Government of Death!
Labor Party is Good for Arabs!
Government of Traitors!
Your Day is Coming!
Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu declared: “Arafat is a serial killer whose rightful place is among war criminals. A wicked murderer who is now supported by the current Israeli government, which blindly enables him to implement the first phase in his plan to destroy the Jewish state!”
As the two of them advanced through the dense multitude toward Ben Yehuda Street, Netanyahu’s voice faded, while the eerie serenade continued, “Yes, Rabin is a homo…yes, Rabin is an SOB…”
*
At nine p.m. Lemmy called the American Hotel and asked for Frau Koenig. He wondered if Tanya knew she was hiding in the same hotel where another beautiful spy had stayed, though he hoped Tanya’s fate would be better than Mata Hari’s.
She picked up after the third ring.
“It’s your dead lover,” he said, “calling from the great beyond.”
“ Not funny. Are you in Amsterdam?”
“ Yes. How’s your head?”
“ Achy and confused. Can you come over?”
“ I’ll meet you at noon tomorrow in front of the Metz amp; Co. department store. You’ll be staying with a friend of mine until I come back.”
“ Back? From where?”
“ I’m going to Jerusalem. Elie holds the key to everything. I have to talk to him.”
“ They won’t let you see him.”
“ You underestimate me.”
“ And you underestimate Shin Bet.” She was silent for a moment. “What about the bank?”
“ Swiss banks move slowly. I can handle most things by phone through my assistant.”
“ Especially inactive accounts.”
“ Exactly.” Lemmy thought about the Mauser, which he’d left in Zurich, the writing engraved along the barrel. “Koenig was an Oberstgruppenfuhrer in the SS, right?”
“ Correct.”
“ That was the second-highest rank in the SS.”
She hesitated. “He was an accountant by training, a genius really, when it came to budget allocations, financial administration, things like that.”
“Things like calculating how many humans could fit in a cattle-train car? Budgeting for bulk-purchased Zyklon-B gas canisters? Valuating human hair as an industrial commodity?”
There was a long silence. “I didn’t know about these things. I adored him.”
“And he adored you back.” An idea occurred to Lemmy. He sat on the hotel bed, pressing the receiver to his ear. “Enough to entrust the ledger to you.”
“Klaus knew that my heart belonged to him.” Then, as if an explanation was required, she added, “I was very young, barely fourteen, when he took me in.”
“A fourteen-year-old girl.” Lemmy paused. “Your birthday falls on New Year’s, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t celebrate it anymore, but yes, I was born on January first, nineteen twenty-eight.”
“I remember celebrating with you on the first day of sixty-seven. You bought a kosher cake so I could eat it.”
“ You were struggling to balance your faith with…what we had.”
“ It’s odd how certain things get stuck in your mind forever.”
“ Please come over. We have so much to discuss.”
“ It’s not safe,” he said before temptation took over. “I’ll see you tomorrow at noon in front of Metz amp; Co. There’s a green phone booth across the street. Wait for me there.” He was about to hang up, but the question just popped to his lips. “What’s Bira doing these days?”
“My troublemaking daughter?” Tanya’s voice softened. “She’s an archeology professor at Hebrew University, digging up sacred grounds, pissing off the ultra-Orthodox, including Rabbi Abraham Gerster, unfortunately.”
“ A small world. Is she married? Has kids?”
“Yes. Her oldest is in the army already. Yuval. A wonderful boy, so smart and kind and idealistic. Just like Lemmy was…I mean…just like you were…back then.”
“ And now.”
“ But all these years.” Her voice cracked. “If you only knew…how much grief.”
“ I’m sorry,” he said. “Good night, Tanya.”
*
Benjamin was waiting when Rabbi Gerster and Itah Orr returned to Meah Shearim. He had brewed fresh tea and set up cups on the dining table. “The chaplain from Hadassah Hospital brought a note for you.” He held it so they could read it together.
Abraham, I’m in the ICU at Hadassah, 4 ^ th floor, last room on right. Come ASAP. Long live Jerusalem! E.W.
Itah asked, “Who is E.W.?”
Rabbi Gerster sat down. He picked up the note and read it again, his hand trembling. “E.W. stands for Entirely Wicked.”
“ Wicked?”
“ He’s the devil himself.”
“ God shall safeguard his sheep, ” Benjamin recited, “ from evil spirits and deadly debacles that frequent this earth. ” t› Amen,” Rabbi Gerster said. “Did the chaplain say anything else?”
Benjamin offered Itah a jar of sugar cubes. “He said there were two young men guarding the patient, who appears weak, emaciated, and out of breath, yet in full command of his senses.”
“ That’s an apt description.” Rabbi Gerster stood, gulping the rest of his tea. “Benjamin, kindly call a taxi for us.”
“ At this hour?”
“ Yes. Right now.”
“ But it’s the middle of the night!”
“ There’s not a moment to spare.”
“ Then I’ll go with you. They know me well at Hadassah Hospital.” It was true. Every time a man, woman, or child from Neturay Karta was hospitalized, Rabbi Benjamin Mashash was praying at their bedside or helping feed them or comforting the distraught family members.
“ I appreciate it,” Rabbi Gerster said, “but you must stay here with your sleeping wife and precious children. Itah will join me.”
“ But-”
“ Rest assured,” Rabbi Gerster smiled, “that nothing inappropriate will happen.”
Benjamin blushed. “I didn’t mean to imply such a thing.”
“ Hey,” Itah said, “why not?”
*
The taxi brought them to the military cemetery on Mount Herzl. Rabbi Gerster gave the driver a five hundred- shekel bill and asked him to wait. The guards were off-duty for the night. He used a flashlight to find a service shed and took two shovels.
Itah followed him through rows of headstones. “I thought we were going to Hadassah.”
“ The answer lies here,” he said. After so many years of weekly visits, he could find his way around the cemetery with his eyes closed.
“ Where are we going?”
“ To pay a final visit.” He pointed the beam at the headstone. “Here we are.”
Private Jerusalem (“Lemmy”) Gerster
Killed in Battle, June 7, 1967
