient cities of the ancient Middle East, Jerusalem is the one of the very few to have survived throughout the centuries, and it is still alive and kicking today. Shushan, Nineveh, Akkad, Abeilah, Ur, Zoan - all of them have disappeared or were swallowed up by other cities. Jerusalem is one stubborn city that refuses to roll over and die.
At the end of the Cardo, as if to add fuel to the fire, stood a golden menorah, a good seven feet high. The accompanying blurb claimed that it was a true replica of the menorah that had stood in the Temple. Although it did not say so, the underlying motive of the anonymous donor was evidently to make this menorah available for the Third Temple, if and when it is built. And that Temple, according to Jewish tradition, will come down from Heaven, along with the Messiah. When he came closer, Elijah saw that the menorah was enclosed in a reinforced glass case, along with alarms and sensors. Well, that’s what Jerusalem below is like, Elijah thought to himself.
Almost every entrance led to this or that institute of education, each with its own distinct ideology. There were spiritual seminars of every shape and size, available to anyone seeking them. An infinite number of
yeshivot
had opened their doors in the Jewish Quarter. Almost every building bore a sign, tracing the illustrious history of the site on which it stood. This building was built by funds supplied by Dutch Jews a century ago, the next by the Chabad Hasidic sect in the previous century, and the third by the generous contribution of David Tannenbaum of Toronto, and it had been completed but three months earlier. One building had been a yeshiva in Ottoman times, another had once been a hospital for the indigent. Elijah read each sign, some of which had been damaged, but he did not find what he was looking for.
He continued walking from building to building, from entrance to entrance. By now, he felt that he could easily qualify as an expert on building signs and their durability. “If I ever want a memorial plaque in my name,” he thought to himself, “it should be engraved into the wall itself.” Metal signs rust, ceramic ones break, and paint peels. Moreover, signs can be torn down. However, if something is engraved in the stone of the wall itself, it remains for generations. Ideally, too, the engraving should be at a height where it is not easily accessible. If it is too low, it invites graffiti - as he had seen in various places.
After wandering about unsuccessfully for two hours, Elijah decided to concentrate on those houses that faced the Temple Mount. Rather than continuing to go from building to building in the Jewish Quarter, he descended the steps leading to the Western Wall, assuming that from them, he would be able to see which windows faced the Temple Mount. Along the way he spotted a small garden, which amazed him, because probably the most striking feature of the Jewish Quarter is the total absence of greenery. During the Crusader era this area had once been a hostel, where Crusaders from Europe were lodged. Close to the garden, he saw three
yeshivot
. All their names contained either the word “central” or the word “world”. What is it about this city that makes everyone think it is the center of everything?
He remembered the flytraps of his youth. The first time he had seen one, it was at the home of his Uncle Joseph, on a kibbutz. The trap was a simple one: a paper plate on which Joseph had placed small strips of rotten meat. Above the paper plate was an upside-down clear plastic funnel. The funnel was connected to a wooden box, which enclosed a wire mesh structure. Once the flies flew into the wire mesh, there was no way for them to escape. They would fly about frantically, beating against the mesh on one side and then the other, until they would fall exhausted. Every few days, when the mesh became too full, Joseph would empty it. In his mind, Elijah saw all the conquerors of Jerusalem as flies flitting around the entrance to the city. Like the flies, they too did not know exactly what was happening to them and what they should expect. They all shared the idea that if they lived a better life, they would be able to discover the secrets of the city. However, they, too, ended their lives buried in the ground. Each conqueror would add a layer, which would then be covered by the layer of the next conqueror.
Elijah walked slowly to the Western Wall. The severe heat had gotten to him. He remembered his first visit to the Wall after the Six-Day War, and it was only then that he had found out that the Wall was not part of the Second Temple wall at all, but of the wall that surrounded the Temple Mount. From that time on, like most Israelis, he would visit the Wall only when accompanying foreign visitors, as part of a guided tour of the city. He entered the Western Wall plaza and wandered around, totally at a loss as to how to proceed.
Here, in this holy place, he internalized the holy experience: who will be the one who moves the fountain and the rock from their inappropriate equilibrium point? It must be a saintly person, who will come down to our lowly world and who will heal the vessels. It is an extremely difficult task, which most are ill equipped to carry out.
Suddenly Elijah saw a great light: Norman’s plan was much broader than he had imagined, and included the entire world, from the Big Bang to DNA. Elijah walked quickly from one end of the plaza to the other, and then climbed the steps leading up to the market. He had just spent three quarters of an hour in the hot sunshine on this segment. As he walked on, he was suddenly confronted by a simple door with a sign proclaiming that it was the “Alkabetz Institute”. Beneath it, in smaller letters, was the legend: “Institute for Research into the Jewish Religious Poem.” And Alkabetz was the name of another of the famous Kabbalists! His heart told him that this was the correct door. He knocked on the door and rang the bell for some time. He had the impression that someone inside the building was observing him through the keyhole, but did not wish to open the door. He did not give up. The stakes were simply too high. After fifteen minutes of waiting, ringing, and knocking, he did something that would have been inconceivable to him a few weeks earlier - he tried the door handle. Amazingly, the door was not even locked, and it opened as he turned the doorknob. Norman stood there. Elijah was taken aback at the man’s appearance. His face was sallow, deep rings surrounded his listless eyes, and he was leaning heavily on a cane. He was wearing an Arab
galabiyeh
and wore a
keffiyah
on his head. He looked extremely strange and his dress seemed singularly inappropriate. Norman stepped into the interior of the small building. The living room was tiny, its furniture Spartan. Elijah, who followed him in, could discern a small kitchen next to the living room. At the side of the living room there were steps leading downward. With great difficulty, Norman sat down on one of the couches.
“I must apologize, Professor Shemtov. As you can no doubt see, I’m not in the best of health. I would very much appreciate if we could postpone this meeting until tomorrow.”
“Just one question,” said Elijah. “Where is the seventh scroll?”
“Professor Shemtov, I hired you to decipher manuscripts. You are getting involved in an area that has nothing to do with you. How did you get here? I must ask you to leave immediately!”
“Where is the seventh scroll? What does it say? I want to know.”
“I’m asking you politely to leave,” said Norman adamantly.
Elijah looked at Norman. He didn’t believe a word of what Norman was saying.
“Mr. Norman, or John McDonald or Absalom Moreno - whatever your name is. I doubt if it will come as a surprise to you if I tell you that many people believe that there are powers beyond the understanding of human beings, and that these powers are constantly involved in whatever we do. These are powers that we will not be able to identify for thousands of years - if ever.
“According to a Jewish tradition, everything which ever happened, is happening, or will happen in the future is to be found - in some form or another - in the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, which the Israelites received on Mount Sinai. However, the key to unlock all this data is not available to everyone. In the past, some Kabbalistic scholars were familiar with the detailed instructions needed to activate the Kabbalistic secrets when absolutely necessary. These secrets could be used to accomplish what could not be achieved by natural means. The rumor states that Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai used it to escape from besieged Jerusalem, and to obtain permission from the Roman general Vespasian to open a major Torah study center in Jabneh. This information was relayed to Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenos, who in turn conveyed it to Rabbi Akiba.
“Rabbi Akiba, though, felt that these means should never be used, no matter what the motivation or need. He was afraid that using these powers will cause destruction instead of redemption. Thus, he ordered that all written copies of the key be destroyed. He did, however, teach the key orally to some of his greatest disciples. One of these, Rabbi Simon Bar Yochai, taught it to his son, Rabbi Elazar. Rabbi Elazar was the one who, nevertheless, had the key written down by Rabbi Nehemiah of Peki’in. In return for doing so, Rabbi Nehemiah was given the promise that there would always be a Jewish settlement in Peki’in. And indeed, Jews have lived in Peki’in throughout centuries of our exile.
“It was because of those scrolls ordered by Rabbi Elazar ben Simon that, throughout the generations, there were those who believed that they could solve all the world’s problems. In the course of centuries, part of the scrolls fell into the hands of various great individuals. For example, the
Ari
evidently tried to use the key, and indeed he died at an early age. Rabbi Elijah of Vilna, known as the Gaon of Vilna, wished to travel to the Land of Israel in order to bring about the redemption, but at the last minute withdrew from his plan. Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shemtov, the founder of Hassidism, was evidently also in possession of the texts, and bequeathed them to his daughter, Odel. She was the grandmother of the renowned Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav.
“We are not aware of all the different attempts to redeem the world, but all who tried were aware that all sorts of untoward and unexpected results might ensue. Some claimed that a failure in Spain in the 15
th
century led to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.
“Eventually, great rabbis came to the realization that the task was too big for any single person.”
Norman seemed to have recovered somewhat. He wanted to interject and say something, but Elijah would not be stopped. Everything he now knew came tumbling out.
“The most elaborate attempt of all took place in a yeshiva named Beit Shamayim, which means ‘Home of Heaven’. It was founded in Jerusalem in 1727, and its declared aim was to hasten the redemption. For two whole centuries, its students spent all their waking hours in doing whatever they could to further this aim. They pored over all the Kabbalistic works they had, and invested much time and effort in acquiring works they did not have. This continued up to the early 1920s.