Fall and Exile
"Aiy yai willy wiy. What a tragedy, what horror what ruin! It took King Solomon of blessed memory years to build the First Holy Temple. Then after that was destroyed it took decades till we even just started to build this one, and took many years to complete too. Then the Hashmonites labored hard to purify and refurbish it after those Hellenist Assyrians befouled and defiled the Holy House. And now after it has stood for several centuries – now, oh blessed God in the 3,830th year after the creation of the world – it has taken only a matter of days for the hands of the Romans to destroy it! And what a destruction! Will the sons of Esav never leave us be? Zeira, will they forever hunt and pursue us and our holy ways?
"Almost nothing is left standing, the courtyard, the storage houses, the Israelite section, the women's section, the area of the Levites, the place of the Cohanim for giving their blessing to the nation, the leper's section, are all ruined, erased. The altars and water basins, the great gold candelabra and the Holy Ark, where are they? What's become of them and will become of them? The Holy of Holies is crushed totally destroyed. Everything wasted, even the exterior walls none stands but a section of the western exterior wall.
"As if that were not enough, the tortures, the deaths, the murders, the horrible deaths at the hands of those ghoulishly evil heathens, two legged beasts of prey. Wolves and leopards are nowhere near as cruel or ravenous. The screams – The Lord have mercy - oh what screams, tear my soul to shreds."
"Nu, Moshe are you finished? This is no time to reminisce or stand mourning. We must run and run fast to hide. The legionnaires are looking for us. I heard they are seeking members of the royal family. I don't know if it's to kill us off for fear that we might lead a new rebellion, or to show us off in a parade of triumph, to show off how "great" they are. Quick, to the tunnel."
"Iraeus; there I see two of them, two Hebrews scampering there behind that heap of rubble. Take a crew of soldiers and capture them before they find some hiding place or tunnel to escape through."
"Yes sir. - Soldiers, you five go get to them from the other side of that broken wall. You four here come with me straight at them – now – run catch them."
"Moshe run – run, they've seen us and are coming after us! Quick we must get behind that rubble by the broken wall to the tunnel. If we get there before them we will be safe.” Just as Zeira and Moshe near the hidden escape tunnel entrance… “Ah here we ….. Oh no!"
"Ah ha! What have we here? Two large rabbits looking for a rabbit hole to run off into. Take them!"
"Zeira, turn, run back before they get us. Oh – we're surrounded, they're behind us too."
"We are trapped. God have mercy on our souls."
The triumphant patrol drags their catch to their awaiting officer. "Captain Patreaus, I think we have a real prize. They both wear the clothes typical of the royal family.
"Indeed, sergeant Iraeus, I recognize this one. Don’t kill them. They must be sent with the others. Bring them to my tent, one at a time. We will find out from them where the rest of the royal family and other important ones are hiding."
"Surely they would not tell."
"Oh, willingly very likely they would not. But we do have ways of making them talk don't we?"
Later in the company officer's tent. "You Hebrew, I heard your friend call you Moshe. That is your name?"
"What does it matter?"
"Look here young fellow, don't be insolent with me. I am being polite with you. You should be so with me as well. Be careful not to anger me."
"Yes that is my name. But mister army captain, I wonder, what does it at all matter to you what my name is. You will kill us anyway and then the name is meaningless."
"True, I would as soon kill you as look at you. But you, as a member of royalty are worth money to me."
"Ha, be realistic, who is left alive and free to ransom us?"
"No, not one of your people, but I have orders from Caesar to send you and others like you to Rome alive. All members of the royal family, court families, princes, dukes, important families, all the "cream of the crop" of this city."
"Whatever for?"
"You are the price Caesar must pay for the use of the Spanish Legions. It is by their help that we finally conquered your city."
"Pure imagination."
"Are you drunk or so befuddled by trauma that you do not realize that all of Jerusalem is perished, ruined?"
"No sir, I am in full hold of my reason. I saw and realized the horrendous cruel base destruction, as well as the tortuous mass murders, you so evilly wrecked.
“What I mean is that it was not by the power of your Roman or Spanish legions nor your animalistic Visigoth auxiliary. You burned a burned house. You slaughtered a nation already dead. It was all by the hand of Almighty Eternal Lord Creator God. You and your bestial soldiers were merely tools in HIS ethereal hands to actuate HIS divine decree."
"Is so, if your God did this to you, then surely you are an evil nation and deserved this all."
"Evil? By the measure of your nation, not so. We did nothing that is not common and tolerated, or even considered worthy of merit, amongst your people. But by the measure of what God the Creator of heaven and earth, what HE demands of us, as the nation of whom it is demanded to bring HIS light to the world, yes. We judged our fellow badly and so spoke slander and libel of each other. We held intramural hate, divisiveness and strife between us. We behaved improperly towards each other. God hates this. We did not heed our sages and prophets when they chided and warned us. We even mocked them for their trouble.
"Woe is the son who is banished from his father's table and house. Woe all the more, if the father feels need to burn his own house in order to banish his son."
"Silence! Arrogant fool you are to belittle the might, the great power of the Empire's armies! Horthan Visigoth, whip the arrogant Hebrew. Teach him some manners."
"With pleasure sir."
The immense Visigoth, built like an ox, tied Moshe’s arms to the central pole of the captain’s tent while another held a sword ready to slaughter in case the Hebrew should try to escape or fight. Then the bull whip cracked loudly thirty times on the body of Moshe who did not let out a single whimper or cry, but eventually he fainted.
After the camp doctor revived him….
"Now arrogant Hebrew, let’s have no more of your foolish spiritual ranting and dithering. Tell us where the hiding places are."
His speech broken by gasps, "I can only tell ...... you that the sole thing ….. I know about is the tunnel under the now broken wall by …… that heap of rubble where your soldiers captured us. Each small group only …… knows of its own escape route or hiding place, … you surely can understand why. Even if you whip me to .….. to death I cannot tell you more than I know." Then Moshe fainted again.
"Take him out and bring the other one. Maybe he can tell us. Physician, tend to his wounds. I need him alive. Dead he is worthless to me. Antonius, bring me some more Hebrew Temple wine."
A week later in the hold of a ship leaving Yafo port for Rome, "Zeira, look who is with us in this floating pit, the two elders, Nahman and Shlomo."
The old sages saw the young men, “Ah precious sons of the house of David it is good to see you alive. May our merciful Lord bless you that you survive this trial whole.”
“Thank you for your kind blessing wise Nahman. May you too as well as Shlomo do so. I fear that this journey will be hard on men in your advanced age. If there be any way Zeira or I can be of help to you two, be not embarrassed, wait not to ask.”
“You are kind young Moshe. Ah it seems to me that they are releasing the ship from the pier and preparing to set sail. Let’s say the prayer for a safe journey across the sea.”
"Almost nothing is left standing, the courtyard, the storage houses, the Israelite section, the women's section, the area of the Levites, the place of the Cohanim for giving their blessing to the nation, the leper's section, are all ruined, erased. The altars and water basins, the great gold candelabra and the Holy Ark, where are they? What's become of them and will become of them? The Holy of Holies is crushed totally destroyed. Everything wasted, even the exterior walls none stands but a section of the western exterior wall.
"As if that were not enough, the tortures, the deaths, the murders, the horrible deaths at the hands of those ghoulishly evil heathens, two legged beasts of prey. Wolves and leopards are nowhere near as cruel or ravenous. The screams – The Lord have mercy - oh what screams, tear my soul to shreds."
"Nu, Moshe are you finished? This is no time to reminisce or stand mourning. We must run and run fast to hide. The legionnaires are looking for us. I heard they are seeking members of the royal family. I don't know if it's to kill us off for fear that we might lead a new rebellion, or to show us off in a parade of triumph, to show off how "great" they are. Quick, to the tunnel."
"Iraeus; there I see two of them, two Hebrews scampering there behind that heap of rubble. Take a crew of soldiers and capture them before they find some hiding place or tunnel to escape through."
"Yes sir. - Soldiers, you five go get to them from the other side of that broken wall. You four here come with me straight at them – now – run catch them."
"Moshe run – run, they've seen us and are coming after us! Quick we must get behind that rubble by the broken wall to the tunnel. If we get there before them we will be safe.” Just as Zeira and Moshe near the hidden escape tunnel entrance… “Ah here we ….. Oh no!"
"Ah ha! What have we here? Two large rabbits looking for a rabbit hole to run off into. Take them!"
"Zeira, turn, run back before they get us. Oh – we're surrounded, they're behind us too."
"We are trapped. God have mercy on our souls."
The triumphant patrol drags their catch to their awaiting officer. "Captain Patreaus, I think we have a real prize. They both wear the clothes typical of the royal family.
"Indeed, sergeant Iraeus, I recognize this one. Don’t kill them. They must be sent with the others. Bring them to my tent, one at a time. We will find out from them where the rest of the royal family and other important ones are hiding."
"Surely they would not tell."
"Oh, willingly very likely they would not. But we do have ways of making them talk don't we?"
Later in the company officer's tent. "You Hebrew, I heard your friend call you Moshe. That is your name?"
"What does it matter?"
"Look here young fellow, don't be insolent with me. I am being polite with you. You should be so with me as well. Be careful not to anger me."
"Yes that is my name. But mister army captain, I wonder, what does it at all matter to you what my name is. You will kill us anyway and then the name is meaningless."
"True, I would as soon kill you as look at you. But you, as a member of royalty are worth money to me."
"Ha, be realistic, who is left alive and free to ransom us?"
"No, not one of your people, but I have orders from Caesar to send you and others like you to Rome alive. All members of the royal family, court families, princes, dukes, important families, all the "cream of the crop" of this city."
"Whatever for?"
"You are the price Caesar must pay for the use of the Spanish Legions. It is by their help that we finally conquered your city."
"Pure imagination."
"Are you drunk or so befuddled by trauma that you do not realize that all of Jerusalem is perished, ruined?"
"No sir, I am in full hold of my reason. I saw and realized the horrendous cruel base destruction, as well as the tortuous mass murders, you so evilly wrecked.
“What I mean is that it was not by the power of your Roman or Spanish legions nor your animalistic Visigoth auxiliary. You burned a burned house. You slaughtered a nation already dead. It was all by the hand of Almighty Eternal Lord Creator God. You and your bestial soldiers were merely tools in HIS ethereal hands to actuate HIS divine decree."
"Is so, if your God did this to you, then surely you are an evil nation and deserved this all."
"Evil? By the measure of your nation, not so. We did nothing that is not common and tolerated, or even considered worthy of merit, amongst your people. But by the measure of what God the Creator of heaven and earth, what HE demands of us, as the nation of whom it is demanded to bring HIS light to the world, yes. We judged our fellow badly and so spoke slander and libel of each other. We held intramural hate, divisiveness and strife between us. We behaved improperly towards each other. God hates this. We did not heed our sages and prophets when they chided and warned us. We even mocked them for their trouble.
"Woe is the son who is banished from his father's table and house. Woe all the more, if the father feels need to burn his own house in order to banish his son."
"Silence! Arrogant fool you are to belittle the might, the great power of the Empire's armies! Horthan Visigoth, whip the arrogant Hebrew. Teach him some manners."
"With pleasure sir."
The immense Visigoth, built like an ox, tied Moshe’s arms to the central pole of the captain’s tent while another held a sword ready to slaughter in case the Hebrew should try to escape or fight. Then the bull whip cracked loudly thirty times on the body of Moshe who did not let out a single whimper or cry, but eventually he fainted.
After the camp doctor revived him….
"Now arrogant Hebrew, let’s have no more of your foolish spiritual ranting and dithering. Tell us where the hiding places are."
His speech broken by gasps, "I can only tell ...... you that the sole thing ….. I know about is the tunnel under the now broken wall by …… that heap of rubble where your soldiers captured us. Each small group only …… knows of its own escape route or hiding place, … you surely can understand why. Even if you whip me to .….. to death I cannot tell you more than I know." Then Moshe fainted again.
"Take him out and bring the other one. Maybe he can tell us. Physician, tend to his wounds. I need him alive. Dead he is worthless to me. Antonius, bring me some more Hebrew Temple wine."
A week later in the hold of a ship leaving Yafo port for Rome, "Zeira, look who is with us in this floating pit, the two elders, Nahman and Shlomo."
The old sages saw the young men, “Ah precious sons of the house of David it is good to see you alive. May our merciful Lord bless you that you survive this trial whole.”
“Thank you for your kind blessing wise Nahman. May you too as well as Shlomo do so. I fear that this journey will be hard on men in your advanced age. If there be any way Zeira or I can be of help to you two, be not embarrassed, wait not to ask.”
“You are kind young Moshe. Ah it seems to me that they are releasing the ship from the pier and preparing to set sail. Let’s say the prayer for a safe journey across the sea.”