Strange Fire by Melvin Jules Bukiet

Author:Melvin Jules Bukiet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Most journeys seem shorter on the return than they do on the outing. Uncertainty about distance or the validity of directions dispelled, one has a sense of pace and recalls landmarks—in this case a bend in the mineral-rich tunnel at the moment when the earth opens into a crack above our heads. Moshe X and I ascend the evolutionary path we previously descended, slithering on our bellies, then crawling on all fours, then hunching, then standing upright. When the crevice opens further, we move from single file to a comradely side by side, and Der Alter tells me the story.

“Gabriel ben Levi found this place several months ago. He was searching for the remains of Sodom, but that evil city probably lies under the portion of the Dead Sea that is still underwater. Instead, he may have found a scientific explanation for its destruction.”

I am shocked that the spiritual leader of Beis Machpelah might tolerate a scientific explanation for what the Bible describes as de­itific intervention. “But I thought—”

“God works as God wishes. If He wished to choose fire and brimstone from the sky on a sunny day, there would have been fire and brimstone from the sky, but if He wished to choose a spontaneous atomic blast from the elements of the earth, so it would be. The fact remains that according to the Bible Sodom was destroyed as a result of its people’s iniquity at the precise moment when Avraham Aveinu was shunned and threatened by the Sodomites. This is not a coincidence; this is a miracle. It’s also a miracle that such a deposit exists in a location for which there is no geological explanation whatsoever. That is why nobody found it before. People do not find what they do not look for.”

The mixture of “facts” and “miracles” in his mind is dizzying, but I trust Gabriel’s discovery. Still, threads need to be connected. I ask, “How did Rubinstein find out?”

“We are not primitive people at Beis Machpelah. Simple, perhaps,” this very complex man insists, “but not primitive. When ar­chaeological investigation disturbs an ancient graveyard, we consider that a terrible sin. When a shopping mall wishes to build upon an ancient synagogue, we consider that a terrible sin.” His calculated repetitions have the pattern of any good speech. I appreciate the technique. “But when an honest researcher, whether religious or secular, a man who wishes to honor the past rather than destroy it, comes along, we are grateful. Gabriel ben Levi’s past is our past. To the extent that he can bring it to life, his work is a blessing.”

I can see the next step. “Isaiah Rubinstein helped the blessing.”

“We are the closest settlement to this place. Ben Levi found it on his own, but he required a staging ground. He asked for my assistance. I gave thought as to whom I should recommend. Frankly, someone like Chaim has a good heart, but . . .”

“Not such a good head.”

Refusing to denigrate one of his settlers, Der Alter says, “Isaiah was always an intellectual.

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