THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series)

by John Price

  Sophia was also awake. She could hear the radio reports of the location of the invading forces. Being the practical member of the family, she immediately realized when she heard that the invaders were south of Highway 5 on Rabin Highway, that their community offered too attractive of a bombardment target to ignore. She said her prayers quietly, not wishing to wake the children, whom she knew would be awake soon enough once artillery shells began to rain down on their neighborhood.

  Moshe heard Sophia’s fervent prayers. As reports were broadcast that the invading forces were turning south on Highway 40, Yerushalayim Highway, next to their home, Moshe reluctantly realized that the Guttman family might not survive the next hour. When they purchased their flat the salesman had been quite specific that the safe room would afford only limited protection if larger rounds of ammunition were to be used. His expression at the time, Moshe recalled, was, "This is not a bomb proof room, and just barely a bullet proof room, depending on the size of the munition being used". Moshe decided he needed to pray also.

  As he finished his prayers, Moshe heard two things simultaneously, the radio newscaster announcing the latest location of the armored column on Yerushalayim Highway, just a block from their building, and the sound of exploding ordinance. The armored column made its way south on Yerushalayim Highway, blasting each residential tower on its way, moving west to downtown Tel Aviv. As numerous shells tore the buildings apart, screams of the residents could be heard in the loud explosions. A Russian artillery unit pulled up next to the six story apartment tower in which the Guttmans lived and fired four devastating rounds into the building. The blasts had the effect of collapsing the first floor, which led to the pancaking of the upper floors. The apartment tower was no longer a tower, but was now a pile of rubble, surrounded by dust, in the midst of which flames erupted from opened gas lines, consuming what was left in the building that could burn.

  Moshe, Sophia, Golda and Yitzhak Guttman were no more. The Guttman safe room and flat on the third floor of the apartment tower collapsed into the rubble. Their bodies were torn and crushed by the explosion which destroyed their home. Moshe, Sophia, Golda and Yitzhak’s blood flowed from their smashed bodies, mixing with the concrete dust, disintegrated timber and what was left of their family home. Thus, the four Guttmans’ lives flowed out of their bodies as their blood ran onto the Promised Land. Though what had just happened in Petah Tikva was of no great concern in America, it was noticed where it counted.

  23

  The Old Cemetery

  Rosh Pina, Israel

  For the site of the curse the Rabbi chose the Old Cemetery at the back of the 135 year old town known as Rosh Pina. The town was settled in 1878 by orthodox Jewish farmers, financially supported by Baron Edmund de Rothschild. The town boasted the nation’s second oldest modern Hebrew school and Baron’s Gardens modeled after Versailles. Buried in the Old Cemetery is Shlomo Ben-Yosef who died at the age of 25 in 1938. He was the first Jewish resident of the British mandate area executed by the British. Ben-Yosef led an attack on an Arab bus in retaliation for the killing of six Jews by Arab militants. When his death verdict was announced, two months after the attack, Shlomo Ben-Yosef stood and shouted, "Long live the Kingdom of Israel on both banks of the Jordan".

  The Rabbi selected the Old Cemetery not only for its notable history, but also because it was the same cemetery where he had some years before performed a Pulsa Dinura curse. He called then for a curse on the Prime Minister of Israel who gave away Gaza, leading to the forced eviction of ten thousand Jewish settlers from 21 communities, many of whom had lived in Gaza for decades. The Pulsa Dinura curse was performed by twenty bearded, married Jewish residents over the age of 40 and under a rabbinical order for the curse. Four months after the Rabbi called in the curse for angels of destruction to come against the Prime Minister, Israel’s leader lapsed into a vegetative coma, dying several years later. In the years following the Rabbi’s call for the curse and the PM’s stroke, the Rabbi frequently referred to the Pulsa Diura curse as the underlying cause of the Prime Minister’s stroke and eventual death. He also noted that the hurricane which became America’s costliest natural disaster slammed into the southern U.S. during the last two days of the forced evacuation of Jewish residents of Gaza, which started on August 16th and ended on the 30th. The Rabbi suggested to anyone who would listen that when America pushed Israel to force the Jewish residents out of their Gaza homes that God then allowed a hurricane to push Americans out of their homes.

  On this day of great danger and turmoil in Israel, the Rabbi gathered the same group of bearded, married Jewish residents who had earlier assembled near the grave of Shlomo Ben-Yosef for the first Pulsa Diura curse. Each was dressed in black, with the exception of the Rabbi who was dressed in white. Prior to their meeting, a question had been raised by one who participated in the first curse as to whether the second curse which the Rabbi was proposing was in keeping with rules for the kabbalistic ceremony. The Rabbi had let it be known that the new curse would be upon America for failing to keep its word to come to Israel’s defense if Israel were to ever come under attack. Under halacha, traditional Jewish law, the ceremony was to be against people who are Jewish. The Rabbi, after studying halacha and consulting with other scholars, concluded that such a curse would be appropriate, given the fact that America had many Jewish residents, several of prominence being in the U. S. government at high levels.

  The invokers of the curse walked solemnly into the Old Cemetery just before dusk, the sun just finishing its job for the day as it lit the dust and pollen motes circulating in the air. They said nothing as they made their way to the sacred burial site of Ben-Yosef, revered by many in Israel as a young man willing to give his life for the formation of the State of Israel. They stood around the burial site, their hands clasped and their eyes either closed or filled with tears. The Rabbi prayed, then briefly reviewed the unforgiveable crime of America, that the world’s most powerful nation had given its solemn, written commitment to Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel on March 26, 1979. To induce the signing of the Camp David Peace Accord, America, through its President, gave its promise to come to Israel’s defense were it to be militarily attacked.

  The Rabbi recited the facts of the current invasion of Israel from the north. He reminded everyone present, though they were all quite well aware of the facts, that America’s promise was being breached by its refusal to help little Israel, it’s only ally in the Middle East. Thus, he cried out, America has become a betrayer of Israel, as scripture prophesied. The Rabbi mentioned the several verses in scripture pointing to America as the rich, influential and powerful end times country described as the Daughter of Babylon. He finished the charges against Israel’s former friend and protector and lowered his head. The assembled men prayed fervently for God’s justice. After their prayers, waiting for a few moments, the Rabbi gave for all to hear the basis for the Pulsa Diura curse, as he then read aloud from Jeremiah 51:33, 35, 49 and 56:

  "For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come."

  "May the violence done to our flesh be upon Babylon," say the inhabitants of Zion. "May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia," says Jerusalem.

  "Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon."

  "A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of retribution; he will repay in full."

  The Rabbi then prayed and called upon God to send angels of destruction on the nation which betrayed Israel, as Isaiah warned in 21:2 - "the traitor betrays".

  "Oh, God, we only ask for justice for Israel and to avenge the blood of our people, your people, which will be shed in this evil invasion. We ask you to keep your promise given by the Prophet Jeremiah that the violence done to our flesh and our bloo
d shed will be upon the betrayer, upon the Daughter of Babylon, upon the United States of America, just as you promised. A Pulsa Diura curse we call for on the Daughter of Babylon, on America. May you have mercy on their souls. Amen and Amen.

  24

  Highway 40

  East of Tel Aviv, Israel

  It started with a single large raindrop hitting the windshield of the Russian Commander’s armored mobility vehicle, which was mine-resistant and designated as INV-1, the command vehicle for the invasion. The Russian Commander, who had been studying ground invasion terrain maps, heard the rain drop hit, looked up and saw that it had splattered right in front of him. His first thought was that it had be from a bird, as they had carefully chosen this day based on perfect weather to move massive machines and large numbers of troops quickly across Israel. Couldn’t be rain, he thought, as he looked back at his maps.

  Shortly thereafter, though, another large drop splattered his windshield, followed by another and then many drops began to pummel his column of armored vehicles and armed soldiers. Within ten minutes the rain had turned into a torrential downpour. Some of the force’s armored fighting vehicles had windshield wipers, but many of the larger vehicles had not been so designed or built. As the rain increased in intensity it was soon obvious that the column would have to stop, as the drivers of the larger vehicles with no wipers couldn’t see to stay on the road. Even in vehicles with wipers, set at the highest speed, drivers were not able to see clearly through what looked like buckets of water being thrown on them from above.

  Commander Nikolaevich issued the order to halt their advance to Tel Aviv, temporarily, until the rain slackened. He radioed his column control officers who were further back, some still in the mountains of the Golan Heights, to warn them that they might encounter exceptionally heavy rain when they arrived further into Israel. Each officer with whom the Commander spoke responded that they were already experiencing a great deal of rainfall, which had forced them to halt their advance. Strange, thought the Commander of the invasion force, that there should be so much rain over such a large area, yet with no prior weather warning. He concluded that it was nothing like he had ever before encountered, he’d just have to wait it out.

  As the rain continued to pour down in increasing intensity, the Commander received a flash message from Moscow asking why they were stopped, as the satellite feeds in the Kremlin confirmed. After being strongly reprimanded by the Kremlin for ‘letting a little rain slow you down’, the Commander hung up, adjusted his uniform, pulled on his General’s high-peaked hat and opened his side door, noticing as he did so that there were now some sizeable hailstones mixed in the falling rain. He stood up on the side platform, tried to look at the road ahead, which he could just barely make out, then turned his head to see how much of his column he could see in the downpour.

  As he turned he was thrown off of the side platform onto the ground. At first he thought he had just slipped on the wet platform, but then as the ground was violently shaking below his fallen prone body he realized that an earthquake, an exceptionally large quake, had shaken his vehicle so violently that he was thrown off. He looked up at a small building near the edge of Yerushalayim Highway. It was being shaken like a pit bull ripping apart a small dog. Cracks appeared in the walls, followed by the building shaking apart and collapsing to the ground. He looked the other direction at the mountains that he could just barely make out in the rain. The mountains were undulating up and down, with walls of what looked like large rock sections shearing off and falling off the mountains. One large cliff appeared to bolt straight up, then fall sideways and pitch down the side of the mountain.

  The Commander’s last conscious thought was to ask himself how there could be such an enormous, damaging earthquake in an area of the world not known for seismic disturbances. As the thought came to his mind, something else came to his head. A falling seven pound hailstone split the rain and the Commander’s skull, killing him instantly. The driver of the command vehicle saw his Commander’s body on the rain-soaked ground, blood spewing from his smashed head. He jumped out of the vehicle to assist the fallen officer, only to himself be struck dead by multiple softball and larger sized hailstones.

  Most of the invading troop carrier vehicles were of the same design used in prior wars, with canvas tops and sides. The plummeting hailstones quickly split open the canvas of the trucks, hurtling onto the soldiers lined up inside. Within minutes, no matter how the troops tried to avoid the armament from heaven, most couldn’t and died from traumatic injuries, head concussions and smashed rib cages and limbs. Those who tried to escape by jumping from the personnel carriers were quickly struck down, as the hailstones were pervasive across the invading column and beyond. Armored vehicles with metal tops were pounded by round after round of increasingly heavy hailstones, collapsing the roofs, crushing the troops within. The world had rarely witnessed such an exhibition of cosmic power, but it wasn’t yet over.

  The earthquake aftershocks grew in intensity with the rain and hailstones also not slacking. In the IDF War Room Israel’s military leaders were monitoring the rain and hail on weather radar. The earthquake seemed to be centered on the invading armored column in the Golan and south into the plains of north central Israel. Its effects swayed the IDF tower and other buildings in Tel Aviv. At the same time, a wire service news bulletin reported that record-sized earthquakes were happening in Moscow, Tehran and other cities of nations whose troops were part of the Israel invasion force, with reported widespread destruction caused by unusual fire falling from the sky.

  Just as IDF’s commanding general turned from the wire bulletin to make a comment to Israel’s PM, a blinding flash appeared on several of the television monitors in the war room. The PM shouted, "What was that? What was that? I haven’t released our nukes, yet. That looked like a nuke detonation. What was…."

  A review of the electronic monitoring resources in the room disclosed that three explosions had just detonated, in the Golan Heights, near Mount Tabor and northeast of Tel Aviv, near the intersection of Highways 5 and 6. The PM reviewed the monitoring results, sipped more coffee to moisten his throat which was made dry by the tension and stress of watching what certainly appeared to be the world’s first nuclear war-time detonations since 1945, and again asked, "What? These weren’t our nukes. We know that. But, none of the three were detonated on our population centers. I don’t get it. Are you telling me that these are maybe less than a megaton? That’s close to normal ordinance as far as blast effect, but of course, the radiation will kill thousands. Uhm, I don’t….Do you think? Uhm. Maybe. Get me Rabbi Herzog. Now. He prayed for this….it sure looks like the Prophet Ezekiel’s prophecy that the Rabbi called down on the invaders at the Wailing Wall, praying for Israel’s invaders to suffer. What did he call it? ‘Fire and sulfur’? That sounds a lot like the effects of a nuke. You don’t suppose?"

  Rabbi Herzog’s office thanked the PM’s staffer for the call, but explained that the Chief Rabbi was in prayer at Yad Vashem and couldn’t be disturbed. The staffer conveyed the response to the PM, who replied, "The last thing I would do is to interrupt Rabbi Herzog as he prays at Israel’s national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. His prayers at the Wailing Wall may well have saved us from a second holocaust, here in our own land. When he calls back, connect me right away."

  25

  War Room – Israeli Defense Force

  IDF HaKirya Compound, Tel Aviv

  Upon his return from praying at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s Chief Rabbi tried to return the PM’s call. He was immediately refused access by the PM’s office, but he suspected that given the invasion, he would most likely be at the IDF HaKirya Compound, in the IDF War Room three floors below ground level. The process of getting his call through took some time, but during his wait he was fully apprised as to what had been happening in the last hour. He heard a click on the phone line, after which he was greeted by the surprisingly upbeat voice of Israel’s elected leader. "Rabbi Herzog. Wha
t an honor to hear from you."

  "Umh….That is….Mister Prime Minister. The honor of course is mine."

  "Before we discuss why you called, let me unofficially….later it’ll be more formal….thank you, Rabbi Herzog, for calling Israel to a solemn assembly, to fast and to pray for divine intervention. Along with watching by drone as Russia and her friends stormed into our sacred land, I also watched you at the Wailing Wall. I will be the first to admit, Rabbi, that I didn’t have much faith in what you were calling down on the invaders, but it appears to certainly be working."

  "Sir, it wasn’t me. I just did what Joel said to do and….well….Almighty God is doing the rest."

  "No one can argue with that, Rabbi. As men we can do a lot of things, but we can’t cause earthquakes, or send torrential rains, or hailstones that weigh over twenty kilo. And fire and sulfur – it looked like large sheets of flames falling from the skies, consuming everything it landed on. I’ve asked our science office to figure out what that was….and how we could possibly replicate it."

  Rabbi Herzog quietly but assuredly said to the leader of his country, "Bebe, this is nothing but the hand of Jehovah Himself. Ezekiel 38 tells us that when Gog and Persia and Cush and Put, that is today’s Russia, Iran, Libya and others, would someday invade Israel that God would rain on them, send hail on them, shake the earth and send, yes, ‘fire and sulfur’ on them. Ezekiel says that Israel will be burying dead invaders for months. The Prophet says that the nations that sent these invaders will suffer greatly. What we have seen today is God honoring His word and glorifying himself. The nations of the world will see this and know that He is the Lord."

  "As you might say, Rabbi, Amen and Amen."

  "Sir, have we lost many Israeli lives? We want to organize to help the families of those who died."