“I mean, you look too young.”
Tanya touched her face. “I was seventeen when Bira was born.”
“And your husband?”
“He was already dead.”
For a few moments, neither of them spoke. He saw a newspaper on the coffee table, Ha’aretz, a Hebrew daily that was banned in Meah Shearim. The date was October 7, 1966, yesterday’s paper. He read through the headlines. China’s Independence Day marked by a conciliatory letter from Moscow. U.S. government proclaiming optimism that Hanoi would accept the peace initiative to end the Vietnam War. Syrian diplomats, in a meeting with UN General Odd Bull, threatened an attack on Israeli air bases. Terrorists infiltrate through the border with Egypt and sabotage fuel lines. Shots from the Jordanian side of Jerusalem injure an eleven-year-old boy playing soccer with friends, while UN observers stood by. Ben Gurion celebrated his eightieth birthday at his Negev Desert kibbutz with President Shazar and the author S.Y. Agnon, but without Prime Minister Eshkol.
Lemmy turned the page and read the first paragraph of an article about the release from jail in Germany of Nazi leaders Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach. The writer expressed regret that the two men had not been executed twenty years earlier with the rest of Hitler’s henchmen.
A photograph on the opposite page shocked Lemmy. It was his father! Under it, the paper reported: NETURAY KARTA RABBI: ABORTION IS MURDER!
The Knesset Committee on Health heard testimony from Rabbi Abraham Gerster, leader of ultra-Orthodox sect Neturay Karta, regarding proposed legislation to permit abortions for out-ofwedlock, incestuous pregnancies, or when the mother’s physical or mental well-being is at risk. Rabbi Gerster declared: “Laws are made by God, not by democracy. God said, Thou shall not kill! Did God set a minimum age for murder victims? No! A viable fetus is a live person, created in God’s image! How could you allow doctors to kill babies inside their mothers’ wombs?” Security officials fear anti-abortion riots by ultra-Orthodox extremists, especially after last Saturday’s rock-throwing incident.
Tanya asked, “What do you think? Will history repeat itself? Like the Jews who killed each other inside the Temple during the Roman siege?”
“I don’t know. God will decide our fate.”
“What’s the word inside Neturay Karta?”
“Abortions are a symptom of Zionist decay, like driving during Sabbath, eating pork, violating sacred gravesites for antiques. That’s why we shun the secular Zionist society that surrounds us. Most Talmudic scholars believe God will soon punish Israel. Some want to throw rocks, attack government buildings, maybe burn police cars.”
“And you?”
“Me? I’m too young to decide those things.”
Her hand rested on his shoulder, her face very close. “So who’s going to decide if Jewish blood will run again in the streets of Jerusalem? Rabbi Abraham Gerster?”
Mint, Lemmy decided, that’s what her breath smelled like. He knew he should get up and leave, but he couldn’t. The fire from her hand had spread to his loins. “My father is a great scholar of Talmud. Our people listen to him.”
“Because they think he’s a tzadik? ”
“Yes. He is a righteous man.”
“Oh, Jerusalem.” Tanya’s hand slipped off his shoulder. “It must be nice to be so innocent.”
He stood up and glanced at the bookshelf.
“Would you like another novel?” Tanya picked one. “That’s a good one.”
Lemmy couldn’t contain his smile. It was Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
E lie Weiss watched from his Deux Chevaux as Abraham’s son left Tanya’s house and walked down the street, his black coat unbuttoned, his black hat tilted jauntily. When the boy was out of sight, Elie got out of his car and knocked on Tanya’s door.
She stood in the doorway. “What do you want?”
“A bit of your time. May I come in?”
She moved aside.
He entered a large, tidy room. The closed door to his left probably led to the equipment room where she listened in on UN radio traffic. He sat on the sofa.
Tanya remained standing. “I need to go back to my work.”
He pulled out a pack of Lucky Strike.
“Don’t smoke here.”
“No problem.” Elie slid the pack back into his pocket. “How was your reunion with Abraham? Lots of hugs and kisses?”
“You told him I was dead!”
“I told him the facts. He drew the conclusion.”
“You tricked him, just like you had tricked me about his death. Bloody sieve! ”
“It’s a miracle he recovered, and it was a miracle the wolves didn’t eat you.”
Tanya’s pretty face was red with anger, making her even more attractive. “We needed one more miracle, but you’re still around!”
“I saw your new friend leave. Good-looking boy, Abraham’s son. Snip off those payos and strip the black clothes, and he’s a carbon copy of the Gerster you once loved.”
Tanya’s face grew even redder. “You’re a sick man!”
He was pleased with her reaction, which confirmed his strategy. “I need to know what he told you. Anything about Neturay Karta?”
“You haven’t changed.”
“He must have told you something.” Elie wanted her to think this was just about snooping for information on the fundamentalist sect, let her believe he had given up on the fortune her Nazi lover had stashed in Switzerland.
Tanya walked to the opposite end of the room. “You already have Abraham in position. He’s your agent. Leave his son alone.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s an innocent victim.”
“You read too many novels.”
“He’s just a boy.”
“He’s the same age Abraham was in forty-five. You remember the boy he was, yes? The heads he blew? The necks he squeezed? The hearts he stabbed, or broke?”
Tanya turned away. She released her hair and held it to her cheek like a child seeking comfort in a familiar rag. “You couldn’t make me betray Klaus twenty years ago. You think I’ll betray Abraham now?”
“Your loyalty to ex-lovers is commendable.”
“A snake,” she said, “is what you are.”
“A very powerful snake.” Elie looked around. He knew she would not leave the Nazi’s ledger in plain sight, but he hoped to see something useful, a hint of where she had hidden the key to the dormant fortune. “You’re taking it too personally. This is not about me or you or Abraham. This is about the future of Israel. We won’t survive the Arabs’ attacks while a Talmudic Trojan horse spews religious violence in our midst.”
“A few hundred fragile scholars are a threat to the state?”
“Neturay Karta’s fundamentalist ideology is like a spark that could start a brushfire, which will spread to every religious community in Israel.”
“You’re being paranoid.”
Elie put a cigarette between his lips. “Orthodox Jews believe that one day the Messiah will ride into Jerusalem on his white donkey and twiddle a magic wand to recreate King David’s empire and bring us back to the Promised Land. Therefore, they perceive modern Zionism as a blasphemous usurpation of God. Remember the zealots who killed the great priest and caused Roman victory over Jerusalem two thousand years ago? Neturay Karta is the reincarnation of those ancient fanatics, the modern-day progenitors of a violent rebellion against the secular Israeli democratic government-”
