At this Mrs. Rosen responded in defense of her son. 'Scott is a good boy. He was just a little confused.'
'Yes,' Joshua said. 'You see, Scott and I have not seen eye-to-eye on most things for quite some time. Our family was never Orthodox in our practice of Judaism: we kept the feast days, but only out of tradition. They didn't really carry much meaning. Then in 1976, after a period of about a year and a half of study of the scriptures and talking with some Messianic friends, Liana and I accepted Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah. Three months after that my father died. Scott took his grandfather's death very badly.' Liana patted Joshua's hand and gave a supportive look. 'At one time, Scott actually blamed us for his grandfather's death. He believed that my father died as punishment from God for Liana and I accepting Yeshua and 'abandoning' our religion.'
Tom nodded sympathetically, though he didn't entirely follow what Joshua was saying.
'As a result – perhaps he felt that he was punishing us – Scott left the United States and came to Israel where he became involved with some of the most Orthodox and militant groups. He was only 18 at the time.
'When we came to Israel three years ago we had not heard from Scott in over fifteen years. But when we went to complete the paperwork for our Israeli citizenship – which is granted to most Jews almost automatically by right ofaliyah – it was denied. Later we learned that Scott had told the authorities that we had renounced our faith, and he insisted that we be denied citizenship.
'After discussing it for a few days, Liana and I decided to fight the charge. We have never renounced our faith!' Rosen's voice grew both defensive and dogmatic. 'Many Jews are agnostics or atheists; and Israel grants them citizenship. But because we believe the prophecies about the promised Jewish Messiah, they say we're the ones who have denied our faith! Accepting Yeshua is not a matter of denying our faith but rather of completing it! Do you know that over the centuries there have been more than forty different men who have claimed to be the messiah, and no one ever accused the followers of those men of denying their faith!' It was obvious that Rosen had delivered this defense on numerous occasions, each time becoming firmer in his convictions. Liana placed her hand on his as if to reassure him that he was among friends. Joshua paused and smiled to lighten the mood and to offer silent apology for any hint of virulence.
'I had already talked with a number of officials in the Israeli Defense Ministry,' Rosen began again, getting back to his story. 'They were very interested in putting me to work on the Israeli strategic defense program. That's when Decker called me from America.' They looked across the table at Decker, who was now sound asleep. Liana softly brushed her fingers through his hair. Joshua continued, speaking more quietly to keep from disturbing their guest. 'He was doing a story about the decline of American strategic defense research, and had heard about my decision to move to Israel. He called me and I agreed to talk to him about it and suggested that he compare the strategic defense capabilities and goals of the U.S. to those of Israel.'
'So you must have known Decker before that.'
'Oh, yes,' answered Rosen. 'We met back in 1978 on the Shroud of Turin expedition in Italy.'
'No kidding? I didn't realize that you were a part of that project,' Tom said. 'I'd like to talk to you about that sometime.'
'Please,' said Liana, 'don't get him started.'
Joshua pretended not to hear his wife's last remark, but went on with his story. 'Anyway,' he said, 'where was I? Oh, yes, when Decker arrived I convinced him that there were really two stories to be told here. First was the story about the United States' decision to scrap lasers and particle beams, which is what he had called me about; and second was about Israel's policy to deny citizenship to Messianic Jews.'
'Decker wrote about what happened to us and how we had been refused citizenship,' Liana interjected. 'He really put his heart into that story. But in the end the editors at your magazine cut huge pieces from our story and ran it as a sidebar article.'
'While Decker was preparing the story he interviewed several members of the Knesset who are very staunch supporters of an Israeli missile defense,' Joshua added, retaking control of the conversation. 'When they became aware of our situation they demanded that the bureaucrats grant us Israeli citizenship immediately. Within two weeks we were given a hearing which went so quickly we were not even given a chance to speak. Before we knew what was going on, the judge found in our favor and soon after we became citizens. You see,' Rosen explained, 'without Israeli citizenship, I would not have been allowed to work on classified defense programs. We were trying to draw attention to the law against Messianic Jews: that became moot when we became the exception to that law.'
'So have you seen your son since then?' Tom asked.
'Yes, at the hearing,' Liana answered. 'He was very upset about the way the case was rushed through, but apparently, seeing us there, fifteen years older, made him think. He called us two days after the hearing and asked to see us. He has never exactly apologized, but he has learned to accept us. And it turns out that, at least in one way, he has followed in his father's footsteps.'
'Yes,' Joshua said, continuing Liana's thought, 'Scott has proven himself to be a first rate physicist. That's how he found out that we were in Israel and seeking citizenship: he too is involved in strategic defense research.'
'Now we see him every few weeks,' Liana interjected.
'We've even worked together on a couple of projects,' Joshua added.
Each paused and took another sip of coffee, signaling the apparent close of the subject. Tom had one other thing he wanted to clear up, and so took advantage of the silence. 'Joshua and Liana, you've mentioned 'Yeshua' several times. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with who or what it is you're talking about.'
'Yeshua haMashiach,' Joshua Rosen answered in Hebrew. You are probably more familiar with the Anglicized pronunciation of the Greek form of his name: Jesus, the Messiah.'
Tom raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. 'You mean that Yeshua is the Jewish word for Jesus?'
Joshua and Liana both nodded.
'But how can you be Jewish and Christian at the same time?'
'Well, there are a great many people here in Israel who would ask the same question,' Joshua answered. 'But surely you know that all of the earliest Christians were Jewish. For most of the first century, Christians – who at the time were called 'Followers of the Way' – continued to live among their Jewish brothers as equals and became a rather large sect within Judaism. In fact, the first real disagreement among the followers of Yeshua was whether or not Gentiles had to convert to Judaism before they could become Christians.'
'I guess I never really thought about that,' Tom said. 'So the reason that your son turned you in is because you're Christians.'
'We prefer the name 'Messianic Jews,'' Joshua answered. 'But to answer your question: yes.'
Tom shook his head as he considered the Rosens' story. The conversation seemed to have reached a conclusion, the coffee had all been drunk, and the bagels had all been eaten. Tom reached over and shook Decker from his sleep. Joshua had taken the day off so he could take Tom and Decker into Jerusalem for some sightseeing. Decker drank the last of his coffee, which was by now quite cold, and the three men left for the city.
Joshua took his guests on a whirlwind tour of some standard tourist stops, all of which shared one thing in common: Israeli police and military. Jerusalem is a city where the people have grown accustomed to such things. Tom Donafin was particularly interested in the Wailing Wall, which was the western wall – and all that remains standing – of the ancient Jewish Temple.
As they approached the wall, they were handed black paper yarmulkes to place on their heads. The Israeli government allows tourists to visit the wall but requires men to wear the traditional covering for their head. Near the wall dozens of darkly clad men formed a constantly moving mass as they rocked back and forth, in a practice called dovening, while they prayed or read from their prayer books. Some of the men had ropes or cording tied around their arms and wore small boxes called phylacteries tied to their foreheads like a headband. Inside the boxes, Joshua explained, were pages from the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.
As he had at their other stops, Joshua gave a brief history of the site. 'The original Temple,' Joshua began, 'was built by King Solomon and was destroyed during the Babylonian captivity. It was rebuilt beginning in 521 B.C. and later went through major renovations under King Herod. In about 27 A.D., Yeshua prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed again before all of those listening to him died. Just as he predicted, the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. when Titus invaded Jerusalem to put down a Jewish revolt against Rome. An interesting point of disagreement exists among biblical scholars on the extent of the destruction Yeshua was prophesying. What he told his disciples was that the entire Temple would be destroyed before the last of them died. But, as you can see,
