by Nathan Erez
Wang led Elijah into the living room. It was quite a large room and had a huge picture window overlooking the bay. In front of the window stood a traditional Chinese writing table with a single manuscript on it, which Elijah saw immediately was in the same script as the photocopy he had been given in Jerusalem. He identified the handwriting as that of Nehemiah of Peki’in, and was exhilarated at the thought of being able to handle the original. Wang pointed to him, but did not speak. Elijah sat down and took out the various items he needed - a magnifying glass, pens, paper for drafts, and the photocopy he had brought from Israel, and he laid them all out on the table. Wang sat down on a couch behind him.
“My grandfather would like you to work on the manuscript now. He has a very high opinion of you, and appreciates that you made a special trip to his home in order to examine the manuscript. My grandfather invites very few people, besides the immediate family, to his home,” Mei-Ling pointed out.
“Please tell him that this could take hours. He might prefer to leave me here alone, and to rest while I work.”
Mei-Ling answered him without bothering to translate for her grandfather’s benefit. “Prof. Shemtov, I believe that my grandfather insists on seeing how you deal with the manuscript and will be terribly hurt if you ask him to leave. The manuscript is worth a fortune, and he hopes to sell it after receiving your assessment of it.” Mei-Ling left the room.
Elijah was confused. He nevertheless began to work and soon totally forgot that Wang was sitting behind him. The work was easier than he had anticipated. He became totally engrossed in the letters before him. Suddenly, he found himself jolted, as if he had inadvertently touched a high-voltage wire. Even though in theory the two documents were supposed to be identical in content, on the seventh line of the manuscript the language differed from that of the photocopy with which he had been working. Moreover, this version gave the exact location of the Even Shetiyah. “It stands at the heart of the world, on the Temple Mount, fifteen paces north of the Holy of Holies, with an infinite number of roads connected to it.” He assumed that this had to be the line which interested Norman, and that if Norman became aware of the change he would be prepared to pay an enormous amount of money for it - in fact whatever sum necessary in order to obtain this copy.
Elijah thought about copying the text, but rejected the idea out of hand. He remembered the flashlight with its built-in camera that he had just purchased and decided to use it. He photographed the text twice, and saw that Wang had gotten up to see what was happening. He smiled at Wang and showed him the flashlight. Wang left the room, and a few moments later returned with Mei-Ling and a stronger flashlight.
“My grandfather is surprised that you need more light,” said Mei-Ling. “He specifically set up the table by the window. In any event, this is a more efficient flashlight.”
Elijah went back to work. It appeared that whoever had written this document must have been in a hurry, because in most such cases the writer would first etch lines in the parchment to ensure that his writing was straight. Here, though, there were no such lines and the writing was sloppy. When he finished, Elijah looked up with a sigh of relief. Just as he was going to signal to Wang that he had finished, he turned over the parchment and was astounded to find parts of letters there. He rolled up the parchment, and when he had rolled it as tightly as possible, he saw that the parts of letters now joined together, and it was possible to read them. The writing was evidently in Arabic, accompanied by a short sentence in Hebrew, in a rabbinic Sephardi script. The ink used in the writing seemed to indicate that it had been done with a fountain pen-early 20th century, Elijah surmised. It also bore the stamp of the Ohel Sarah synagogue in Hong Kong. There was a signature, but he was only able to make out the word “Batzri”.
“I understand that this manuscript comes from the Ohel Sarah synagogue, and once belonged to someone named Batzri,” he said half to himself.
When Mei-Ling translated his comment to Mr. Wang, the old man replied and Mei-Ling translated back: “My grandfather is delighted that you know them. He was a young child when the distinguished Mrs. Sassoon died, and... how do you call a Jewish priest?” she asked, somewhat embarrassed.
“A rabbi,” Elijah volunteered.
“Yes, of course, right. He remembers Rabbi Batzri to this very day, even though about eighty years have passed. Rabbi Batzri had a full white beard. My grandfather loved to look at him. In those days he used to spend hours in the synagogue with his grandfather, who was the synagogue’s caretaker.”
“I’m surprised they haven’t moved the synagogue elsewhere. It is surrounded by skyscrapers, and no longer belongs in that area.”
“That’s just the point,” said Mei-Ling, in an almost simultaneous translation. Wang interrupted her; he appeared upset. Mei-Ling looked at him, surprised, but Wang recovered immediately and suggested they drink tea in his workroom.
They walked behind him. “He evidently likes you,” said Mei-Ling. “Very few people ever enter his workroom. I never dare to go in without being invited to do so.”
Over tea in the workroom, Wang told them that there had once been an older wing to the synagogue, but this had been torn down when he was still a child. His grandfather had managed to salvage an old crate of religious items and manuscripts from the demolished wing, including this one. That was evidently the fortune that his grandfather had bequeathed him. As they sat there, Elijah noticed a business card in English on the table. Glancing at it, his curiosity was aroused by the name “Kim” that he saw written on the card. He was reminded of the handwritten list he had found in the Institute, which included a mention of a scholarship fund by the Kim Foundation.
As they were talking, Elijah casually stretched out his hand to the business card and asked, “Is this yours?”
Wang looked at the card, snatched it away, and hid it in his hand. They continued talking, Wang was obviously very upset about the business card.
A few minutes later, Wang exchanged a few words with his granddaughter and she translated to Elijah that her grandfather was tired and it was time to end the meeting. Elijah began to mentally process everything he had seen. The Arabic writing on the manuscript would seem to indicate that it had been brought to Iraq after the Arab conquest. He remembered, of course, that the Mongols had captured Iraq, and assumed that when various Jews had come from Iraq and settled in Hong Kong, they had brought the manuscript with them. Elijah was, of course, deeply interested both in scripts and in conquests. He was aware that neither of these fields would interest Norman, but was happy that his mission was a success in terms of Norman’s needs. This, then, could have been the reason why he agreed to Mei-Ling’s suggestion that she show him Mrs. Sassoon’s club.
“You will be able to enjoy a relaxing massage,” she told him.
“Me? A massage? Never!” He was quite convinced that any contact with a strange woman in the Orient was sure to leave him infected with one or other infectious disease.
They returned to the bustling city center, where the neon signs and skyscrapers reminded him of Manhattan. After they had reached the entrance to Elijah’s hotel and parked the car, he stopped suddenly and did a double turn; a small sign had caught his attention: “Madame Rachel Sassoon, 1835-1921.” The woman’s name appeared in both English and Hebrew letters.
“Mrs. Sassoon is amadam?” Elijah asked Mei-Ling, surprised. Only now did he realize that Madame Sassoon’s “club” was what, in the west, would be referred to as a brothel.
“The fabulously wealthy and famous Sassoon family produced philanthropists, distinguished rabbis, noted businessmen, and there is also Rachel Sassoon, who moved to Hong Kong. Members of the Sassoon family lived in Iraq since the fall of the First Temple, in 586 B.C.E.,” Mei-Ling told him.
Elijah was not sure how Mei-Ling had been able to choose the correct words, but she had managed to bring up the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. And this, for Elijah, set the wheels in motion.
The Fourth Sphere
In the year 586 B.C.E., the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem. The previous winter they had laid siege to the city, and a year and a half later the walls were breached and the city vanquished. The conquest generated a wave of panic throughout the nations of the region, ranging from the kings of Aram and the inhabitants of Edom, through to Moab, Ammon, and the remaining Philistines. Then, as now, there was a prevailing belief that it was not possible to take Jerusalem from the Jews. None of the kings of the surrounding lands had even imagined that an enemy could as much as set foot in Jerusalem, not to mention actually conquering it. Nebuchadnezzar utterly destroyed the earlier conception.
King Zedekiah, a man of weak character who had allowed himself to be led by his ministers and his wives when he should have been resolute, attempted to flee. Like all the rebels of Judea and the kings of Jerusalem who had needed to flee, Zedekiah sought sanctuary in the east, in the Judean desert. However, Zedekiah was no David, and did not even get as far as the desolate stretches where he might have found refuge. In the Jericho area, the Chaldean army pursued him and his army fled, leaving him to be captured by the Babylonians. Zedekiah was hauled in chains to the Babylonian king. There, the king forced him to witness his two sons being killed before his eyes, after which he was blinded in both eyes. Blind, he was dragged to Babylon, where he was thrown into a pit, a lesson to all the other kings of the region on the futility of trying to resist Babylon, and a powerful disincentive to trying to throw off the Babylonian yoke.
Not content with a mere military victory, the Babylonian king sent Nevuzadran, the captain of the bodyguards, to Jerusalem to utterly crush any possibility of a revolt. Nevuzadran burned down the Temple, the royal palace, and every large and important building in the city. The Babylonian army tore down the outer, protecting wall of the city, destroyed all other remaining houses, and plundered whatever it could lay its hands on.
Even that was not enough for Nebuchadnezzar. In order to prevent an alternative leadership from arising, he forced many of the leading figures into exile in Babylon. These included the royal officials, army officers, metalworkers, weapon makers, scribes and priests, and all military personnel. This exile of the elite was the second one imposed on the country within a short period of time. About ten years earlier, there had been an abortive attempt at revolt led by King Jehoiachim, who died in the siege of Jerusalem. The previous revolt had ended with the surrender of the king’s son, also called Jehoiachin, and was followed by the exile to Babylon of Jehoiachin, his officials and military officers. The revolt by Zedekiah ended Jerusalem’s role as the spiritual and governmental center of Judea.
The cultural results of the Babylonian invasion were catastrophic. Considered an integral part of the structure of the country, the prophecy came to an end and all subsequent attempts to resurrect it ended in failure. Because of the fact that the prophecy ended over 2500 years ago, we are not quite sure of the type of role it played at the time.
Because of the vicissitudes of the time, the literacy rate plummeted, and many books which had been handed down for generations simply disappeared. There are many and varied stories and legends regarding the fate of the Ark of the Covenant, which all sources agree was located in the First Temple and which seems to have simply disappeared in some inexplicable fashion. This ark contained the tablets received by Moses at Sinai, together with various scrolls whose content we cannot even begin to surmise. The ark survived all the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert, the reigns of the different judges, capture by the Philistines and being transported from one city to another, as well as the various revolts and alien strains of worship that had coursed through the land at different times. And now it had suddenly disappeared, leaving no hint in the Scriptures as to where it was taken. Both the Bible and the Babylonian chronicle of the Babylonian victory list the enormous quantities of the spoils taken by Babylon, including an itemized record of instruments, large and small, used in the Temple, some whose purpose we do not even understand. For some reason, though, the Ark of the Covenant simply does not appear in either list. Some people surmise that, fearing for the future, King Josiah hid it. According to this view, therefore, the Ark is still to be found somewhere on the Temple Mount. The more widely accepted explanation is that the Ark, being made primarily of wood, was burned in the great fire that destroyed the Temple, and that purely by chance this was not listed in the Bible. Its disappearance, though, was the final blow to the history of the First Temple.
This Babylonian exile also brought about the birth of a new cultural center for the Jews and ultimately competed with Jerusalem and Judea for supremacy in the spiritual realm of the Jewish people. Some of the greatest works in Jewish thought and law originated in Babylon, beginning with the prophecy of Ezekiel ben Buzi, who prophesied on the Kebar River in southern Babylon, through to the Babylonian Talmud and the Jewish law rulings of the Geonim, the preeminent Jewish spiritual leaders in the generations following the Talmud.
“How could a member of such an illustrious family turn out to be so unsavory a character?” Elijah asked. Mei-Ling had a ready answer, and defended Madame Sassoon to the fullest.
“For many years Madame Sassoon worked as the assistant of the previous Madame. When the previous Madame died at a ripe old age, Madame Sassoon naturally inherited the position from her. There is universal agreement about her wonderful business acumen, with which she transformed brothel into the most lavish one in Hong Kong, if not the entire East. In her old age, she expanded into other lines of work, by taking advantage of all the contacts she had made over the years; she eventually became one of the richest people in Hong Kong.” Turning to Elijah, she suggested, “Let’s go in and take a look.”
Disconcerted by the very thought, Elijah launched a defensive attack: “I don’t suppose I can expect any more from a city that erects statues to bankers rather than to generals.” His scorn was quite transparent.
“Oh, don’t be so high and mighty,” said Mei-Ling. ‘In her last years, the rabbis here also were willing to accept Madame Sassoon’s money. Not surprisingly, she was not particularly close to the Jewish community, and there was a mutual distance between them.”
“I would have expected as much,” said Elijah drily.
Mei-Ling continued. “In her old age, when she had become queen of the local nightlife, it was impossible to ignore her. But credit where credit is due: she bore no grudge against the local rabbis and she used her extensive list of contacts to help many people overcome all types of bureaucratic and other obstacles. Would you like to meet her granddaughter, Lynne Sassoon?”
Given Elijah’s fascination with Jewish history, Mei-Ling had pushed just the right button in arousing his curiosity about a member of the Sassoon family, and he decided, despite his misgivings, to go in. Never in his wildest dreams, could he have imagined what he would see upon entering the building, but the one thing he noticed immediately was that whatever was there had no connection whatsoever to Judaism. Behind a massive glass window sat twenty-five to thirty women in three groups. They were dressed like members of a beauty pageant, each with a diagonal sash upon which was printed a number. Clients were evidently required to “order” them by that number. They all wore high-heeled shoes and their bare legs were stretched out in front of them. As to what they wore underneath their sashes, let us say that whatever it was would barely have excluded them from a nudist beach. Elijah was dumbstruck by what he saw, and was literally speechless for quite a few minutes. After this assault on his vision, the next attack was on his hearing. He had assumed at first that the glass was a one-way mirror, allowing the men to see and pick out the woman of their choice, but preventing the women from seeing the men making their selection by number. It seemed so inhuman and depraved!
That illusion, too, was shattered, when he started to hear various voices calling out from beyond the glass, at first individually, but then in unison, “Madame, Madame, Madame, Madame.” The women were all
trying to outdo each other in attracting Mei-Ling’s attention, each of them wanting to be the object of selection. The women clearly assumed that Elijah and Mei-Ling were a couple, which meant, of course, that they should appeal to the wife. Elijah was glued to the spot and totally unable to look at any one of the women. The only association to come to mind was when, as a third grader, his class had visited a turkey farm. The teacher had told the class that these were highly educated turkeys. To prove her point, she had yelled to the turkeys, “In which Hebrew month is the festival of Purim?” The turkeys had all gobbled back with what one might - by a very long stretch of the imagination - construe to be the word “Adar.”
Eventually Mei-Ling took pity on the poor man and said to him softly, “Dr. Shemtov, please come with me.” Even though he felt as if his legs had turned to lead, he somehow managed to drag himself behind her.
He was brought into a large and well-lit office, which looked no different from offices of countless businesses throughout the world, totally sterile and utilitarian. An office is an office regardless of what business it represents, he thought to himself.
Seated behind a desk, Lynne Sassoon looked like one of a number of variations of Oriental women and quite unlike any of the Iraqi Jewish women of Elijah’s acquaintance in Israel. He assumed she must be of mixed parentage. She smiled and was about to greet Elijah when, as he looked around the room, his eyes fell on an open door which led to a conference room; in the conference room, four men sat talking. While he could not hear what they were saying, one thing was clear: the man facing him was the Chinese or Korean man he had met at the Luzzato Institute. This time, there was no doubt about it! Elijah could not take his eyes off him. He was vaguely aware of Lynne addressing him, but couldn’t concentrate enough to hear what she was saying. For all he knew, she could be listing the various types of massage and other “services” on offer by the establishment. He was very keen to ask her about her ancestry and hoped to be able to trace it as far back as possible, even to the time when Babylon - now Iraq - was the spiritual center of the Jewish people.
