Rabbi Gabrielle Ignites a Tempest

by Roger Herst

  Itamar, Gabby, and Zabronski rose to introduce themselves, then sat as Zebulon Sonnenberg explained the latest developments.

  Ezra Raviv, a straggler from Israeli's socialist leadership in a short sleeve white shirt with wide crumpled collars, listened carefully, processing the information. Gabby noted how stress had grooved deep wrinkles in his cheeks. He addressed her directly. "You assembled all these fragments by yourself? That's excellent scholarship. Excellent, excellent work. I'm always amazed by what you Americans accomplish."

  "Not alone, Adon Raviv," she said. "The fragments were scanned by Dr. Timothy Matternly. And both of us worked closely with a Talmud scholar here in Jerusalem, a very important collaborator without whom this miracle would never have happened."

  "Who?" the prime minister now seemed profoundly engaged.

  "I can't reveal his name. He doesn't wish either credit or recognition. I'll say only that he's a respected member of the religious community in Jerusalem."

  "Oh," the prime minister said, nodding that he understood how compromising this might appear among Orthodox scholars.

  Gabby then gave the photocopy of the Yeshu fragment to Raviv and explained how it was found. A quick study, the prime minister gripped the copy in both hands as if he expected it to slip from his thick fingers. "Can there be any more important artifact in Christian history? Am I wrong in thinking this is the greatest contribution to Christianity in a thousand years?"

  "That's our assessment, sir," Itamar said.

  "And you, too, Zeb?" "Yes, of course," answered the deputy.

  "Anybody else know about this?"

  "Only those here now," replied Itamar, "and two researchers at the Hebrew University who did the carbon tests. Both understand that if they breach our confidentiality, they'll end up in jail for most of their adult lives. And it's very possible that Father Benoit Matteau saw it, and he probably took a scanned electronic copy with him to Rome. We have no idea who he told there. But we know that this original is now in the Authority's safe."

  Raviv turned toward Gabby, saying, "Well, Rabbi Lewyn, what do you make of this?"

  "The Yeshu name confirms by inference that fragments Dr. Matternly and I worked on are authentic. It also shows a high probability that Jesus was a student at the wilderness school at Ein Arugot. The Roman government here evidently believed that training prophets loyal to God and not the emperor was a threat to imperial authority. It's quite possible that the administrators at the school learned about what the Roman procurator intended to do and moved the school records from Ein Arugot to Qumran for safekeeping. We don't know if any of the students besides Jesus survived."

  Raviv nodded his head. "Sounds plausible to me. So now that we have this priceless fragment, should we put it in the Shrine of the Book for the Christian world to see? Good for Israel tourism, no? What self respecting Christian wouldn't want to read his savior's name written while Jesus was alive?"

  Gabby caught an emerging smile on Itamar's face. His chin dipped slightly, a sign of his approval for her to introduce an idea that would either label them as national heroes, or as wild dreamers, intoxicated by their discovery.

  "May I posit a scenario?" Gabby asked. When nobody objected, she said, "Here we have the name of Jesus Christ on a fragment of parchment. We believe it came from Cave XII at Qumran, but standing by itself, we have no absolute proof. Yes, we can link it to the roster of students from a yeshiva at Ein Arugot, but only by means of electronic copies. If we put this fragment in its original form, coupled with copies of what the Vatican now illegally possesses, in the Shrine of the Book, experts will dispute the authenticity of the entire corpus. I have absolutely no doubt that all the fragments are genuine because Timothy Matternly sacrificed his life for them. But my personal belief is worthless. In order to make a case that Jesus was a student at Ein Arugot, we must produce originals of the curriculum and student roster, both of which are now under the Pope's control."

  Raviv shot a glance at Zebulon Sonnenberg to see if Gabby's assessment paralleled his own thoughts.

  "The Holy See, on the other hand," Gabby continued, "is now holding multiple fragments that it probably can't read, and even if Vatican scholars manage to assemble them as we have done, they won't mean much to the Church. They speak of monastic practices of a Jewish cult, a small band of religious fanatics. For Christianity, the Holy Grail is not this isolated school at Ein Arugot or its students, but what we possess, the original Yeshu fragment bearing the name of their Savior."

  "Do you smell a deal here, Zeb?" the prime minister asked.

  "You mean we trade them the Yeshu fragment for all the other documents?"

  "Will that fly?" Raviv asked Itamar and Zabronski. "You've had meetings with Cardinal Fornenti."

  "Not immediately," said Itamar, "but I think the Church will eventually come around. I doubt that the Holy Father is ready to demythologize the life of Jesus and place him in his historic place among other students at Ein Arugot. So by making a deal with us, the Church can keep the written evidence of Jesus at the wilderness school secret. So long as only a few individuals know about this document, two thousand years of Christian theology will remain unaffected. If Church fathers aren't willing to strip away the myths about Jesus Christ and plant him squarely in the history of his own time, not a half-century later in the contradictory narratives of the Gospels, they have no choice. The Vatican can control only what it possesses. If I were the Pope, I wouldn't let such an opportunity slip through my fingers."

  "Why, I thought I was the Pope," joked Raviv.

  "Only to Jews," answered Sonnenberg, patronizing the PM's humor.

  Raviv nodded his gratitude to the deputy PM before addressing Itamar. "Won't the Holy Father need time to study the context of this fragment?" he asked.

  "We believe so," said Itamar. "If we can keep this secret until a deal is made."

  "What happens if the Vatican demands a gag order?" pursued Raviv.

  "That depends on what Rabbi Lewyn wants to do with her dissertation," answered Sonnenberg.

  Raviv curled his lips playfully, then said, "To keep you quiet, young lady, I could throw you in jail. We could fabricate some misbehavior and keep you locked up and out of circulation for a long time. But I'm not going to do that. This is a free country and you have a right to publish whatever you wish."

  "I intend to incorporate this material into my PhD thesis at the University of Chicago. And dedicate it to Timothy Matternly."

  "Can we count on your silence until this matter is cleared up? Wouldn't you like to see your fragments displayed in the Shrine of the Book?"

  Gabby realized that she had backed into negotiations with two shrewd politicians and decided to up the ante. "Would you promise to keep all the fragments together in one place?"

  "I see no reason why that couldn't be arranged," said Zebulon Sonnenberg.

  "And dedicate a special wing in the Shrine to the work of Timothy Matternly?" Gabby added.

  Both ministers fell silent until Raviv said, "My staff will take that up with Sarah Eisenhart at the Museum. I have no objection in principle, but there are always budgetary issues to consider. We'll look into it."

  With that issue settled for the time being, the deputy PM indicated that they should take no more of the prime minister's valuable time. But Ezra Raviv wasn't finished. "And what about your thesis, young lady?" he asked. "To resolve this matter, the Vatican may take many years and I doubt you're willing to wait that long for a degree you obviously deserve."

  "Does anybody read a PhD thesis, other than the candidate's advisors?" she answered.

  "I'm sure yours will be widely read and publicized. And you won't stop there. From it, you'll write a best-selling book, go on the lecture circuit, and appear on TV talk programs. Tell me this: if I could prevail on my connections at the Hebrew University, would you be willing to write your thesis in Israel? We could then ensure that your findings wouldn't be prematurely leaked."

  "It's a fair offer," Itam
ar said. "But that's a very personal issue. Only Rabbi Lewyn can decide."

  "I would need time to consider it," she said to the PM.

  "Of course. We won't make any contact with the university until we hear from you. Isn't Simon Pines on the faculty at Chicago?"

  "He's on my advisory committee," she said.

  "Good, very good, because should you decide to help us, I'll call upon him to coordinate matters there. Simon and I went to grade school together. This is a small country, you know."

  "Very small," she replied, thinking that she had just entered into a horse trade with the Prime Minister of Israel.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  During Itamar's and Zabronski's return trip to Rome, Donaldo Cardinal Fornenti proved himself to be a shrewd negotiator. When offered a deal, he remained aloof, posturing with indignation about how unseemly it was for the Government of Israel to bargain with the Church of Rome like a common merchant in the bazaar. But to match his diplomatic posturing, he seemed to enjoy negotiating favorable terms for the Holy Father. Itamar had learned from his past encounter with the supreme cardinal not to let him control the time schedule. Nothing would be worse than to let the Vatican drag out their discussions for years, endlessly delaying the transfer of documents.

  Counseled by a contract lawyer in Tel Aviv before traveling to Rome, Itamar attached a time limit to each proffered condition. Either the Vatican agreed to return the fragments stolen by Father Benoit within thirty days, or the Israeli Antiquities Authority would call a press conference and announce to the world the discovery of an original fragment from the early first century bearing the name of Jesus, son of Joseph. To cement his resolve, Itamar told the papal prelate that his delegation would wait in Rome no more than five days for an answer.

  On the fourth day, Cardinal Fornenti's secretary summoned Itamar and Zabronski to the Vatican, where it became clear how much the Holy Father wanted the Yeshu fragment. And as Itamar had predicted, the Holy See further demanded an absolute gag rule about disclosing its existence. Itamar was required to confirm the identities of all individuals with knowledge of it and to warrant in the name of his government that there were no others. Cardinal Fornenti was gratified to see that only seven people in Israel knew of the Yeshu fragment. "It must remain that way," he stated in his most assertive tone. "The Holy Church of Rome is an old institution that must thoroughly study a document of this magnitude. Public speculation before we've had a chance to evaluate its historic significance could be damaging. That would be most undesirable for Catholics and, I dare say, other Christians. I'm certain that as historic brothers, Jews can appreciate our sensitivities."

  Silence was a high price to pay, but, to Itamar's mind, the return of the original fragments was worth it. In his negotiation with the Holy Father's secretary of state, he held a significant trump card. During his first encounter with Cardinal Fornenti, he revealed that the fragments had already been assembled and read. In the current discussions, Fornenti repeatedly asked about what Israeli scholars had deciphered, only to receive from Itamar courteous refusals. In the end, the Church never learned exactly what it had bartered away. Had the cardinal learned about a roster of students and a curriculum taught in a remote desert yeshiva where Jesus had very likely trained for his ministry, the agreement might never have been consummated.

  Itamar had prevailed upon Zabronski not to bring up what he had learned about Father Benoit until after the more important details of the exchange were agreed upon. After a signal from Itamar, the policeman finally addressed Cardinal Fornenti, saying, "Your Eminence, it is my duty to relate police information that is certain to be of interest. No doubt you've missed your esteemed Father Benoit Matteau here in Vatican City. It’s hard for us not to believe that you were not aware he's returned to Israel. What you probably don’t know is that your priest has made his last journey to the Holy Land. His body was discovered in the Judean Desert at Qumran."

  "I presume that means he’s deceased," the prelate stated while furrowing his forehead to show that he was indeed surprised.

  "Yes. Shot five times with an automatic weapon. Our department in Jerusalem received an anonymous call telling us where his body was discovered."

  "Why?" asked the cardinal, no longer disguising his astonishment.

  Zabronski curled his lips outward as a gesture of theatrical puzzlement before saying, with an equally disingenuous sigh, "These matters are always complicated. Particularly when it’s a man of God. You see, Your Excellency, for several months now, our people have been conducting an investigation into the death of Dr. Timothy Matternly. In the course of this investigation, we questioned suspected Bedouin. I can tell you that their leaders were quite alarmed to learn that Father Benoit was present at Cave XII in Qumran where one of their sons was shot.”

  “How did they learn that?” the cardinal interrupted, no longer concealing his suspicion.

  “Information travels quickly in the desert when gossip is the currency of conversation. We fear that the Bedouin tribe believes Father Benoit bore some responsibility in the death of their son. Nothing goes unpunished in a tribal society. "

  "The Holy See will expect a thorough investigation into my priest's demise."

  "Of course, why of course, " Zabronski replied. "Unfortunately, we have already investigated for several weeks now and can’t offer you much satisfaction. The desert does strange things to the human brain. People who inhabit the region are quite insular, you know.” Once again the police officer paused to assess the prelate before fabricating a false smile. When Cardinal Fornenti failed to respond, he said, “No one in my line of work enjoys unsolved homicides, but one could argue how the death of this priest works to everybody’s benefit. It frees you from witnessing one of your brethren tried in public for major felonies, and, of course, now you don’t have to feed him indefinitely in the papal cafeteria. On the other side, my government would take no pleasure in prosecuting a churchman. That’s bound to have untoward ramifications.”

  The cardinal had to think about that for a long time. His priest, Benoit Matteau, had died an honorable death in the service of the Holy Father, a death he most probably would have wished for himself. There could be no more fitting a venue than for him to perish in the wilderness he so loved. The Pope's chief executive said nothing to the Israelis other than to clear his throat in a series of guttural emissions. He ended their conversation by delegating his staff to implement the exchange of sacred fragments.

  Itamar and Zabronski remained in Rome for eight days to work out details. Before releasing its cache of fragments, the Vatican reserved the right to have scholars examine the original Jesus document in Paris. It was agreed that Israeli experts from the Antiquities Authority would inspect the Vatican texts in Rome where, no more than thirty-days later, the final transfer would occur.

  Flying home to Tel Aviv, Zabronski asked Itamar if, once the Vatican had taken possession of the Jesus fragment, it would make the document public.

  "My best speculation," Itamar replied, "is that it will be locked up for years, particularly when we display Matternly's fragments in the Shrine of the Book. Today's Holy Father is far too conservative to concede that Jesus trained at a yeshiva designed to produce prophets. But then again, someday a new and progressive pope may allow Catholic theology to enter the twenty-first century."

  The two men fell into silence, scanning reading material they had brought along for the three-hour plane ride. Eventually, Itamar nudged Zabronski and when he had his attention, the archeologist asked, "What are you going to tell Gabrielle about the investigation into Matternly's death?"

  "Is there a choice? Would she'd believe me if I told her we're making progress?"

  "Incidentally," Itamar said with a lift of his eyebrows, "I've been meaning to ask who told the Bedouin about Father Benoit?"

  "When Gabby told us that the Dominican priest had returned to Jerusalem, I shuddered to think of a long and probably fruitless search. Who wants to arrest a priest and face
the anger of his fellow clerics? So I decided to cut to the chase and visit Sheik Telfik banu al-Fahl in the Ta'amireh encampment. I've had a good working understanding with the old coot for several years now. We drank many cups of coffee and ate too many kebabs. In the course of our conversation, I told him that the Uzi that killed the youth, Mumud banu-Nazeem, was purchased from a gun dealer in Bethlehem. Then I revealed how we had learned that Benoit accompanied Tim Matternly to Cave XII on the very day Mumud was murdered. The poor old sheik looked absolutely devastated. He and Benoit had been lifelong companions. It's one thing to be betrayed by a stranger and quite another by a close friend. The next thing I knew, there was a call telling us where to look for the body of a dead priest."

  ***

  Gabby ran into trouble with the prime minister's office. When his staff searched for funds to build a new wing at the Shrine of the Book in the memory of Tim Matternly, they were embarrassed to find that monies meant for museum expansions had been siphoned off to build new religious schools to appease Orthodox members of the Cabinet. Ezra Raviv's chief-of-staff pleaded poverty to Gabby, who responded that under the new circumstances she would write her dissertation at the University of Chicago. If the prime minister wanted to throw her in jail for the disclosure of state secrets, so be it. Seasoned politician that he was, Raviv was accustomed to being threatened. Instead of calling Gabby's bluff, he personally phoned a Jewish oilman in Edmonton, Canada, who had long been a generous benefactor of the Israel Museum and raised the necessary funds.

  In the end, Gabby agreed to work with selected faculty at the Hebrew University, accepting the prime minister's personal promise that construction of the Timothy Matternly wing at the Shrine of the Book would commence in the third quarter of the coming year. This she wanted to happen as soon as possible because the first fragments looted from Cave XII had arrived on the scene had just begun to surface in the international antiquity market.