The Masada Complex

“Heroes don’t slaughter their wives and kids for political reasons.” Masada resumed walking. “I don’t believe in luck. I want logic.”

“Logic and friendship are life’s twin essentials. Especially for us, the Chosen people.”

“Only logic. No friendships. No coincidences either.”

The professor shook his head.

“You see this square hole in the ground?” Masada turned so that the lens at the end of the pinky-size tube attached to her shoulder strap could capture what she was looking at. “The Zealots dug a mikvah two thousand years ago-a ritual bath in the middle of the desert-so they could come clean with their God. Would you come clean with me?”

“But Masada, I’ve always been straight with you.”

“You’ve had problems with your eyes, but I was the blind one.”

“I don’t understand,” he said plaintively, “why are you doing this?” He stumbled on a rock, and his bag slipped off his shoulder.

“Here are my questions.” Masada helped him up. “What logic caused Sheen to stay with you even though he could afford a hotel? Borrow your car even though he could rent one? Use Al to deliver the money even though Al was certifiably insane? Forget the memory stick in your car even though it contained a video clip of his crime? Can you see the logic in Sheen’s actions?”

“I’m sure there were reasons.”

“A single reason: Sheen never existed. He’s a figment of your imagination.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“Facts don’t lie. They sometimes hide in plain view when I don’t want to see them, but they don’t lie.” Masada faced him. “Here is my logic: Rabbi Josh, a feverish Zionist, was recruited by Colonel Ness as an agent. Al had confided in the rabbi about the secret he held over Mahoney’s head, something dishonorable Mahoney did while he was a POW in Hanoi. The rabbi reported to Ness, who came up with the plan to use Al to bribe the senator to pass the Mutual Defense Act in the Senate. A hidden video camera captured the payment.” Masada tightened the shoulder straps, hoping Tara and Oscar were close enough to receive the transmittal. “Then Rabbi Josh recruited you, probably using the same Zionist ideology, to deliver the so-called lost memory stick to me, because he knew I’d never suspect you of foul play. With my ingrained bitterness about Israel, I barged ahead, extracted a confession from the senator, and went public with the story.”

“This is totally unfounded!”

“A perfect chain of cause and effect. Zero coincidences.”

“But why would the Israelis want the bribe exposed? It’s illogical!” Professor Silver looked odd without his eyeglasses, the baseball cap pulled down over his forehead. “It ruined any chance for the Mutual Defense Act.”

“That’s easy. Israel doesn’t need a mutual defense arrangement with the United States. In fact, it would be ruinous to the Israeli access to U.S. weapons and aid, because opponents in Washington would argue that Israel no longer needs a strong army if the U.S. military has to defend it in case of an attack. The Israelis always insisted on defending themselves, not relying on other countries.”

“So why?”

“Simple. Colonel Ness planned to pin it on Judah’s Fist, an imaginary secret Jewish organization, to incite a scandal. A bribe payment to a senator by American Jews would paint them as a fifth column in America, their dual loyalty unmasked, traitorous Judas, just like Jonathan Pollard, AIPAC, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.”

Professor Silver made a show of incredulity. “Why would Israel want the goyim to rage against American Jews?”

“What’s Israel’s biggest existential risk?”

“Nuclear attack by an Arab country.”

“Nations build nuclear weapons for deterrence, not for actual use. No, the only existential risk to Israel’s survival as a Jewish state festers in Arab women’s wombs.”

“Say again?”

“It’s simple math. Israel’s Arab population grows faster than the Jewish population. Diaspora Jews no longer move to Israel. In fact, there are more Jews living in the five boroughs of New York City than in the whole State of Israel. It’s a process that would lead to an Arab majority in Israel.”

Silver puffed air. “Demographics cannot be predicted with any kind of accuracy.”

“The trend is so clear that it’s only a question of time. However, what if the largest Jewish community in the world suddenly lost its comfortable coexistence with the gentile majority? What if a large number of American Christians returned to embracing the church’s long tradition of anti-Semitism? What if Jews were attacked in New York and Los Angeles and Miami? What would they do?”

Silver didn’t answer.

“The biggest wave of aliyah in the history of Israel! Hundreds of thousands of affluent, educated, worldly Jews moving to Israel, an infusion of new Jewish blood that Israel desperately needs. That’s why you guys arranged a bribe and invented the name Judah’s Fist, reminiscent of the historic Jewish betrayal of Jesus, and then tricked me into exposing the bribe. But I screwed up your plan. Instead of accusing a secret Jewish organization, I accused Israel, and Mahoney screwed it up further by killing himself, causing a corruption affair to turn into a veritable murder of an American war hero by Israel. So in addition to sporadic anti- Semitic attacks on American Jews, your plot produced a nasty backlash against Israel, which is why Ness is so anxious.” Standing near the hostage room, her back to the flickering bonfire, Masada watched Silver carefully to see his response.

“Master of the Universe, you’re brilliant!” He shook his head in awe. “Amazing! I’m so relieved that you figured out the truth. It’s been the hardest part for me, keeping secrets from you.” He sighed. “At least now you understand how pure my motives were, that I acted for the sacred purpose of saving Israel from a certain demographic demise. We’re both idealists, meidaleh, you and I. We’re the same, right?”

Masada was shocked at his sudden admission. She had merely been speculating. Had she hit the nail on the head the first time? It was too easy! She imagined Tara in the news van at the foot of the mountain, squealing at the monitor. Finally, a real breakthrough in their investigation!

“Thank God!” He looked up at the sky, which was tinged by predawn haze. “No more secrets between us! No more manipulations by the Israelis! No more treating us like pawns!” Silver waved a fist at the bonfire and the distant singing. “These Israelis, shame on them! Shame!”

Rabbi Josh didn’t see what tripped him. He got up, shone the lantern on his torn pants and scraped knees, and resumed running up the path. In the early twilight he saw the path slithering up the nearly perpendicular mountainside. A helicopter sounded in the distance, its engine noise bouncing off the cliffs.

The path forked. A sign pointed right to the Roman siege camp. He saw the outline of piled-up stones and restored huts where the ancient army had once camped. He thought of young Masada, a teenage kibbutznik, exploring the ancient ruins for coins or shards of clay. He looked at the sheer climb ahead and resumed running.

Professor Silver hoisted his bag and followed Masada. “And shame on Rabbi Joshua Frank for dragging me into this ill-conceived scheme!” He used the rabbi’s full name to distance himself.

“Shame on me, Levy, for letting my affection for you get in the way of the facts.”

“But I’m a victim, just like you!” Silver hoped he sounded outraged. He desperately wanted to return the conversation to the woman who had killed Faddah. It didn’t matter what Masada thought about the bribe. She would be dead as soon as she told him what she knew about the woman-solider who had murdered Faddah. “Listen, we can ponder for days the events surrounding the bribe-”

“No need to ponder. We know what Rabbi Josh did, and who helped him.”

“But Masada,” he made his voice tremble, “as you correctly figured out, my only job was to give you the video clip.”

She was quiet.

Silver recognized Herod’s main palace and the casement wall of rooms around the edge. There was