Amos looked at his shoes and shook his head.
“ So even when you boys fight, you still must make peace, yes?”
Both of them nodded, and Amos said, “Sorry.”
“ But if you see a snake about to bite your brother, do you try to make peace with it?”
They yelled in unison, “No!”
“ That’s the lesson of Amalek. We fight if there’s no chance for peace. But with everyone else, we must give a chance to shalom. Especially between brothers, right?”
The boys looked at each other and giggled.
“ Hey, guys!” A young woman carrying a backpack and a guitar came in.
“ Ayala!” The boys ran to their sister and hugged her.
The mother took the bag and the guitar. “You have a visitor.”
Rabbi Gerster stood.
Ayala had a kind smile and large, brown eyes that radiated intelligence. “I’m sorry but…have we met?”
“ Please.” He gestured at the armchair. “Only a moment of your time.”
They sat opposite each other, while the mother took the boys to the kitchen. Ayala tugged at her denim skirt, making sure it covered her knees.
“ I’m Rabbi Abraham Gerster.”
“ From Neturay Karta?” Her face expressed surprise but not hostility. As a modern-Orthodox, educated young woman, she would know about the ultra-Orthodox sect that viewed Zionism as a form of blasphemy. “What are you doing here, among us Zionist usurpers?”
He laughed. “Spoken like a future lawyer. And speaking of law, I understand you have questions about the concept of Rodef, yes?”
Her face paled.
“ Don’t worry. I’m not here to cause trouble. I’ve dedicated my life to keeping shalom among Jews. That’s why the subject of Rodef interests me.”
“ I’m no longer interested in this subject.”
“ Was there a boy?”
Her cheeks flushed. “We went out a few times. He’s very smart, but after a while, I got a little-”
“ Scared?”
She thought for a moment. “Uncomfortable.”
“ Yes?”
“ He’s a good person, really. And very smart.” Ayala looked toward the kitchen door, as if nervous that her mother would hear. “He’s Sephardic. His parents came from Iraq. We’re from very different backgrounds, you understand?”
Sephardic, as the inexact term was used inclusively, referred to the almost two million Jews who had been forced to escape from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco after the 1948 war. The Arab regimes, bitter over their failure to annihilate the new Jewish state, fanned the flames of anti-Semitism against the ancient Jewish communities that had lived among the Muslim populations for many centuries. They arrested Jews, confiscated businesses, and burned Jewish homes. The Ashkenazi Jews, who originated in Europe and were first to embrace Zionism and settle in Palestine, had taken in the huge numbers of Sephardic refugees and absorbed them into the young state of Israel. But the perception of inferiority had been slow to fade away. Ayala’s parents, like many other Ashkenazi Jews, would not delight in their daughter marrying a Sephardic man.
“ They would respect my choice.” Ayala shrugged. “For a while, I really liked him. His ideas were intriguing. But in the end I decided to break up. It’s over.”
“ And the idea that intrigued you most? Was it the duty to kill a person who endangers the life of another Jew?”
“ The duty is not in doubt. Only the scope of it.” Ayala hesitated. “Of course you should stop a person who’s intentionally endangering a Jew. Torah’s Rodef is a murderer in hot pursuit of his victim. The same goes for Moser, a Jew who hands over other Jews to be killed by the Gentiles. But some people argue that the rule applies more widely.” She drew a large circle in the air with her hands.
“ To include someone who’s not actually pursuing or handing over other Jews, but who persists in actions that endanger Jews?”
“ Maybe.”
“ Like a politician who pursues policies that imperil Jewish lives?”
“ Or hands over Jewish land,” Ayala said. “I mean, you could argue that the Land of Israel is as sacred as a Jewish life, so the same concept applies to land concessions, correct?”
“ Are you saying that the Rodef and Moser rules require killing a Jewish leader like Prime Minister Rabin, for example, who’s handing over parts of biblical Israel to the Palestinians?”
“ In theory, it’s a valid line of reasoning, a logical conclusion, don’t you agree?”
“ Was that your boyfriend’s conclusion?” Rabbi Gerster leaned forward, narrowing the distance between them. “Is that why you became uncomfortable?”
“ With Yoni?” She laughed. “Oh, no. Ideas don’t scare me. I love to argue about ideas. I mean, no one’s going to kill anyone. He was just theorizing, you know?”
“ Are you sure?”
“ Of course! We’re law students, and Jewish law is a big thing at Bar Ilan University. We always compare modern Israeli law to the law of Talmud, okay?”
“ Then what scared you about him?”
“ I didn’t like his friends.”
“ The one nicknamed Freckles?”
She nodded, surprised. “You know Freckles?”
“ A lucky guess.” He smiled. “I’ve heard of him.”
“ Oh.” Ayala looked at the window, her face contemplative. “Yoni was secretive. I can’t waste my time on someone who doesn’t share, right? How can we get married if we don’t know everything about each other?”
“ Such as?”
“ Money and stuff. Yoni has nice clothes, a new handgun-”
“ He carries a gun?”
“ We all do. I got a Beretta twenty-two. It’s cheap, but you can’t travel in the territories without a gun.” She patted the pocket of her long skirt.
“ What kind of a gun does he carry?”
“ Also a Beretta, but bigger caliber. He let me shoot it when we went hiking in the desert. It’s nice. I mean, we had fun together. Like, we drove to the Galilee and to Haifa, ate at nice restaurants. But I know his parents don’t have money, so how? ”
“ He must have told you something.”
She rolled her eyes. “Some story about an old Jew who likes Freckles, kind of a sponsor, wants to help religious-nationalistic young men who are dedicated to the Land of Israel.”
“ Did you meet this sponsor?”
“ No.” She laughed. “He supposedly lives in Paris.”
“ Did Yoni mention a name?”
“ No, but I didn’t believe it anyway. Why would a rich old Jew from Paris give money to some Israeli students to buy stuff and take their girlfriends to restaurants? It made no sense.”
“ But the money must have come from somewhere.” Rabbi Gerster tugged at his beard, pondering what she’d said and whether to push any further. “It must be very frustrating for you.”
“ Not anymore.” Ayala smiled, looking very young. “I met someone else. Really nice.”
“ May God bless your new relationship.”
“ Amen.”
“ Would you mind telling me Yoni’s last name?”
“ Yoni Adiel.” She jotted down a number. “Please don’t mention my name.”
*
After sunset, when Gideon and Bathsheba returned to the apartment, Elie took Gideon to bug the phones in the
