The Jerusalem Inception - By Avraham Azrieli Page 0,21
the men of Neturay Karta.”
“We’re not hiding.”
“I didn’t mean you personally. You’re too young, anyway.”
“I’ll be eighteen soon.”
“Will you enlist?”
“In the Zionist army?” He rolled one of his payos around his forefinger and played with it. “We defend the Jewish people by praying and studying Talmud.”
“You really believe that prayer and study would protect Israel from three hundred million Arabs armed with the best Soviet weaponry?”
“Torah says: God shall fight for you, and you shall be silent. For the righteous Jew, faith is the mightiest shield from enemies.”
“Do you know the story about the Jew who complained to God that he was so poor that he couldn’t feed his cow?”
“There are many of them.”
“That’s true. Well, this Jew got an answer. God told him that he would win the lottery.”
Lemmy leaned against the wall, watching her.
“A week later, when he complained to God that he didn’t win the lottery, God asked: Did you buy a ticket?”
Lemmy laughed. He paced along the wall, returning to Bira’s photo. She stood against a background of large buildings and signs in foreign letters. “How old is she?”
“Twenty-one. She even has a boyfriend.”
“Mazal Tov. When is the wedding?”
“It’s too early to think of a wedding. They’re dating, that’s all. Movies, dancing, kissing, you know, being young.”
He examined the photo. The signs in the background were in German. “Is she really your daughter?”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, you look too young.”
Tanya touched her face. “I was seventeen when Bira was born.”
“And your husband?”
“He was already dead.”
For a few moments, neither of them spoke. He saw a newspaper on the coffee table, Ha’aretz, a Hebrew daily that was banned in Meah Shearim. The date was October 7, 1966, yesterday’s paper. He read through the headlines. China’s Independence Day marked by a conciliatory letter from Moscow. U.S. government proclaiming optimism that Hanoi would accept the peace initiative to end the Vietnam War. Syrian diplomats, in a meeting with UN General Odd Bull, threatened an attack on Israeli air bases. Terrorists infiltrate through the border with Egypt and sabotage fuel lines. Shots from the Jordanian side of Jerusalem injure an eleven-year-old boy playing soccer with friends, while UN observers stood by. Ben Gurion celebrated his eightieth birthday at his Negev Desert kibbutz with President Shazar and the author S.Y. Agnon, but without Prime Minister Eshkol.
Lemmy turned the page and read the first paragraph of an article about the release from jail in Germany of Nazi leaders Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach. The writer expressed regret that the two men had not been executed twenty years earlier with the rest of Hitler’s henchmen.
A photograph on the opposite page shocked Lemmy. It was his father! Under it, the paper reported:
NETURAY KARTA RABBI: ABORTION IS MURDER!
The Knesset Committee on Health heard testimony from Rabbi Abraham Gerster, leader of ultra-Orthodox sect Neturay Karta, regarding proposed legislation to permit abortions for out-ofwedlock, incestuous pregnancies, or when the mother’s physical or mental well-being is at risk. Rabbi Gerster declared: “Laws are made by God, not by democracy. God said, Thou shall not kill! Did God set a minimum age for murder victims? No! A viable fetus is a live person, created in God’s image! How could you allow doctors to kill babies inside their mothers’ wombs?” Security officials fear anti-abortion riots by ultra-Orthodox extremists, especially after last Saturday’s rock-throwing incident.
Tanya asked, “What do you think? Will history repeat itself? Like the Jews who killed each other inside the Temple during the Roman siege?”
“I don’t know. God will decide our fate.”
“What’s the word inside Neturay Karta?”
“Abortions are a symptom of Zionist decay, like driving during Sabbath, eating pork, violating sacred gravesites for antiques. That’s why we shun the secular Zionist society that surrounds us. Most Talmudic scholars believe God will soon punish Israel. Some want to throw rocks, attack government buildings, maybe burn police cars.”
“And you?”
“Me? I’m too young to decide those things.”
Her hand rested on his shoulder, her face very close. “So who’s going to decide if Jewish blood will run again in the streets of Jerusalem? Rabbi Abraham Gerster?”
Mint, Lemmy decided, that’s what her breath smelled like. He knew he should get up and leave, but he couldn’t. The fire from her hand had spread to his loins. “My father is a great scholar of Talmud. Our people listen to him.”
“Because they think he’s a tzadik?”
“Yes. He is a righteous man.”
“Oh, Jerusalem.” Tanya’s hand slipped off his shoulder. “It must be nice to be so innocent.”