‘Fascinating, who’d have known…’ said Eli.
‘It seems that Tudela hoped his friend in Safed would pursue a quest about an important item he had learned about in Mosul.’
‘I think we have both been looking at the same story from two different ends,’ said Eli.
Mina and Jack looked at him in surprise, then with anticipation.
‘When I first arrived in Safed, I was still a young bible student. Every day I learned more on the saintly scholars who shaped our destiny. I was especially interested in the Ari and his disciples. I read avidly, day and night. Blessed was the time when my eyesight was keen and my hand steady. Never mind, as you probably know, the Holy Ari didn’t write much himself, his disciples wrote down all his teachings.’
‘No, I didn’t know that’, said Jack ironically, ‘but please go on,’ he added quickly, after Mina kicked him in the shin to shut him up.
‘Well’, continued the old man, ‘when Chaim Vital, Ari’s favourite disciple wrote the famous book The Tree of Life, which compiled his master’s teachings, there were only manuscripts, no printed copies. Each disciple had to make a vow, under the threat of excommunication, not to allow any copy to made and sent to a foreign land and to keep the knowledge secret. It did get out eventually and was published, but I always wondered how accurate the printed copies were.’
Eli took a deep breath and continued: ‘After years of patience and dedication, I was finally introduced to a small group of men in Safed who let me read from one of the original manuscripts. There I was, in a small room, reading feverishly through the ancient pages of The Tree of Life, when I suddenly came across a short marginalia, you know, a tiny commentary in the margin. It was so strange that to this day it is still branded in my memory.’
‘What did it say, Eli?’ asked an excited Mina.
Eli quoted: ‘Was it God’s plan? Rabbi Benjamin the Traveller divided our community, but the Lion cast out the Dark Ones. Beware of their return. In the holy room.’
‘It’s like a warning in riddles’ said Mina feeling a shiver of excitement run down her spine, ‘but how do you interpret it?’
‘Well, it took me some time to figure it out and unfortunately I was never allowed access to the manuscript again but I am pretty sure “Rabbi Benjamin the Traveller” is Benjamin of Tudela who wrote about his travels in the 12th century. As The Tree of Life was written over 400 years after his death, Tudela couldn’t have divided the community in person, it must be something he did or wrote. Something concerning God’s plan.
Eli took in another deep breath and continued: ‘I read Tudela’s Book of Travels over and over again but I never found out how he divided their community, nor who the Dark Ones were, nor why one should beware their return. But, it is clear that they were evil enough to be “cast out by the Lion”, that is to say excommunicated by the Holy Ari himself. The last part of the passage troubled me for days on end. There is only one “holy room” that makes sense here and it’s in the Ari’s synagogue. It’s the recess in which it is said that the Ari pondered deeply on the mysteries of Kabbalah and received instructions from the prophet Elijah himself. But I have never found anything there, not even peace of mind.’
Jack and Mina looked at the old man in wonder. Mina’s research was taking the strangest turn.
‘Still, you were right’, Mina added passionately, ‘this commentary you read in the margin of The Tree of Life is verified by the travel notes I found in the British Library: Tudela clearly states that he wrote to Safed about an object of the greatest importance to mankind.’
The old man looked at her and sighed. ‘Don’t mistake my tone for a lack of enthusiasm at your endeavours: whatever the content of the letter Tudela sent to Safed, it must have been quite significant to divide such a learned community. But I spent many years gathering useless information on Tudela, looking everywhere in this synagogue for a sign. I even went to Egypt, to the small island where the Ari is said to have spent time in a cave as a young man. I found the cave: I searched every inch of it with great reverence, but it was to no avail. I’m tired now.’
Mina shook her head, dispirited. The old man rose to his feet.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help. Here’s my phone number. Get in touch before you leave Safed. I would love to talk some more about these matters. Maybe I’ve missed something?’
Jack laid a hand on Mina’s slumped shoulder and tried to comfort her, but she was too depressed to listen to him. They thanked Eli and slowly left the synagogue. Mina looked for a last time at the recess where Ari had met the prophet Elijah, and they were out in the cold streets once again.
Mina and Jack strolled aimlessly through the Citadel and the park for two hours. The cold air cleared their minds and numbed their feet. Although Jack was disappointed for Mina that they had not found out more about her research, he was mainly relieved that they would soon be on their way, far from Wheatley’s grasp. They entered an art gallery and while Mina asked a few questions, Jack looked out of the store’s window and suddenly froze. Springing into action he pushed Mina into a corner of the gallery and waited there for a few minutes. She asked him what the matter was but he just told her to stay there and not to leave the gallery. He had just recognised Wheatley’s men from the yacht, on the other side of the street. He quickly deduced that they had already been to the Merkazi Hotel and were now asking around about him, and possibly Mina, if they thought she might still be alive.
Leaving Mina safely in the gallery, Jack discreetly followed the two men. Hopefully they would not sense him on their trail; the narrow and winding streets made it easier to conceal oneself, but he still had to keep his wits about him. He followed them for half an hour, street after street, watching them as they questioned owners of art galleries and people coming out of synagogues throughout the Old Town. He had a fleeting impression he was being watched too and turned round, but there was no-one there. He wondered if Oberon had sent more than two men, or if he was in Safed himself.
The men were approaching the Abuhav shul. Jack thought of Ezra, the synagogue’s administrator. He would definitely remember Mina and himself from the day before. He would send the men to the Ari synagogue and straight to Eli. He calculated he had about fifteen minutes to deal with this. He picked up his mobile phone and called Eli’s home number to warn him of the danger. He did not tell him much, just enough to scare him out of staying at home and convince him to meet Mina and himself at the guest house in thirty minutes. He then rushed back to the art gallery, picked up Mina and brought her up to speed on the latest events as they made their way back quickly to the guest house.
Mina paced up and down their room, waiting impatiently for Eli.
‘Don’t worry Mina. I’m sure he’ll make it.’
‘I just don’t understand, all I did was ask a few questions.’
‘Sometimes questions can have dangerous consequences.’
‘It reminds me of something… That’s it! I’d totally forgotten to tell you about it.’
She explained who Moshe Shobai was and the email he had sent from London, warning her about playing with century-old riddles. Jack agreed she should get in touch with Shobai once they were sure Eli was out of danger. They heard some huffing and puffing and finally the old scholar made it up the stairs to the suite, carrying a small shoulder bag. Mina rushed to greet him and apologised profusely for putting him in danger. The old man simply shook his head and told her not to burden herself with the shameful actions of other men. He said he’d brought some precious documents on Tudela so they would have an opportunity to talk more about her fascinating research.
He reminded them that sunset was fast approaching and that tonight would be a special Shabbat, as it was Chanukah. Members of his congregation would be surprised not to see him officiate on this special night but Jack advised him not to return to his house tonight, nor to the Ari synagogue during Shabbat. He suggested that Eli could participate in the Shabbat dinner at the guest house in
stead. Surely it would count for something? Mina felt a little embarrassed by Jack’s blunt way with the old scholar, but he was right.
After the Shabbat meal, Mina and Eli went to sleep in separate rooms in the suite, whilst Jack stood guard. Several hours later, in the dead of night, he heard the old man scream. He raced down the corridor and went into the old man’s room. Mina followed in a matter of seconds, as she too had been awoken by the screams.
‘What’s wrong, Eli?’ asked Jack.
The old man was visibly shaken. ‘I had a dream. I saw a rabbi. He spoke to me. He said his name was… I can’t say.’
‘What?’ asked Mina bewildered. The old man sat up against the wall to gather his thoughts.
‘I have the answer. We must go. Now.’
‘Where?’
‘To the Ari shul.’
To Jack and Mina’s surprise, he leapt from the bed, hurriedly put on his shoes, coat and scarf, and rushed out of the room.
Chapter 19
Eli had the keys to the synagogue. Yet, they still felt as if they were trespassing and being sacrilegious, but then again, nothing could have stopped them now. The old man walked right through the main area to the Ari’s room. It was still illuminated by dozens of candles that had been placed there during the day. The old man knelt at the very bottom of the furthest wall and using a small penknife, began to scratch the old mortar all around the only protruding stone in the recess’ masonry.
‘You want to pull out that stone?’ asked Jack.
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll run to the van and get a crowbar,’ he ran back through the synagogue.
The old man continued clearing the stone’s mortar.
‘Can you tell me what you dreamed of, Eli?’ asked Mina.
‘I dreamed that the Ari came to me. He was pointing at the inscription affixed to the façade, outside.’
‘I didn’t pay much attention to it. What does it say?’
Jack had returned with the crowbar. Eli stood up to let him do his work and continued his conversation with Mina.
‘It says the original synagogue dates back to the 14th century but that it was damaged in an earthquake in 1759 and then destroyed in 1837 after a much stronger earthquake. The building was restored and rebuilt in parts a few years later thanks to a donation by Rabbi Yitzhak Guetta of Trieste. The inscription on the façade refers to this Italian rabbi. Recently, a team of surveyors started a restoration project here and one of the specialists showed me which parts of the building pre-date the two earthquakes. This stone I am trying to loosen is the only original stone from the Ari’s room. I just thought that maybe someone stumbled on documents among the rubble and respectfully put them back behind the new wall when it was reconstructed.
‘We’ll know soon enough,’ said Jack.
With a strong pull he managed to prise the stone out of the wall. Eli and Mina joined Jack on their hands and knees. Eli brought a candle a little closer to the empty space and pulled out a bundle of papers wrapped in an oil skin. The old man was trembling all over and kept repeating, ‘It’s a Chanukah miracle, it’s a Chanukah miracle.’
Eli was so excited he immediately proceeded to translate the text written in a mixture of Aramaic and Hebrew to his two avid listeners. Mina jotted as much as she could from his live translation in her own notebook.
‘Safed, 2 Kheshvan 5332.’ Eli thought for a while and said ‘I may be wrong, but that would approximately be October 1571.’
‘I will recount here faithfully the events that occurred during the last week, so that these extraordinary events do not come to pass into oblivion.
‘The opening words of the text clearly identify it as a chronicle.’ Eli said, ‘I have to skip a few lines; the document is illegible.’
‘…months ago, I was putting some order in the archives of our synagogue when I came across a bundle of papers which seemed much older than the documents I usually deal with. As I opened the bundle, the typical musty smell of old paper momentarily took me aback. I delicately prised open the papers and to my astonishment realised it was a lengthy letter written by the eccentric traveller, Benjamin of Tudela three centuries ago, to Morderchai of Safed. I could not understand what these letters were doing there. I felt much enthusiasm at the discovery of such a correspondence. It has always been my dream to travel to faraway lands, and I looked forward to reading some of Tudela’s accounts, from his own hand. After the usual civilities, and business issues, the tone of the letter became very enigmatic. And, when I got to Tudela’s description of an ancient and spellbinding tablet kept in the Jerusalem Temple that had survived the coming of the Romans I immediately brought the whole bundle of papers to my master.
Eli stopped and said, ‘This is extraordinary. A tablet…in the Temple in Jerusalem! If it survived the Romans, he means that the tablet was still there after the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. This next part is illegible.’
‘… that night. There was our beloved Ari, my holy master Rabbi Chaim Vital, myself and…’
‘That’s strange,’ Eli said, ‘A name has been crossed out. I’ll continue.’
‘[XXX], who we all thought had lost his mind, was sitting on a chair at the back of the room as he always did. On the main table, my master had spread out for all to see the remains of Tudela’s letter. After a while seven other rabbis came to join the session. There was…’
‘Illegible’ said Eli, sighing with frustration.
‘… in his letter to this Mordechai, Benjamin of Tudela entrusts his friend with a secret. In the archives of a synagogue in Nineveh, he read about an enigmatic clay tablet that had been sent from Nineveh to Yerushalayim and hidden… in the Kodesh Hakodashim.’
Eli murmured, ‘that’s the name for the holy of holies, the most sacred part of the temple in Jerusalem.’
‘As soon as my master uttered these words, the room seemed to bustle with energy. All the rabbis started talking at once. Our beloved Ari stood up…’
‘I can’t read any of the following. Let me jump to the next paragraph,’ said Eli.
‘… all eyes focused on his radiance, as he seldom speaks and his words inspire our every thought. He said ‘Thank you Chaim. Rabbi Benjamin’s letter describes a tablet written in the old language of the Sumerians, from a time preceding the destruction of the first temple. The Babylonian King’s advisers recorded odd discoveries while trying to read omens of floods and earthquakes. According to this letter, the tablet is a Babylonian rendering of Noah’s Mabul.’
‘Mabul means a flood or a river, but here it means the deluge,’ Eli explained.
‘It enables its possessor, if he can decipher its inner knowledge, to observe nature’s secrets, and prepare for the next…’ Eli stopped for a moment and said, ‘I’m not sure how to translate the next phrase, but “Godly changes of nature” is about as close as I can get.’
Eli stopped for a moment and said, 'I'm not sure how to translate the next phrase, but "Godly changes of nature" is about as close as I can get.'
‘… Godly changes of nature. We were all in shock. I shuddered, as I half-envisioned the mystical consequences of our beloved Rabbi’s last words: ‘The next Godly changes.’
My holy master was the first to speak. He turned to our beloved Ari and said, ‘Master, I have also read the letter, and do not doubt its veracity nor Benjamin of Tudela’s assessment. Yet I wonder about three things. First, where is the tablet at present, if it survived the Roman destruction? Two, I am troubled by the idea that there could be more Mabuls to come. Finally, even if we were able to predict when the next Mabuls were to occur, and this is a problem in itself, as it would involve divining practices, which are forbidden to us, who are we to disturb His Holy Will?’ My master had unravelled everyone’s thoughts in the methodical fashion he had learned from his own master.’
‘Here’s another damaged passage I can’t decipher,’ said Eli.
‘… we can be sure that if we are all seated in this room tonigh
t, The Holy One Blessed be He… saved the tablet from the Romans, so that we would find it at the right moment in time. Everyone agreed with the speaker.
My holy master reminded us all of King David’s psalm: “Like rivers they raised, O HASHEM, like rivers they raised their voice, like rivers they shall raise their destructiveness”. ‘This means that the tablet can only refer to other Mabuls not The Mabul, as The Holy One Blessed be He had promised Noah that The Mabul would never happen again’.
Then, Rabbi Tammim…’
‘I don’t know of this rabbi,’ said Eli
‘…who was tapping his foot impatiently as was his habit, cried out that just as Noah was saved because he was the only just man of his time, no-one should interfere with His Holy Will. When these Mabuls would happen the survivors would, once again be the only just ones. He paused, and then hammered out each word: The Holy One Blessed be He is Gevurah Shebechesed…’
‘In Kabbalah,’ said Eli, ‘there are ten revelations of the Creator’s will. They are called Sephirot in Hebrew. What we have here is a combination of two revelations: strength and kindness or gevurah bechesed. He’s saying that God acts with the firmness and benevolence of a father who can see further than his children.’
The 13th Tablet Page 15