by Roger Herst
Itamar confided that an anonymous seller in Prague approached the deputy-curator at the British Museum in London to sell a parchment containing eight verses from the Book of Amos, the earliest of the Hebrew prophets canonized in the Old Testament. That sounded to Itamar as if it could be a document stolen from Cave XII before Father Benoit and Tim Matternly interrupted the looting operation. Under pressure from the Antiquities Authority, the curator in London made it clear that, unless the seller could establish the document's provenance, the Museum wasn't interested.
Designing the Matternly Wing at the Shrine of the Book began within three months, time Gabby used to rewrite major portions of her thesis for eventual submission to the faculty at the Hebrew University. The new working title was: The Reliance of Hebrew Prophecy Upon Training, Not Divine Inspiration.
She took Itamar's advice about scheduling the release of an article in Modern Archeology to coincide with the exhibition of these new texts at the Shrine of the Book. Sarah Eisenhart had planned the official groundbreaking for the Timothy Matternly wing to occur simultaneously.
The deciphering of fresh documents from the time of Jesus attracted international attention. Ezra Raviv personally invited Donaldo Cardinal Fornenti to the groundbreaking but was not surprised when his Excellency sent a subordinate to represent the Church of Rome. Leaders of the Greek Orthodox, Abyssinian, Anglican, Maronite and Coptic churches, plus Sunni Muslims and all branches of world Judaism were not as timid, sending high-ranking emissaries. Tim's family came from New Bedford, Massachusetts. Eight of his colleagues from the University of Chicago's School of Archeology traveled to Jerusalem. Gabby learned that the university's president thought so highly of Tim's work, and what glory it brought to his institution, that he paid for their travel from a slush fund he maintained for pet projects. Archeologists and historians from over forty countries requested invitations.
Gabby was particularly honored to deliver the major address, introduced by the prime minister. The police were so worried about security that they insisted on moving part of the groundbreaking ceremony indoors, to Binyan ha-Umah, the National Auditorium. There, Gabby—nervous, but feeling as if she were merely acting as Tim Matternly's proxy—addressed the packed auditorium in Hebrew. Simultaneous translations in eight languages were available for foreign visitors.
"Mr. Prime Minister, dignitaries from around the world, fellow archeology and history enthusiasts," she began at a well-practiced pace. "I address you in a language used by the writers of these scrolls. Mixed with Aramaic, Hebrew survives now as a spoken tongue to link us with our ancestors. So it is fitting that, as we touch the past through newly discovered ancient documents, we do so in the same language.
“The Israel Museum and the Shrine of the Book have agreed to make CD copies of these fragments available to you, exactly as they were collected from Cave XII at Qumran. Most of you have either read or heard about the texts we have assembled. When you compare these with the raw material, many of you will believe we have made errors. Feel free to assemble the letters, words, and phrases as you please. Some of you will probably wish to perform DNA comparisons, which we have not done, but plan to in the future.
"I say 'we' because while I struggle to speak this language, I don't have the knowledge of Aramaic or ancient Hebrew to have completed this monumental assemblage. The late Dr. Timothy Matternly and I both depended heavily on a Jewish scholar whose anonymity we're pledged to maintain. It is sufficient to say that without his invaluable help our compilation would not have been possible."
Gabby next outlined the method she and Rabbi Zechariah Schreiber used to compile the texts, then pledged that, once a few legal issues were resolved with Tim Matternly's estate, his software would be released for scholars to use free of charge.
"I wish to conclude," she said after a pause to indicate a change of direction, "with a few final observations. The earliest Hebrew prophets mentioned in Genesis through Deuteronomy were men, and presumably a few women, who practiced sorcery, divination, the reading of omens, interpretation of dreams, acts of clairvoyance, foreseeing the future, and conferencing with dead spirits. Early prophets, such as Nathan, Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha, who carried the imprimaturs of prophetic guilds, claimed to be intermediaries between kings and Yahweh.
"By the eighth century before the Common Era, a second group of prophets emerges. Men such as Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and Jonah, to name only a few, appear to be thoroughly independent from the guilds of their predecessors. Like Moses and Jeremiah, they are often reluctant to speak for God but appeared to have been inducted to serve as His mouthpieces. We might consider them co-opted to reveal God's wishes on a vast number of subjects, from military and political strategy to personal morality, the treatment of widows, orphans, and the impoverished. Today, the prophecies of these venerable teachers are considered ethical bedrock for western civilization.
"Tim Matternly's discovery and research at Qumran has led me to appreciate that Old Testament prophecy did not stop in the Persian era with the last of this second group, Ezra, Haggai and Zephaniah. Quite the contrary. With the advent of harsh Roman rule in the Middle East, a new prophetic model arises. I would like to categorize what emerged in Judea-Palestine at the time as a new form of prophecy. This new breed of prophets no longer waited for God to possess or inspire them. On the contrary, these later-day prophets become proactive solicitors of divine will, volunteering to be God's mouthpieces. And what they propose is a new covenant with Yahweh, based upon personal not institutional communication.
"These new prophets trained in schools to become the interpreters of Divine will. Fragments from Cave XII at Qumran show us a monastic lifestyle based upon the examination of sacred texts, the recitation of prayer, and the practice of bodily hygiene. I know this is a radical departure from the classical view. Many clerics, who have become comfortable with their sacred texts, will throw up their hands and denounce me. They believe that the Holy Writ, once canonized in time and place, is forever immutable. But see for yourselves, in the first century of the Common Era, the institution of prophecy underwent significant changes."
***
That evening after a long series of celebrations, Itamar told Gabby how proud he was of her and asked, "Are you exhausted?"
She nodded that she was. "But I'll recover."
"It's not necessary. After what you've accomplished, you can glide for a while. Put yourself on autopilot and relax."
"Oh, no, Iti. That's not me. This isn't the end of my project, but just the beginning. I've got work already cut out for me for the next few years. And it's going to be more challenging than anything I've ever done."
He appeared surprised. "I can't imagine."
"The fragments will soon be displayed in the Shrine. People will learn about a small school in the wilderness that had a tremendous impact on western civilization. But they won't know exactly how tremendous until the Holy Father reveals the most important document of all. We're under oath not to disclose what we know and I plan to honor my word. But that doesn't oblige me to keep silent about what happened at Ein Arugot. My job now is to create a climate of understanding so that some day the Holy Father will voluntarily release the Yeshu fragment."
"It will never happen," Itamar declared.
"Who knows? If people start talking about how God communicates with them, how prophecy really works, not the gibberish they learn in Sunday school, then someday the Pope may see his way clear."
"Not in our lifetimes." "Yes, Iti, in our lifetimes. You can bet on that," she responded with a teasing smile that rippled her cheeks with the deepest and most irresistible dimples he had ever seen. Having just witnessed how she had plunged into an adventure far over her head and somehow prevailed, he was willing to imagine that perhaps she was right.
End
POSTSCRIPT
Human deeds are sown for future generations to harvest. To feed our curiosity and to learn from whence we have come, we are destined to dig up our past, knowi
ng it is no easier to ferret out events from yesteryear than to write an accurate history of one's own life.
The very observation of a human event changes it forever. Thus, what results from our attempts to unearth the past inevitably evolves into story.
END
THE RABBI GABRIELLE SERIES
Book I: Rabbi Gabrielle's Scandal
Rabbi Gabrielle, a young female rabbi in Washington DC, is called upon to defend an accused rapist in court, imperiling her career. She must negotiate a hostile climate both in her synagogue and in the community, while attempting to live a normal life as an attractive, unmarried woman. Here is a chance to have an internal look at the life of a clergywoman in a profession that has long been a man's proprietary domain.
Book II: A Kiss for Rabbi Gabrielle
Rabbi Gabrielle succeeds the senior rabbi a Congregation Ohav Shalom and in this new role must perform a funeral for her favorite Bar Mitzvah boy, now a young man recently murdered in a remote Washington DC park. This death brings her to a ghetto high school where the victim coached its struggling tennis team. An avid tennis player herself, Gabrielle attempts to keep the tennis team going and, because the police are unable to apprehend the murderer, investigates the crime. This brings her into conflict with Washington's thriving gun trade. Pursuit of the killer thrusts Gabrielle into the nation's spotlight, exactly where she doesn't want to be.
Book III: Rabbi Gabrielle's Defiance
Rabbi Gabrielle continues her personal and professional odyssey, this time toying with running for a seat in Congress. In the process she becomes entangled with a Korean computer geek who operates a successful on-line political campaign website for underfunded, unknown candidates. At the same time her congregation has lost a child burned to death in an accident lighting Hanukkah candles. Gabrielle must grapple with accusations against her talented but sensitive associate rabbi for unprofessional incompetence and a nasty law-suit leveled against Ohav Shalom. Arson is the subject and Rabbi Gabrielle becomes a hound dog on scent, all the while wrestling with a new romance in her life.
Book IV: Rabbi Gabrielle Commits a Felony
A prized Torah scroll is stolen from Ohav Shalom. The FBI determines the event to be a "Hate Crime" and initiates an investigation. But Rabbi Gabrielle unearths clues into the theft that lead in another direction. While intensely active in her daily rabbinical duties, her attention is drawn back 65 years to the origin of the stolen Torah in the Ukraine. The discovery brings this liberal rabbi into conflict with the powerful and well-organized Orthodox Jewish community in New York. Internecine warfare between Jewish denominations must be pacified before Rabbi Gabrielle can return to her post at Ohav Shalom.
Book V: Rabbi Gabrielle Ignites a Tempest
Rabbi Gabrielle takes leave from her rabbinical duties to pursue a doctorate in biblical studies at the University of Chicago. She is summoned to Israel by the Director of Antiquities in Jerusalem when her scholarly live-in boy friend cannot be found to help investigate the robbery of a newly discovered cave at Qumran, site of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. In the search to find him, Gabrielle becomes aware of her friend's involvement in this robbery and while attempting to shield him, gets swept into a cloak and dagger intrigue involving the Catholic Church and the Government of Israel.