“She’s waiting for me to return. I told her this was between you and me. I must learn what it is Sagan has been told. I know you provided him a silver box. What is inside?”
“You seem to have a problem. You know so much, yet it is so little.”
Zachariah withdrew a gun from beneath his jacket and pointed it at the rabbi.
“You think that will persuade me?” Berlinger asked. “I have had guns pointed at me before. None made me do what I did not want to do.”
“Do you really want me as your enemy?”
The rabbi shrugged. “I have had worse.”
“I can cause you and your family harm.”
“I have no family. I outlived them all. This community is my family. I derive all of my strength and sustenance from it.”
“Like another rabbi from the past?”
“I would never presume to compare myself to Rabbi Loew. He was a great man who left a lasting impression on all of us.”
“I can harm this community. Or I can help it.”
“Ah, now we come to the point. The gun is for show, it is your money that you think will buy answers.” Berlinger shook his head.
“For a man of your experience and age, you have much to learn. Your money means nothing to me. But perhaps if you were to answer a few questions, I might be persuaded to trade information. What will you do with our Temple treasures?”
Now he knew for sure. Sagan and this old man had seen and heard him in the cemetery.
The rabbi seemed to read his mind.
“The cameras,” Berlinger said, “which we bought with your donations. They have many uses. So what is it you will do with our sacred objects?”
“More than you can ever imagine.”
“Start a war?”
More of what had been spoken of with the ambassador.
“If need be,” he said.
“It is amazing how the world changes. Once it was the Germans who threatened us. Then the communists. Now the single greatest threat comes from one of our own.”
“That is right, old man. We are our own worst enemy. We have allowed the world to corral us into a corner, and if people start to slaughter us again few will rise to our defense. They never have, in all our history. Sure, there is talk of the past horrors and pledges of support, but what did the world do last time? Nothing at all. They let us die. Israel is our only defender. That state must exist and remain strong.”
A polite wave of the hand dismissed his point. “You have little idea what will make Israel strong. But it is clear that you have your own vile intentions relative to how to do that.”
“And what would you do?” he asked Berlinger. “How would you protect us?”
“The way we always have, by working together, watching over one another, praying to God.”
“That got us slaughtered once.”
“You are a fool.”
Silence passed between them for a few moments.
“The daughter is in great danger, isn’t she?”
“As you have already determined, she means nothing to me.”
“Yet she thinks otherwise.” Berlinger shook his head. “Naivete. The greatest sin of youth. Which most times is accompanied by arrogance.”
“She is not your concern.”
“I lost a son long ago to the same two maladies. Unfortunately, I learned later that he was right, which only compounded my regrets.”
“So you, of all people, should want to see us strong.”
“That I do. We simply disagree on the method.”
“Where is Sagan going from here?”
Berlinger shrugged and aimed a blunt finger. “That I will never tell you.”
He decided to try another tack. “Think about what it would mean for our treasures to be restored. The Third Temple built. Would that not make you proud? Would you not marvel that you had a hand in that?”
“What Jew would not?”
“Imagine the Temple standing again, built as the Book of Chronicles commands. Can you not see the great embroidered curtain hanging on the western wall, concealing the entrance to the Holy of Holies. Finally, after so many centuries we would have our sacred spot returned. The divine table, the menorah, the silver trumpets, all back where they belong. If only we had our ark, too.”
