“According to a Jewish tradition, everything which ever happened, is happening, or will happen in the future is to be found - in some form or another - in the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, which the Israelites received on Mount Sinai. However, the key to unlock all this data is not available to everyone. In the past, some Kabbalistic scholars were familiar with the detailed instructions needed to activate the Kabbalistic secrets when absolutely necessary. These secrets could be used to accomplish what could not be achieved by natural means. The rumor states that Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai used it to escape from besieged Jerusalem, and to obtain permission from the Roman general Vespasian to open a major Torah study center in Jabneh. This information was relayed to Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenos, who in turn conveyed it to Rabbi Akiba.
“Rabbi Akiba, though, felt that these means should never be used, no matter what the motivation or need. He was afraid that using these powers will cause destruction instead of redemption. Thus, he ordered that all written copies of the key be destroyed. He did, however, teach the key orally to some of his greatest disciples. One of these, Rabbi Simon Bar Yochai, taught it to his son, Rabbi Elazar. Rabbi Elazar was the one who, nevertheless, had the key written down by Rabbi Nehemiah of Peki’in. In return for doing so, Rabbi Nehemiah was given the promise that there would always be a Jewish settlement in Peki’in. And indeed, Jews have lived in Peki’in throughout centuries of our exile.
“It was because of those scrolls ordered by Rabbi Elazar ben Simon that, throughout the generations, there were those who believed that they could solve all the world’s problems. In the course of centuries, part of the scrolls fell into the hands of various great individuals. For example, the Ari evidently tried to use the key, and indeed he died at an early age. Rabbi Elijah of Vilna, known as the Gaon of Vilna, wished to travel to the Land of Israel in order to bring about the redemption, but at the last minute withdrew from his plan. Rabbi Israel Ba’al Shemtov, the founder of Hassidism, was evidently also in possession of the texts, and bequeathed them to his daughter, Odel. She was the grandmother of the renowned Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav.
“We are not aware of all the different attempts to redeem the world, but all who tried were aware that all sorts of untoward and unexpected results might ensue. Some claimed that a failure in Spain in the 15th century led to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.
“Eventually, great rabbis came to the realization that the task was too big for any single person.”
Norman seemed to have recovered somewhat. He wanted to interject and say something, but Elijah would not be stopped. Everything he now knew came tumbling out.
“The most elaborate attempt of all took place in a yeshiva named Beit Shamayim, which means ‘Home of Heaven’. It was founded in Jerusalem in 1727, and its declared aim was to hasten the redemption. For two whole centuries, its students spent all their waking hours in doing whatever they could to further this aim. They pored over all the Kabbalistic works they had, and invested much time and effort in acquiring works they did not have. This continued up to the early 1920s.
“One of the best and brightest of the students at this yeshiva was named David Moreno, an only child. He hailed from a long and illustrious line of Kabbalists. His family had lived in the Holy Land even before the Ottoman conquest. A family tradition had it that their family had never left the Holy Land, and had lived in Peki’in throughout.
“He married a lovely girl named Rachel from a Kabbalistic family too, and life was idyllic for a very short time - until Rachel came down with tuberculosis. For two years she lingered, finally succumbing to the disease. David Moreno was left alone to raise his young son.
“Had it not been for his little son, David would have been overcome with grief. Absalom gave him a reason to live and was the source of all his joy. At the Beit Shamayim Yeshiva, David continued to make great strides in his studies, and was soon known as Rabbi Moreno. Rabbi Moreno never remarried. He devoted all his time to his studies in the yeshiva and to educating his son. At a very young age Absalom showed signs of great genius. Due to the specific circumstances surrounding the family, David was able to bring his son to all the yeshiva’s special events. Even though he taught Absalom fields of knowledge that one is not allowed to teach the young, no one stopped him, out of deference for the cruelties of his life.
“In the 1920s the yeshiva attained its peak. Enrollment increased, and many worthy potential students were turned away for lack of space. The fall of the Ottoman Empire and the opening to the west that followed it opened up a treasure chest of heretofore-unknown manuscripts. Added to this were certain manuscripts from the private collection of Ms. Sassoon of Hong Kong. All these factors caused the heads of the yeshiva, including Rabbi Moreno, to take steps that would hasten the redemption. ‘It is now or never,’ they said to one another.
“The place where they carried out their efforts is not known to us. What we know is that the appropriate prayers were said, the appropriate incantations recited, and all the details carried out to the letter. Due to pressure by some of the yeshiva’s old-timers, the entire ceremony was not held in a single day, but was spread out over two days.
“The second part of the ceremony was never held because obvious signs of problems became apparent as soon as the first ceremony commenced. Before the end of that session, a major earthquake hit Jerusalem, the largest of the century. By the time the earthquake was over, the yeshiva building had ceased to exist. Not a single stone remained on top of another.
“The group reacted immediately. They realized that in the dispute between Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Akiba, Rabbi Akiba had been correct, and that any attempt to try to ‘rush things’ in terms of the ultimate redemption was obviously something that was too dangerous to even contemplate. The dream would have to remain just that. The yeshiva itself was never reopened, and all suspect manuscripts were burned. As the yeshiva had made a point of keeping all its actions utterly secret, almost no one knew what had transpired. David Moreno, then one of the prominent scholars of the yeshiva, accepted the decision. If God was clearly not in favor of their work, who were they to contradict His wishes?
“The members of the group, though, overlooked one individual, Joseph Absalom Moreno, the son of Rabbi David Moreno, his father’s pride and only source of joy. That might have been the reason why Rabbi Moreno taught him everything he knew, including the most esoteric Kabbalistic teachings. He had taught his son, even though it is forbidden to teach this to anyone less than forty years of age. The son, who was still under the age of Bar Mitzvah, was the only one who refused to abandon the dream. He was of the opinion that the reason they had failed was that they had not carried out the requisite actions in the proper manner. Before the earthquake, and certainly without his father’s knowledge, he had copied out all the important documents. Thus, even though many manuscripts were destroyed in the earthquake and the group destroyed all the others afterwards, Absalom Moreno still had copies of all of these documents.
“In 1929, Absalom Moreno utilized his knowledge for the first time. An inflamed Muslim mob had burst through the Nablus Gate and made its way to the Jewish neighborhood of Me'ah Shearim, with the express purpose of destroying the neighborhood. The Jews, who had not expected this, were defenseless. Some of them attempted to flee toward other Jewish neighborhoods. For Absalom Joseph Moreno, this was a golden opportunity to test his abilities. But he could not do this alone and took a young friend, Judah Gardi, along to work with him. Together they recited phrases that no one is permitted to recite, and took actions that no one is allowed to take. The Muslim onslaught simply stopped cold in its tracks. No one else knew how this happened, but yesterday Mr. Gardi told me all about it.
“When David Moreno realized what had happened, he slapped his son’s face for the first and only time in his life. Absalom did not react, and certainly showed no signs of remorse. His success blinded him. He was convinced that the only reason the group had disbanded was because of its ineptitude. He would not
be inept, and he would be able to harness all the powers necessary for success. A few days later, the boy simply disappeared. In the confusion caused by the Arab riots, no one even missed him, except his father. Rabbi David Moreno spent whatever little he had in a futile search for his son. Years later, in the midst of World War II, Rabbi David Moreno died - no doubt from a broken heart.”
At the mention of Rabbi Moreno’s death, Elijah detected a tear forming in Norman’s eye, but he went on mercilessly.
“The adventures of Absalom Moreno - by now he had changed his name once or twice - were enough to fill a decent-sized novel.
“Does any of this sound familiar to you?”
Norman did not need to nod, as Elijah spelled out everything he had put together about him.
“Professor Shemtov, I admire your research abilities, but I really don’t feel well. Is there a point to your history lesson? I am generally exceptionally choosy about the people I work with. I can’t understand how I went so wrong in hiring you.”
“Norman the genius made a mistake? The kitten has turned into a tiger?” asked Elijah. “The reason is simple, Mr. Moreno. I have another name that you never discovered, which you did not enter into your computer. Had you entered it, you would have known immediately that I was not suitable.”
“And what is that added name?”
“My middle name is Metatron.”
Moreno, alias Norman, looked crushed. “You messed up the program!”
“Right! All I did was add in my middle name, the name of the most important angel in the Kabbalah. And do you know who gave me that name? None other than your father, Rabbi Moreno!”
“No, it can’t be!” shouted Norman.
“I suggest that you stop your computers right now.”
“What do you find so terrible in my work of saving the world?” Norman seemed older than ever. He added, “And if I answer your question, will you leave?”
“You’re not in a position to bargain with me. I need your answer immediately!”
“I took two scrolls from my father’s yeshiva...”
Elijah interrupted him. “Do you know what the Rebbe of Kotzk said toward the end of his life? ‘When I was young, I wanted to change the world. When I became an adult, I wanted to change my country. As the years passed, I was content just to change my city. Today I say, ‘I hope I can just change myself.’”
Norman was not impressed. Not only did he know the story, but he also knew how it continued.
“That’s not the end of the story,” said Norman. “The problem was that he began in reverse order. First, he had to change himself, afterwards his city, then his country, and only afterwards the world. Then he might have had a chance of succeeding. In any event, your riddle will solve itself in a few minutes. Open the curtain.”
Norman wearily pointed to the curtain. Elijah went over, opened the curtain, and looked down. Beneath them, on a lower level, was a room full of electronics. It looked almost like control room in a space station. In it were the two supercomputers, with smaller computers linked to them.
“You have to stop it all,” said Elijah in an authoritative voice. Norman did not react. Elijah began toward the stairs.
Suddenly, Norman seemed to come fully awake. Grabbing his cane, he jumped from the couch, ran after Elijah, and stood in front of him.
“Are you crazy? Where do you think you’re going? I’ve spent my life to get to this point!”
“All those who tried to change the world have only added to its distress. Stalin, Hitler, Attila the Hun. How many people were slaughtered, burned alive, strangled, hanged, shot, and buried in order to make a better future? Norman, I’m speaking on behalf of all the common people, people who will not get into the history books. Leave us alone! Let us live our lives as we want, and don’t impose your insane ideology on us!”
Elijah was breathless, partly because he had exerted himself, partly because of the emotion of the occasion, and partly because he had had to raise his voice and shout at Norman - to give the most important speech of his life.
“Norman, you obviously play with people’s lives. What happened to the two mathematicians you employed in your service? How many people did you destroy in order to bring about this redemption of yours?”
Norman still did not respond. He looked up, beyond Elijah’s shoulder. Elijah turned around and saw a large countdown clock. According to the clock, there were about four and a half minutes left. Elijah tried to push Norman aside, but Norman seemed to have found new sources of strength and he could not be budged. Elijah tried again, this time pulling at the cane on which Norman was leaning. Norman let go of the cane and tried to hold Elijah back with his two hands. Suddenly, though, he grabbed at his head with a sigh. Elijah took advantage of the opportunity and pushed Norman, who fell to the ground. Elijah grabbed the cane and ran down the stairs. Before you can enter an area in which there is danger of radioactivity, you are generally subjected to signs and warnings to that effect. Here, though, there was no warning on the double set of doors leading to the computers - but there were safeguards in place.
Elijah passed through the first set of doors and then the second, and then he began to understand what Norman meant. Behind the safety glass, this could almost have been any other control room, even if it was a little out of the ordinary. However, as he proceeded, Elijah realized that there must be something in the air, something that made him feel lethargic, something that made both his hands and his feet refuse to respond to his simple command to move forward.
Elijah glanced around the room, and saw that seven regular computers were linked to the supercomputers. Around each computer, seven loudspeakers were arranged to form a menorah – a seven-branched candelabrum and an ancient symbol of Judaism - all facing the Temple Mount. The loudspeakers were broadcasting words that Elijah was unable to understand.
The computers and the loudspeakers worked independently of each other, but together they produced a sound that was both pleasant and terrifying, at the same time - if such a thing can be imagined. Elijah was not quite sure what was happening, while an inner voice whispered to him, Run away! Run away! Run away! He ignored it. The closer he got to the computers, the weaker he felt.
Elijah’s body felt terribly hot, almost boiling. He thought of all the ordinary folk all over the world and simply attacked the first computer with the cane. Radiation, emitted by the computer, began to affect the entire area in he stood. His blow to the computer had been much weaker than he would have imagined or intended; his muscles had gone quite limp. Still, he kept hitting at it until he saw that the computer had stopped working. Like a madman, he ran from computer to computer, lashing about at them, one after another. As each computer stopped working, its loudspeakers fell silent. Elijah lost all sense of time, as he ran about the room frenziedly, sending sparks flying from the ruined computers. Suddenly, as he lifted the cane once again, he saw Mei-Ling before him, trying to use her hand to deflect the cane, which was aimed at her head. He hesitated for but an instant. None of this was real, he said to himself. He continued running, throwing another computer off its stand and smashing it. All the events of the summer flashed before his eyes. Whenever he tried to strike at a computer, another tortured face appeared before him. He struck at Isabel, who screamed in fear. He felt he was losing his sanity. Another blow was aimed at his daughters, Efrat and Michali, who pleaded with him to stop. Uncle Nissim stood before him, his hands trying to fend off the blow. The pain in Elijah’s joints was almost unbearable. Ozlem, the Turkish woman, was beaten mercilessly. He acted as if in a trance. At one point the walls seemed to have turned into ocean waves, threatening to drown him. A giant wave loomed up toward him, and he heard the sound of the sea as it raced in and over him. He was almost ready to flee, when his Grandmother Esther appeared on the opposite side of the room. “Keep going,” she called to him. “It’s not water. You can see for yourself that it is pure marble.” He turned away and continued with his sacred mission. “When you reac
h the pure marble rocks, do not say, ‘Water, water.’”
Elijah found himself in the middle of a room of smashed computers, electrical cords yanked out of the wall, monitors whose glass had shattered, loudspeakers trailing wires. He stood in the middle of the room, sweating and trembling, his hands uncontrollable. The cane seemed to be welded to his hand, and with a mighty effort he threw it across the room. He had no idea whether minutes had passed - or hours. His watch had stopped. Slowly, he made his way out of the carnage. When he climbed the stairs, he saw Norman lying on the floor, and the countdown clock had frozen at two minutes and ten seconds before the scheduled time.
In a state of shock, Elijah stepped out into the alleys of the Old City. He did not look back. In this state, he did not hear the wailing of air raid alarms, police car sirens, and frantic, hysterical voices of everyone around him. He walked all the way home, like a robot coming back to be re-charged.
At that moment in time, he had no way of knowing that on that hot June day in Jerusalem, all the control systems of all the nuclear weapons in the world had gone “berserk.” They had all been programmed to enter into the fully armed state, ready and prepared for deployment and were about to take off for their designated targets. All efforts on the part of control staff worldwide to halt the process had been to no avail. The commands to prevent the missiles from being launched were all ignored. Nor were any of the hysterical calls to the opposing sides about an inexplicable nuclear launch believed.
“The end of the world is nigh. In three minutes, everything is going to explode,” was the message from the command center in Nevada.
“Take it easy. We have everything under control,” came the voice of the man’s superior.