by Shlomo Kalo
Uziel turned to their guide and asked him:
“Why do the Chaldeans hunt lions?”
“For the hide that is taken from them,” he replied.
“And of what use is the hide?” Mishael asked. The guide answered him:
“It testifies to the courage and manliness of the hunter, and people pay him respect accordingly. On solemn or festive occasions, hunters wear the skins of lions that they have killed, and earn acclaim.”
“So the only use the Chaldeans make of the lion’s skin is for show!” Hananiah concluded, addressing himself and anyone else who might still be interested in the topic.
And Uziel turned to the guide again and asked him:
“What is the purpose of this room, and where are you taking us?”
“This room is part of the royal library,” the other answered him. “At this end, at the table, sits the librarian responsible for this department. The books themselves are set out on the shelves. There are books written on parchment scrolls, there are books inscribed on tablets of brass, wood or clay. The clay tablets are located on the wall to our right, and they are bound together with cords of hemp, straw or cotton. The tablets of brass and wood are on the wall behind us, the rolled up scrolls are on the shelves to our left. As for your destination,” the guide went on to say – “you are to wait here a while until the baths are ready, and the slaves have filled the cisterns.”
“Is it possible to take some of these texts and read them?” Azariah asked.
“With the permission of the official responsible for this department,” the guide answered, and pointed to the librarian.
Azariah approached the librarian and asked his permission to look at the texts deposited on the shelves. Permission was given, and the librarian stipulated that after perusing the text Azariah should return it to him rather than replacing it on the shelf. He asked him which text he was interested in.
Azariah thought for a long moment and finally replied:
“One dealing with the customs and laws of the country.”
The librarian asked a further question:
“Has the gentleman heard of our great law-giver from ancient times, according to whose precepts and commandments the realm of Babylon has been administered to this very day?”
Azariah confessed that, much to his shame, the name of this legislator was as yet unknown to him.
The librarian, who was wearing a livery of startling white, his shoes included, answered him:
“The renown of our law-giver has travelled far and wide, and there is no people or nation that has not heard tell of him. His name – Hammurabi, and I would consider it a great personal honour to set before you some of his enlightening precepts!”
The librarian left his table and turned to the shelves holding the clay tablets bound together with straw. He moved one of the ladders into the right place, climbed slowly and selected a bundle of tablets. Handing them over to Azariah, he reminded him:
“Bring them back to me!”
The youths gathered around Azariah and his tablets in one of the corners of their room, sitting down with their escorts at a long table. Azariah, who had imagined that the Chaldee letters would be similar to the letters of the Hebrew language, if not identical, was bitterly disappointed to discover that any similarity was entirely superficial, and of no help whatsoever to the reader of Hebrew. He was on the point of giving up the struggle and returning the tablets to the punctilious librarian, when one of their attendants volunteered his services, pointing out that he was familiar with the Chaldee language. The youths handed over the tablets to the attendant, who studied them and after considerable effort, began reading out disjointed words which gradually evolved into whole sentences:
If a man has an ox that gores and it is testified to his owner that he has gored and he has not cut off his horns nor kept the ox inside, and the ox then gores a man and kills him – half the sum of compensation shall be paid (Statute 251).
If a man puts out another man’s eye, his own eye shall be put out (Statute 196).
If a man knocks out another man’s tooth, his own tooth shall be knocked out (Statute 200).
“Surely this is nothing other than the holy Law of Moses!” exclaimed Gabriel, and Uziel added:
“Almost word for word!”
“Who came first – Hammurabi before Moses, or Moses before Hammurabi?” Matthew demanded to know.
“Judging by the year recorded on the tablet, Hammurabi was before Moses,” Hananiah announced, sounding utterly dejected.
“In other words,” Adoniah interjected in a tone of bitter triumph – “Moses copied from Hammurabi!”
“It is improper to make such remarks, even to think such thoughts!” – Daniel rebuked him, adding: “There is only one truth, and the truth is eternal and not subject to change. If there were more than one truth, if it were possible to make the slightest adjustment to it, it would not be the truth.
“Both those men touched it, the truth – and there was no question of one copying from the other! And they revealed it to us, the very same truth, Moses to the Children of Israel and Hammurabi – to the Chaldeans, and all this by the grace of God.”
“And yet we are told that we, the Children of Israel, and we alone, are the Chosen People of God!” – Matthew voiced his protest, and Daniel answered him:
“The Chosen People of God is a people that sets an example to all the nations!”
Let All Living Things Praise The Lord
Into the hall of the library came a slave wearing only a loincloth around his waist. He approached them and told them the bathhouse was ready and at their disposal. Two of their escorts rose and began walking towards the eastern entrance of the hall. Azariah returned the linked tablets to the librarian and thanked him on his own behalf and on behalf of his companions.
The “bathhouse” was a large, low building, constructed entirely of wood, in which there were three pools lined with marble, the first containing hot water, the second – lukewarm and the third – cold. Four swarthy-skinned slaves were waiting for them with porous pumice stones in their hands and gold powder in dishes at their feet.
One after another they ventured into the first pool, some crying out in protest at the heat of the water, others controlling themselves and entering the water without uttering a word. Within a few minutes their young bodies were acclimatised to the heat and they were beginning to enjoy it, their spirits rising, and Hananiah, having finally succeeded in dispelling from his mind the impression made on him by Narazan’s last words – broke into song, with those well known verses from the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm of King David: “Let your mercies come to me O Lord, your salvation according to your word, and I shall have an answer to the one who offends me for I trust in your word…” The others soon joined in the singing, accompanying him until they reached the verse: “I will lift up my hands to your commandments and meditate upon your statutes.”
The mood changed, and in place of dejection, came jubilation. Arguments were forgotten as if they never were. Distance from the homeland also faded somewhere among the gentle vapours of the hot water, and the very fact of being exiles in a foreign land not their own, prisoners of war, slaves – all this no longer seemed to matter.
The slaves joined the bathers, sprinkled some of the gold powder over their bodies and began scrubbing them with the pumice stones. In so doing they found the youthful spirits of the foreigners infectious, and joined in the singing with hoarse, hesitant voices, coping with the melody well enough but stumbling over the pronunciation of the words – understandably; unlike the youths, they did not have a lifetime of practice behind them. And as the mood became ever more cheerful, and enthusiasm soared and joy exceeded all bounds, Uziel suddenly changed direction and launched into the exultant, confident and triumphant strains of “Praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in the firmament of his power, praise him for his mighty acts, praise him for he is great. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet, praise him
with the lute and harp, praise him with the loud cymbals, praise him with the resounding cymbals, let all living things praise the Lord, Hallelujah!”
The last line they repeated, in full voice, seven times, as was customary at Passover in the Temple, entirely forgetting where they were and the predicament in which they were placed. They sang and sang until they lost all sense of time, those sounds that bring solace to the soul, exalting the mind and moving the heart of man closer to his Creator, who is love, and arousing in this heart the firm desire to start again and never again return to what was, knowing that the longing for Him, the Blessed One, is the source of light and joy and freedom.
And as was also customary at Passover in the Temple, the youths turned to one another and exchanged handshakes. The slaves, infected once again by their enthusiasm, followed their example, extending hands to one another in a spirit of true fellowship and friendship.
After the hot, they bathed in the lukewarm water and then leapt with gleeful cries into the cold, emerging invigorated and refreshed, full of youthful strength and intoxicated with rapture. The slaves dried them with rough towels, anointed their long hair with oil and their bodies with unguents, and finally sprinkled them with rose water, its fragrance filling the bathhouse. In the closets set around the pools they found their new clothing – linen smocks of blue, purple and white, and cloaks of a thicker material with matching colours. There were also turbans and shoes, everything clean and pleasant to the touch. There was little in the way of ostentatious ornament, but each one of them received a gold brooch to fasten the wrappings of the turban, bearing the emblem of a rampant lion. The broad belts, made of linen, were fitted with silver buckles. On the upturned toe-caps of the shoes, rubies sparkled.
The slaves who had helped them dress pointed to the exit door of the bathhouse, where their escorts were waiting for them patiently, to conduct them to their quarters. Each of the young men occupied a cubicle, with a lace-curtained window overlooking extensive gardens. Under the window was a bed, and beside it a table with a clean white cloth covering, and an oak-wood chair. There was a closet and on the wall – a shelf. On the table stood an oil-lamp, with a stout wick – capable of emitting a powerful light.
And when evening fell and stars covered the sky, fatigue all at once overcame the young bodies and the boys took their leave of one another, went to their cubicles, climbed into their beds and immediately sank into deep sleep. And there were some among them who dreamed pleasant dreams, such that loosen the slumbering lips into an innocent smile, and there were some who saw nightmares. Among others, Uziel and Gabriel did not dream at all – sinking like stones into the dark waters of a deep well and waking only when the sun had risen, shedding the fullness of its light on the world of men, and the slave assigned the task of rousing them had arrived to shake them from their slumbers.
Breakfast was served in a long, low room, lit quite adequately by its many narrow windows, and it was pleasant to sit there at tables laden with all kinds of delicacies: succulent cuts of meat, choice wines, almonds and nuts, little bread rolls, and all kinds of vegetables and fruits, the pride of the fertile valley of Mesopotamia: dates moist and dry, light and dark, figs and mangoes and raisins and various concoctions blending the juices of the melon and the pumpkin.
The hall was buzzing with Chaldean youths of the same age as them, sons of ministers and dignitaries and close associates of the king, sent here to study Chaldee literature and language, etiquette, music and sciences, subjects which they too would be studying. A special table was set aside for them, the eight exiles from the Land of Judah. They took their seats and blessed the food, but before they had time to taste anything, Daniel turned to them and said:
“Friends and brothers, let’s not contaminate ourselves with this meat and this wine which has not been prepared in accordance with our hallowed rituals! Eating such meat and drinking such wine is an offence against our Law. We should content ourselves with vegetables and fruits, nuts and almonds!”
“I don’t think that would go down very well with those people,” – Hananiah pointed to the waiters, who in addition to their other duties were keeping a close watch on the behaviour of the occupants of the hall.
“Let’s try it and see what happens, and God will be with us!” he assured them.
“Without meat and wine, a meal isn’t a proper meal!” – Matthew protested.
“A meal without meat and wine will weaken our bodies and impair our concentration too. How shall we endure the rigours of our studies, and how do you suppose we’re going to fare in the tests?” – Uziel demanded to know, and he answered him:
“Any meal that is ritually clean, consumed with reverence and courtesy, gives strength to the body, pleasure to the soul, and clarity to the mind.” And he added: “So let’s avoid the pollution of meat and wine, and everything else we can eat with pleasure and with dignity, and our Father in Heaven and our God will shower His grace upon us, and we shall cope successfully with the studies and the tests.”
A sneering smile twisted Adoniah’s broad face:
“You’re trying to win converts to your way of thinking, Daniel, and telling us what we can and what we can’t eat and drink,” – he drawled, continuing in a tone that somehow contrived to be both wheedling and exultant – “Even before all this you weren’t a meat-eater or a wine-drinker. You’re just following your father’s example, and as for your interpretations of the Torah – they are weird!”
For a moment their eyes crossed – Adoniah’s smouldering gaze and his own look, calm and sincere, concealing somewhere beneath it a kind of distant sorrow, at his inability to induce others to change. Both turned their eyes away, as it dawned on Adoniah too that there was no common ground between them, no path that could bring the two of them together – not even a narrow and twisting one.
“Speaking for myself, I’m not touching the meat or drinking the wine – only this wine!” he asserted, taking a piece of bread and some of the moist dates.
Without a word spoken, his example was followed by Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Uziel did likewise, slicing himself bread and swallowing a couple of dates, but then he changed his mind and chose a piece of meat from the display on offer, and poured himself wine, drinking his fill and gobbling the meat with gusto. Gabriel was drinking wine with a nonchalant air, and although at first he contented himself with fruit, in the end he too held out his hand to the dish of boiled meat, still steaming, selected a slice and stuffed it into his mouth, licking his fingers and chewing calmly.
Adoniah and Matthew were consuming meat and wine from the outset. Matthew gave the impression of one who for years has been hungry for meat and thirsty for wine, while Adoniah turned his meal into a performance: taking slices of meat between his fingers, moving them this way and that, flaunting them in the faces of all those present before cramming them into his mouth and chewing noisily.
The vigilant eye of one of the waiters noticed the strange behaviour of the group of four, abstaining from the meat and not drinking the wine. And the waiter came to them and said in a hesitant voice:
“You should eat the meat and drink the wine! This is meat of the highest quality – from the King’s table, as is the wine! Such abstinence is an insult to the King and his solemn decree!”
The four of them looked at one another. His three companions seemed anxious.
“Will you submit to the Chaldean King, and defile yourselves with food that is unfit?” he asked them.
“Not I!” replied Hananiah firmly.
Mishael and Azariah also spoke up resolutely in his support. He turned to the waiter and asked him, politely but emphatically, to summon his superior. The waiter turned away and disappeared from the room.
A few moments later he returned with his superior – none other than Narazan, chief steward of the eunuchs. He greeted the four of them with a modest bow, his customary smile lighting up his heavy face. The four rose from their seats and returned his bow. He invited them to sit, and t
hey complied.
“The waiter tells me that you are not treating the King’s largesse with the respect that is appropriate, abstaining from his wine, which gladdens and strengthens the heart, and from the superb meat that he is providing for you! He also tells me he has warned you against any slight – whether real, potential or merely contemplated – upon the honour of the King – if, that is, you would rather stay in the palace than be sent to the copper mines in the mountains!” He chuckled, but behind the good-natured banter he was clearly anxious.
“We are not refusing the King’s largesse, and we mean him no disrespect whatsoever!” he answered him in a clear but quiet voice, not intending his words to be overheard by the other diners, who were looking on with keen curiosity.
His reply reassured Narazan. It was a relief to him to know that he could negotiate with the young men without resorting to threats of punishment.
“All these fine foods that God has given to the sons of men, to enjoy them and to bless Him, set out in such abundance on these tables,” the youth went on to say – “all come to us through the largesse of the King! Whether you nibble a date or gorge yourself on meat – you are enjoying the King’s largesse, praising him, extolling his generosity and his refined taste! There is no difference between breaking one’s fast with one or another element of the royal bounty, as both are of equal worth.”
Narazan sighed and retorted:
“Meat is not of the same worth as fruits or vegetables. The former gives strength and the latter diminishes it! One who eats only fruits and vegetables and drinks no wine, will weaken, and even fall sick, and his thoughts will be impaired, likewise the meditations of his heart. He who eats meat and does not disdain the fine wine of His Majesty the King – is strong and of handsome appearance, proof against sickness, clear of thought and apt of speech, and the King delights in him, and for this reason he, the King, commands that he be given nourishing meat to eat, and invigorating wine to drink!”
