The Kabbalist (1)
the teacher of our generation
WARSAW – END OF THE 19TH CENTURY – NIGHT.
A LONE STREET LIGHT ILLUMINATES THE EMPTY STREET.
WIND AND RAIN BLOW ALONG THE DESERTED STREETS.
SUDDENLY, A MAN SCREAMS. A WOMAN’S VOICE RESPONDS IMMEDIATELY:
-Simcha, what happened?!
RAIN POURS OVER A TWO-STORY BUILDING;
INSIDE, A WINDOW ON THE SECOND FLOOR IS DIMLY LIT.
A woman's voice: Don't scare me! What did you dream about?
Simcha’s voice: You will give birth to a son.
A woman’s voice: You dreamed about our boy?! Speak!
ROOM. NIGHT. AN OPEN BOOK IS LYING ON THE TABLE.
Simcha’s voice: Six letters came out of this book and formed one word.
A woman’s voice (exhausted): It's all because we keep this book in our home. Rabbi Feldman asked you to take it as far away as possible… as far as you can….
A WOMAN'S HAND REACHES FOR THE BOOK, BUT A MAN'S HAND TOUCHES IT AND STOPS HERS FROM REACHING IT.
Simcha’s voice: The Creator will shake this boy’s hand.
JUST AS HE UTTERS THESE WORDS, THERE IS A LOUD KNOCK ON THE WINDOW.
NOW IT'S THE WOMAN WHO SCREAMS.
A WHITE BIRD IS RESTING ON THE WINDOWSILL.
IT TAKES OFF, SOARS OVER A BENCH, AND DISAPPEARS INTO THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT.
A MAN DRESSED IN A BLACK COAT IS SITTING OUTSIDE ON THE BENCH IN THE POURING RAIN. WATER IS POURING DOWN HIS HAT ONTO AN OPEN BOOK IN HIS HANDS. THE MAN LIFTS HIS HEAD AND LOOKS UP AT THE WINDOW ON THE SECOND FLOOR. HE LOOKS LIKE BAAL HASULAM IN HIS LATER YEARS.
***
ON SEPTEMBER 5,1886, A SON IS BORN INTO SIMCHA HALEVI ASHLAG’S FAMILY.
A WOMAN'S HANDS LIFT UP A TINY WRINKLED BABY BOY.
THE BABY CRIES OUT SILENTLY, AS IF SIGHING, THEN STOPS AND GROWS QUIET.
A woman’s voice: Look at him, he's not crying. Shake him!
WHIRLING WHITE WALLS… WHITE CEILING… WINDOWS… BLURRED FACES OF WOMEN.
A woman’s voice: What are you looking at?! What is he looking at? What does he see on that wall?
A second woman’s voice (quietly): Or maybe behind it?
THE NEWBORN IS SILENTLY LYING IN THE CRADLE LOOKING AT THE CEILING WITH WISE, ADULT EYES.
***
A SYNAGOGUE – DAYTIME.
RABBI FELDMAN BENDS OVER THE CHILD.
A CIRCUMCISION KNIFE GLITTERS BRIEFLY IN HIS HAND.
A MOMENT LATER HE THROWS THE FORESKIN ONTO THE SAND.
HE LOOKS AT THE BABY WITH BEWILDERMENT. THE INFANT IS NOT CRYING.
RABBI FELDMAN LIFTS HIM AND HANDS HIM OVER TO HIS FATHER, CONCLUDING THE SERVICE WITH THE WORDS:
- … let him be known in Israel as… (looks at Simcha)
Simcha: Yehuda Leib.
Rabbi Feldman: Yehuda Leib, son of HaLevi Ashlag (and adds) - the child who doesn’t cry.
***
ASHLAG FAMILY HOME. MORNING.
THREE-YEAR-OLD YEHUDA IS SITTING AT THE TABLE.
HIS FATHER IS WATCHING HIM FROM A DISTANCE.
YEHUDA'S SMALL FINGER MOVES ALONG THE LINES OF AN OPEN BOOK.
YEHUDA’S VOICE IS HEARD:
- “These gates have one lock and a narrow opening to insert the key. It is said about that secret: ‘In the beginning, God created…’"
***
YEHUDA AND HIS FATHER ARE WALKING DOWN THE STREET.
YEHUDA IS HOLDING HIS FATHER'S HAND.
YEHUDA’S VOICE ECHOES WHILE FADING INTO THE DISTANCE:
- “The key is a master of six gates; it locks and it unlocks six gates. ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’”
THEY WALK INTO THE SYNAGOGUE PAST A LONG LINE OF OLD BOOKS, AND APPROACH RABBI FELDMAN, WHO IS WATCHING THEM CLOSELY.
Simcha: I need your advice, honorable rabbi. Yehuda, you can go and browse the books.
YEHUDA WALKS TOWARD THE BOOKS.
WHILE HE IS WALKING WE HEAR HIS FATHER WHISPERING:
- We are very worried about him. Sometimes we have a feeling that he is older than we are.
YEHUDA IS WALKING ALONG THE BOOKSHELVES, EXAMINING THE BLACK BOOK COVERS.
RABBI FELDMAN’S GAZE IS FIXED ON HIM.
SUDDENLY YEHUDA STOPS NEXT TO AN OLD TATTERED BOOK.
RABBI FELDMAN JUMPS UP AND QUICKLY WALKS OVER TO THE BOY, STOPPING BEHIND HIM. HE MUTTERS:
- The Book of Zohar… I see.
HE TURNS AND QUICKLY WALKS BACK.
HE STOPS NEXT TO A WINDOW AND CALLS SIMCHA.
Rabbi Feldman: Do you confirm that you have The Book of Zohar in your home?
Simcha (under Rabbi Feldman’s piercing stare): Yes, I do. It’s a gift from my wife's father.
Rabbi Feldman: Unfortunate soul! Hide it, and as far away as possible.
RABBI FELDMAN BRINGS HIS FACE VERY, VERY CLOSE TO SIMCHA’S AND WHISPERS:
I want your son to be a Jew, and this book will lead him away from the path of Torah. He doesn't understand what is written there, does he? He doesn’t understand, right?
Simcha: I have a feeling he does.
RABBI FELDMAN GLANCES BACK AT YEHUDA.
YEHUDA IS STRUGGLING TO HOLD THE HEAVY BOOK IN HIS HANDS, OPENED TO THE FIRST PAGES.
HE READS IT, SYLLABLE BY SYLLABLE, MOVING HIS LIPS:
- “Every day the voice calls upon all the people in the world: ‘It depends on you. Separate a part from what’s yours to the Creator…’”
Rabbi Feldman: Nonsense. If grownups can’t master it, what can this child understand? How old is he?
Simcha: Three years old.
RABBI FELDMAN SEES YEHUDA TURNING THE PAGE AND HEARS HIS VOICE:
- “There are fire, water, and air, the first three days of creation.”
Rabbi Feldman (sighs): Hide the book, as quickly as possible! Now!
***
ASHLAG FAMILY HOME. YEHUDA’S ROOM.
SIMCHA IS STANDING ON A CHAIR PUSHING THE BOOK INTO THE FAR END OF THE UPPERMOST SHELF.
THEN HE LOOKS OVER HIS SHOULDER, JUMPS FROM THE CHAIR, AND WALKS OUT OF THE ROOM.
***
HEIDER [1]. MORNING.
SHMUEL, THE TEACHER, IS WALKING ALONG THE AISLE BETWEEN ROWS OF LONG DESKS WITH LITTLE CHILDREN SITTING BEHIND THEM. THEIR FEET DANGLE ABOVE THE FLOOR, AND THEIR EYES ARE FOLLOWING THE TEACHER'S POINTER STICK.
MONOTONOUSLY REPEATING AFTER HIM, THE CHILDREN RECITE A QUOTE FROM THE WEEKLY TORAH PORTION:
- “Terah lived seventy years and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot…”
SECRETLY, YEHUDA TAKES AN APPLE OUT OF HIS POCKET. THE TEACHER'S LONG POINTER STICK HITS HIS HAND IMMEDIATELY.
YEHUDA SCREAMS AS THE APPLE ROLLS ON THE FLOOR.
THE TEACHER BRINGS THE POINTER NEXT TO YEHUDA'S LIPS.
The teacher: Find the strength to kiss the stick that beats you, Yehuda.
YEHUDA TURNS AWAY.
The teacher (firmly): In that case, Yehuda, you will have to ask the Creator for the strength to kiss it.
THE POINTER LINGERS BEFORE YEHUDA'S EYES.
YEHUDA BOWS HIS HEAD, BUT THE TEACHER DOES NOT CONCEDE.
THE END OF THE POINTER TOUCHES YEHUDA’S LIPS AGAIN.
The teacher (insisting): Well, do it!
YEHUDA GIVES IN.
HE KISSES THE POINTER, AND IT IMMEDIATELY FLIES OVER THE CHILDREN'S HEADS.
THE TEACHER WALKS AWAY.
THE CHILDREN MONOTONOUSLY RECITE:
- “Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran…”
YEHUDA'S FRIEND, YANKELE [2], SITS AT HIS SIDE.
AS SOON AS THE TEACHER TURNS AWAY, YANKELE PICKS UP THE APPLE AND PUTS IT BACK IN YEHUDA'S POCKET.
***
WARSAW. THE JEWISH QUARTER. YEHUDA AND YANKELE ARE WALKING DOWN THE STREET TAKING TURNS BITING THE APPLE.
YEHUDA DRAGS YANKELE AROUND THE CORNER, AND AFTER A FEW STEPS THEY WIND UP AT THE ENTRANCE TO AN ODD-LOOKING SHOP.
BOOKS LINE THE WALLS FROM FLOOR TO CEILING IN THE DIMLY LIT STORE.
YEHUDA DIVES INSIDE, WALKS PAST AN OLD MAN SLEEPING AGAINST THE WALL, AND SITS DOWN AT A LARGE WOODEN TABLE IN FRONT OF A PILE OF BOOKS.
HE FLIPS THROUGH THE PAGES AS IF PHOTOGRAPHING THEM.
YANKELE OBSERVES HIM WITH A MIXTURE OF AWE AND FEAR.
Yankele: God gave you such powers, Yehuda.
THE PILE OF BOOKS IN FRONT OF YEHUDA IS QUICKLY DISAPPEARING. ONE LAST BOOK REMAINS.
- I don't know who gave them to me, Yehuda mumbles.
Yankele: The Creator wants you to become a great rabbi so that you will teach others.
Yehuda (putting down the book): What do I have to teach them?
Yankele: To love God, to observe His commandments, to pray wholeheartedly, and to be a Jew.
Yehuda: Who told you all that?
Yankele: It’s written in all our books.
Yehuda (irritably): I don’t know. I don’t know what’s written in these books!
AN OLD RASPY VOICE COMES FROM BEHIND YEHUDA:
- Old Solomon prepared you a good portion.
OLD SOLOMON APPROACHES THE KIDS, SHUFFLING ALONG IN HIS SHABBY OLD SLIPPERS.
Solomon (in awe): What, you have read them all already?!
Yehuda: Solomon, where is…
Solomon (spreads his hands): Old Solomon does not have this book. Solomon searched everywhere; he looked into places he had never looked before.
HE POINTS HIS FINGER UP.
Up there, on the shakiest shelf Solomon found the letters of Ramak [3]. And over there (he turns sharply), in the spider's corner, he found the great Ramchal [4].
SOLOMON STOPS IN FRONT OF YEHUDA AND SPREADS HIS HANDS.
- But he couldn't find The Zohar anywhere.
SOLOMON TURNS AROUND ABRUPTLY AND STARTS WALKING ALONG THE BOOKSHELVES.
HE APPEARS TO BE TALKING TO HIMSELF.
- But it was here, I can swear! Old Berele brought it to Solomon.
HE SITS AT THE TABLE AND SLAMS HIS HAND ONTO IT.
- Berele told Solomon: “Save this book for little Yehudale.”
SOLOMON’S VOICE GROWS SOFTER.
- So where is it, I’m asking you, Solomon, you old fool?!
SOLOMON GROWS SILENT.
YANKELE LOOKS BACK.
THE OLD MAN IS SLEEPING IN HIS PLACE.
YEHUDA IS LOST IN THE BOOK.
EVERYTHING DISAPPEARS FOR HIM.
Yankele: I have all kinds of thoughts about God, too, Yehuda. I, too, have an opinion.
YEHUDA DOESN'T ANSWER.
Yankele continues: Don't think that there aren't others like you.
YEHUDA IS SILENT.
HIS MIND IS SOMEWHERE ELSE.
YANKELE WALKS OUT OF THE STORE.
***
THE JEWISH QUARTER. DAYTIME.
AFTER TAKING JUST A FEW STEPS, YANKELE HEARS SIMCHA’S VOICE CALLING HIM FROM ACROSS THE STREET.
Simcha: Where is Yehuda? Do you know where he is, Yankele?
YANKELE STEPS UP HIS PACE AS HE WALKS AWAY PRETENDING NOT TO HEAR HIM.
SIMCHA CHASES HIM, CROSSING THE STREET.
- “Where is Yehuda?”- he asks. “He didn't come back from school.”
- “Your Yehuda is sitting in a bookstore with an old man who mumbles to himself and is reading forbidden books.”- Yankele answers abruptly and angrily.
***
THE BOOKSTORE.
A SHADOW APPEARS OVER YEHUDA, WHO IS LOST IN A BOOK.
Simcha’s voice: Come, Yehuda. That’s enough.
YEHUDA LOOKS UP AT HIS FATHER.
Simcha: Your mother and I are worried about our boy!
SOLOMON’S VOICE IS HEARD FROM THE CORNER:
- Spare him your foolish care. He has been under the Creator's care for a long time already.
SIMCHA GRABS HOLD OF YEHUDA'S HAND AND SHARPLY YANKS HIM. THEY WALK PAST SOLOMON.
SOLOMON STEALTHILY REACHES OUT TO TOUCH YEHUDA'S CLOTHES … AND THEN KISSES HIS HAND.
***
HEIDER. THE MORNING SUN’S RAYS SEEM TO BE DANCING ON THE TABLES.
YEHUDA IS SURROUNDED BY A CROWD OF CHILDREN. HE IS BLINDFOLDED.
A child’s voice: Page nine, row thirteen from the top.
WITHOUT A MOMENT’S HESITATION, YEHUDA RECITES BY HEART A TEXT FROM THE TORAH:
- “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth…”
A CHILD'S FINGER MOVES ALONG THE LINE OF TEXT.
Someone says with admiration: Yes!
THEY FLIP A FEW PAGES FORWARD AND ANOTHER CHILD CONTINUES:
- Page fifteen, third line from the bottom.
Yehuda (instantly): “And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven…”
The children (in awe): Wooooow!
SUDDENLY, YANKELE RAISES A LONG NEEDLE AND SMASHES IT INTO THE BOOK – PRECISELY INTO THE LETTER Kaf. THE NEEDLE PENETRATES THE BOOK, PAGE AFTER PAGE.
Yankele: Take off the blindfold!
YEHUDA TAKES OFF THE BLINDFOLD AND LOOKS AT THE LETTER KAF.
Yankele: Well?!
Yehuda: Samekh.
YANKELE TURNS THE PAGE.
THE LETTER “SAMEKH” IS PIERCED THROUGH BY THE NEEDLE.
AN ADMIRING WHISPER: Right.
The children (in unison): Wooooow!
Yankele: Next!
Yehuda: Het.
YANKELE TURNS OVER THE NEXT PAGE… AND EVERYONE SEES: THE NEEDLE HAS GONE THROUGH THE LETTER “HET.”
- “Wooooow! More!” urge the children.
Yankele: Next!
Yehuda: Peh.
HE TURNS ANOTHER PAGE.
HE'S RIGHT, IT'S “PEH.”
The children (shouting unrestrained): Woooooooow!
Yehuda continues: Mem, Dalet, Aleph, Bet…
SUDDENLY THE VOICE OF SHMUEL, THE TEACHER, IS HEARD.
- Well done, Yehuda!
THE TEACHER STANDS AT THE DOOR LOOKING DOWN AT YEHUDA.
The teacher: Many great Hassidim [5] knew the Torah so well that it appeared to them in their dreams, word for word, letter by letter. You will become a great Hassid, Yehuda, if you bring your big "I" under control.
THE TEACHER APPROACHES YEHUDA AND STROKES HIS HEAD.
- The Creator guides us the same way, Yehuda. One day you get the stick, the next day – a candy.
THE TEACHER TAKES OUT A LOLLIPOP COVERED WITH TOBACCO CRUMBS FROM HIS POCKET AND GIVES IT TO YEHUDA.
THE CHILDREN’S EYES ARE ALL FIXED ON THIS TREAT, WHICH APPEARS TO THEM AS THE MOST DELICIOUS THING IN THE WORLD.
The teacher: Everything He does is because He loves us.
The teacher looks at the class: Learn to love Him, children, and you’ll see that our God is always with you whether you are good or bad.
YEHUDA SEES THE EYES OF THE OTHER CHILDREN BURNING WITH ENVY AND PUTS THE CANDY ON THE TABLE, AWAY FROM HIM.
The teacher: No, no, no, Yehuda. Eat it. You deserve it. And all the others have earned the privilege of watching you eat it. Maybe their envy will make them know the Torah as well as you.
Yehuda: Why know it like that?
The teacher: What do you mean?
Yehuda: I know it by heart, every line, each word. So what?
The teacher: We-ell, Yehuda, it's strange to hear such a question from you.
(Suspiciously) Are you doing it on purpose? I have a feeling that you want to check my knowledge, Yehuda? Don't.
Yehuda (very clearly): I really don't get it. Why do I have to know this book by heart?
The teacher: To observe the laws and commandments, one should learn them by heart.
Yehuda: Why observe them?
THE CHILDREN TURN THEIR EYES FROM THE TEACHER TO YEHUDA, THEN FROM YEHUDA BACK TO THE TEACHER. THEY ARE SCARED.
The teacher (firmly): So as to be the chosen people (he quotes, lifting the pointer stick above his head): “You will be unto Me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus, 19:6). This is what is written, “And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do’” (Exodus 24:3). Do you remember?
Yehuda: Yes, I do.
YEHUDA IS PALE BUT DOESN'T LOOK AWAY FROM THE TEACHER.
The teacher: What is it that you don't understand, Yehuda?
Yehuda (quietly): I don't understand… why I was born.
A SILENT PAUSE. THE TEACHER SHMUEL LOOKS AT YEHUDA.
The teacher: You were born to observe the laws of God Almighty.
Yehuda: I don't understand who He is. What is God?
The teacher: I don't understand your question.
Yehuda: I have never seen Him, what He is like.
The teacher: Your forefathers and Moses saw Him on Mount Sinai.
HE QUOTES AGAIN, WAVING WITH THE POINTER:
“Moses then went up, along with Aaron, Nadav, and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel” (Exodus, 24:1). “And they saw the God of Israel” (Exodus, 24:10).
THE TEACHER SUDDENLY POINTS HIS FINGER AT YEHUDA:
- Continue!
Yehuda: “And they saw God, and they ate and drank” (Exodus, 24: 11).
The teacher: Well, you know everything. Why are you asking questions then?!
Yehuda: I don't know anything. I don't want to know. I want to…
HE FALLS SILENT. HIS BREATH GROWS FAST AND SHALLOW.
The teacher (impatiently): Well?
Yehuda: I want to …feel. I want to … meet Him. See Him! I want to know who He is - our God, if He exists. I want to know what stands behind all these words.
THE TEACHER WATCHES YEHUDA WITH HIS MOUTH OPEN.
ALL THE CHILDREN ARE STUNNED.
The teacher (barely coming to his senses, very slowly): I think, Yehuda, that you’d better leave the classroom .
(And suddenly screams) Out! Get out!
***
WARSAW. A STREET IN THE JEWISH QUARTER.
YEHUDA WALKS ALONG THE STREET.
HE DOESN’T NOTICE STREET MERCHANTS LAYING OUT THEIR GOODS OR THE OLD BEGGAR SLEEPING IN A PUDDLE OR THE MAD VIOLINIST PLAYING ON ONE STRING.
YEHUDA IS IMMERSED IN HIS THOUGHTS. HE CROSSES THE ROAD AND SUDDENLY HEARS A SCREAM:
-Whoa! Whoa!
A HORSE’S HEAD HOVERS ABOVE HIM; THE FACE OF A REDHEADED COACHMAN APPEARS BEHIND IT.
Coachman: Are you tired of this life?!
YEHUDA TURNS AROUND, STARTLED, AND RUNS DOWN THE STREET. STORE SIGNS FLASH BY, PEOPLE’S EYES FOLLOW HIM. HE TURNS AROUND THE CORNER AND BUMPS INTO YANKELE. THEY BOTH FALL ON THE GROUND. WITHOUT GETTING UP, YANKELE WHISPERS TO YEHUDA:
- Don't go home. The teacher is there.
YEHUDA JUMPS TO HIS FEET, YANKELE FOLLOWS HIM.
YEHUDA TRIES TO WALK AROUND HIM.
YANKELE GRABS THE SLEEVE OF YEHUDA’S SHIRT:
- I know a place not far from here. We can wait there.
YEHUDA PULLS FREE AND HEADS HOME.
YANKELE RUNS AFTER HIM.
HE LOOKS AROUND AND WHISPERS, PRESSING HIMSELF TO YEHUDA:
- There is no God. I am with you, Yehuda.
***
ASHLAG FAMILY HOME.
YEHUDA OPENS THE DOOR.
IN THE FAR END OF THE ROOM, HIS PARENTS AND SHMUEL, THE TEACHER, ARE SITTING TOGETHER.
THE TEACHER IS WAVING HIS HANDS.
HIS HANDS STOP IN MID-AIR WHEN HE SEES YEHUDA.
YEHUDA WALKS PAST THEM INTO HIS ROOM, SEPARATED BY A THIN PARTITION.
HE SITS ON HIS BED AND HEARS THE TEACHER'S HUSHED WORDS:
-Yes, I am blaming you. Who else should I blame?
YEHUDA LIES DOWN AND COVERS HIS FACE WITH A PILLOW.
THERE IS SILENCE.
HE LOOKS AT A PILLOW FEATHER THAT SWAYS BACK AND FORTH TO THE RHYTHM OF HIS BREATH.
HE HEARS LIGHT FOOTSTEPS.
SOMEONE IS SITTING ON THE BED NEXT TO HIM. SOMEONE’S HAND REMOVES THE PILLOW FROM HIS FACE.
YEHUDA SEES HIS FATHER WITH HIS MOTHER STANDING NEARBY.
HIS FATHER TUCKS IN HIS BLANKET.
HIS MOTHER LEANS DOWN AND KISSES HIM.
YEHUDA DESPERATELY PLEADS WITH HIS EYES AND WHISPERS ALMOST INAUDIBLY:
- I don’t know what I am living for.
HIS FATHER LOOKS AT HIM, TERRIFIED:
- You are our son. You are only five, Yehuda! You are forever our little beloved son. Nobody thinks about such things at your age!
YEHUDA SITS UP RESTLESSLY, LEANS FORWARD TO SIMCHA, AND WHISPERS, LOOKING STRAIGHT INTO HIS EYES:
- I don't want to live.
SIMCHA GLANCES BACK AT HIS WIFE, WHO IS COVERING HER MOUTH WITH HER HAND. SIMCHA TURNS BACK TO LOOK AT HIS SON.
- There is no greater sin, my poor, poor boy. It’s not easy living in this world, especially for us Jews. But such is the world the Creator has given us. Children are meant to be happy in this world… (With anguish) Why are you robbed of your childhood? Why are you so mature? Why?!
HIS MOTHER LEAVES THE ROOM. WE CAN HEAR THE SOUND OF HER MUFFLED SOBS.
Simcha: We will go to Rabbi Feldman tomorrow and you will tell him everything. Get some sleep now. Sleep and don't think about anything but the Creator. He is always with you.
SIMCHA STANDS UP.
THE DOOR CLOSES BEHIND HIM, AND ONLY THE MOON CASTS A FAINT LIGHT ON THE WINDOWSILL, THE TABLE, AND THE WHITE LINEN.
YEHUDA'S HANDS REST ON THE BLANKET.
YEHUDA OBSERVES THE COLD CRESCENT OF THE MOON PEERING INTO THE ROOM, THEN TURNS HIS EYES TO THE CEILING.
THE CEILING IS COVERED WITH CIRCLES OF ACCUMULATED MOISTURE.
A BLACK POINT STICKS OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CIRCLES.
Yehuda (counting the circles): One, two, three, four…
HE CLOSES HIS EYES.
SUDDENLY HE HITS THE WALL, MOANING WITH DESPAIR.
THE THIN WALL SHUDDERS FROM THE BLOW.
THE BOOKSHELVES HANGING ABOVE THE BED SHAKE, AND SLOWLY A BOOK COMES TUMBLING DOWN FROM ABOVE.
THE BOOK FALLS ON YEHUDA, ITS PAGES FLAPPING LIKE A HUGE BIRD WITH WHITE WINGS.
THE BOOK FALLS DOWN ON HIM IN SLOW MOTION AND COVERS HIS FACE ENTIRELY.
DARKNESS FALLS.
YEHUDA SIGHS WITH RELIEF. HIS FACE BECOMES LIT WITH JOY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME.
WE CAN HEAR ONLY THE BOY’S BREATHING.
YEHUDA'S FACE IS UNDER THE BOOK.
HE SEES LETTERS VERY CLOSE UP.
THEY FLOAT OUT OF FOCUS AND SEEM VERY LARGE.
YEHUDA CAREFULLY LIFTS UP THE BOOK.
HE HOLDS IT WITH HIS ARMS STRETCHED OUT.
HIS LIPS ARE MOVING AND WE HEAR HIM WHISPERING:
- "…And He said: "For the one who wishes to come unto Me, let it be the first gates on his way to Me. Who enters these gates, enters…"
THE BOY IS READING.
THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT IS CHASED AWAY BY THE DAWN’S LIGHT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW.
***
EARLY MORNING.
STREET CLEANERS ARE CLEANING THE STREETS.
A CANDLE IS BURNING IN THE SECOND FLOOR WINDOW OF THE OLD HOUSE.
IT IS THE CANDLE IN YEHUDA’S ROOM.
MORNING SOUNDS PERMEATE THE ROOM: THE CREAK OF A TROLLEY, THE YELL OF A COACHMAN, THE RUSTLE OF BROOMS ON THE PAVEMENT.
BUT YEHUDA DOES NOT HEAR THEM.
HE IS SITTING UP IN BED AVIDLY READING THE BOOK.
THE DOOR OPENS AND HIS FATHER ENTERS THE ROOM.
YEHUDA SLOWLY LOOKS UP. HE IS SILENT.
SIMCHA SITS NEXT TO HIS SON AND HUGS HIM.
HE SEES THE NAME OF THE BOOK THAT LIES ON HIS SON'S KNEES.
Simcha: So you’ve found it?
Yehuda: Yes.
Simcha: Have you read it?
Yehuda: Yes.
Simcha: All of it?
Yehuda: Yes.
Simcha: Did you understand anything?
Yehuda: I understood that it contains everything.
HIS FATHER SHIFTS HIS GLANCE TO THE BOOK, THEN BACK TO YEHUDA. HE SIGHS.
- I heard that you can go insane by reading it, and that you can't read it until you fill yourself with all the wisdom of the holy Torah, and that you can’t come close to it before you turn forty. People say a lot of things. I’ve never tried to read it. You've read it and even understood something. You opened it when you were three. I was ordered to hide it, so I did. But you found it again. Well, I suppose that is how it’s meant to be.
***
MORNING. SYNAGOGUE.
SIMCHA AND YEHUDA STAND BEFORE RABBI FELDMAN.
Rabbi Feldman: So he's found it after all, and even understood something?
Yehuda: It fell on me from the top shelf. I've read it and understood only that it is my book. It was written for me.
RABBI FELDMAN STARES AT YEHUDA FOR A LONG TIME, THEN GESTURES AT TWO EMPTY CHAIRS NEXT TO HIS TABLE.
YEHUDA SITS DOWN CLOSER TO RABBI FELDMAN; SIMCHA SITS DOWN BEHIND HIM.
Rabbi Feldman: I want to tell you, Simcha, that there are people whom you can't restrain by force. You can't hide anything from them, either. They say that such people have a “point in the heart.” [6] The Creator treats these people in a special way. They, too, have a special attitude toward the Creator.
RABBI FELDMAN SHIFTS HIS GLANCE TO YEHUDA.
Rabbi Feldman: How they come into this world and how this great book finds them is beyond our understanding.
RABBI FELDMAN IS LOST IN THOUGHT. HIS UNFOCUSED GAZE WANDERING SOMEWHERE BEHIND YEHUDA AND SIMCHA.
Rabbi Feldman: I saw only one such a man in my life. His name was Mehachem Mendel of Kotzk [7].
RABBI FELDMAN SHAKES HIS HEAD. HIS EYES SUDDENLY WELL UP WITH TEARS AND HIS VOICE IS FULL OF LONGING:
- A truly great soul burned within him. He strove to reach the Creator, casting aside anything that stood in his way. And everybody. His disciples followed him but fell along the way, unable to withstand that unbearable burning. He had no mercy, neither for himself nor for them. He wanted only the Creator.
YEHUDA WATCHES RABBI FELDMAN KEENLY.
RABBI FELDMAN SHAKES HIS HEAD:
Rabbi Feldman: No, Yehuda, he is not with us anymore. People say that he never left his room during the last twenty years of his life. What went on in there no one knows. He died without saying a word, not even to his closest students.
RABBI FELDMAN FALLS SILENT. HE LOOKS AT YEHUDA, THEN AT SIMCHA:
Rabbi Feldman: I know one of them.
YEHUDA EAGERLY LEANS FORWARD.
Rabbi Feldman: Relax, Yehuda, I doubt he would take you. He is a strange man, and my word means nothing to him. But before we decide anything, I want your poor father to know that he is choosing a life of hardship for you. Let your father know it and then decide.
YEHUDA LOOKS PLEADINGLY AT HIS FATHER. HIS FATHER STARES AT RABBI FELDMAN.
RABBI FELDMAN STANDS UP AND WALKS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE BOOKS.
HE PRETENDS TO BROWSE THEM, OBSERVING THE FATHER AND SON OUT OF THE CORNER OF HIS EYE.
SIMCHA IS SILENT FOR A LONG TIME.
YEHUDA IS ALSO SILENT.
A MINUTE, TWO, THREE PASS BY.
FINALLY, SIMCHA LOOKS UP AT RABBI FELDMAN.
Simcha: What is his name?
Rabbi Feldman: Baruch.
Simcha: How can we find this Baruch?
***
SIMCHA AND YEHUDA ARE WALKING ALONG A NARROW COUNTRY ROAD BETWEEN A FIELD AND A FOREST.
IT IS SPRING TIME; BIRDS ARE SINGING IN THE SKY.
THE ROAD LEADS TO A SMALL VILLAGE.
ITS LITTLE WOODEN HOUSES, BLACKENED BY RAIN WATER, APPEAR IN THE DISTANCE.
A LONE HOUSE STANDS AT THE EDGE OF THE FOREST.
IT SEEMS DESERTED. THE WINDOWS ARE BOARDED SHUT.
SIMCHA WALKS UP TO THE DOOR, KNOCKS, BUT NO ONE ANSWERS.
SIMCHA WALKS AROUND THE HOUSE, RETURNS TO YEHUDA.
YEHUDA IS STARING, EYES WIDE OPEN, AT THE BOARDED WINDOW.
SIMCHA LOOKS INTENTLY AT THE SAME PLACE AND SUDDENLY SEES THROUGH THE CRACKS IN THE PLANKS A PAIR OF STRIKINGLY BLUE EYES FOLLOWING HIM, STUDYING HIM CLOSELY.
SIMCHA OPENS HIS MOUTH SLIGHTLY, BEWILDERED; HE WANTS TO SAY SOMETHING, BUT BEFORE HE CAN, A HIGH-PITCHED, SQUEAKY VOICE OF A STRANGER SAYS:
- I will take a dozen eggs, two tomatoes, and half a loaf of bread. The door opens. Let the little Jew in, and you stay there.
Simcha (indignant): No, I’ll come in with him.
The Voice: Then nobody will come in. Go back where you came from!
YEHUDA SQUEEZES HIS FATHER’S HAND AND LOOKS AT HIM PLEADINGLY.
Simcha (in doubt): Well, how can I… let you go in there alone?
HE FALLS SILENT AFTER SEEING YEHUDA’S EYES.
YEHUDA TAKES A STEP FORWARD, OPENS THE DOOR, AND DISAPPEARS INSIDE.
SIMCHA PRESSES HIMSELF AGAINST THE BOARDED WINDOW.
THROUGH THE CRACKS HE CAN MAKE OUT A SQUALID ROOM AND A LARGE, CRUDELY MADE TABLE STANDING AT ITS CENTER.
SIMCHA SEES YEHUDA AT THE TABLE AND THE DISHEVELED OLD MAN, BARUCH, ACROSS FROM HIM.
SIMCHA CAN HEAR THE HIGH-PITCHED VOICE OF THE OLD MAN.
- Believe no one. Test everything yourself. Everything that they call faith out there is nonsense.
SIMCHA SHAKES HIS HEAD IN ANGUISH.
Baruch: They told you the Creator exists. Don't believe it!
SIMCHA STRAINS TO SEE INTO THE ROOM THROUGH THE CRACKS AND HIS EYES FILL WITH TEARS OF HOPELESSNESS AND FEAR.
SIMCHA SEES BARUCH LEANING OVER YEHUDA.
Baruch: Find Him yourself. Faith is a knowledge of the heart. Feel Him yourself! Got it?
Yehuda: Yes.
SIMCHA COVERS HIS EARS WITH HIS HANDS, TURNS, AND QUICKLY WALKS AWAY FROM THE HOUSE.
IN THE ROOM, BARUCH STANDS UP AND STARTS WALKING IN CIRCLES AROUND YEHUDA, THEN SUDDENLY STOPS IN FRONT OF YEHUDA.
Baruch: Have you ever seen a man turn into a bird?
Yehuda: No, I haven't.
Baruch: Do you believe it can happen?
Yehuda: No, I don't.
Baruch: You don't believe in miracles, huh? Very well. Right you are. Don't.
BARUCH’S FACE IS VERY CLOSE TO YEHUDA'S.
ALL OF A SUDDEN HE TURNS SHARPLY AND WALKS UP TO THE WALL AND STOPS.
YEHUDA IS WATCHING HIM INTENTLY.
HE SEES THE RIGHT SHOULDER OF BARUCH BEGIN TO SHIVER.
THERE IS THE SOUND OF CLOTH BEING TORN. BEFORE YEHUDA'S EYES, THE OLD MAN'S TATTERED SHIRT RIPS APART.
SUDDENLY, A WHITE WING LASHES OUT AND STARTS TO FLUTTER, AS IF TRYING TO LIFT BARUCH OFF THE FLOOR.
YEHUDA FREEZES. HE IS BARELY BREATHING, TERRIFIED.
THEN, A SECOND WING TEARS THROUGH THE SHIRT, SHIVERING, AS IF IN AGONY.
THEN BOTH WINGS VICIOUSLY POUND THE AIR, STIRRING POWERFUL GUSTS OF WIND.
THE GUSTS TEAR AWAY THE COBWEBS IN THE CORNERS AND RAISE THE AGE-OLD DUST FROM THE FLOOR; AN EMPTY BUCKET CLANGS SOMEWHERE.
BARUCH TURNS TO FACE YEHUDA. STUNNED, YEHUDA SEES A LONG BEAK WHERE BARUCH’S NOSE USED TO BE, PIERCING BUTTON-LIKE EYES AND A YELLOW-RED TUFT OF FEATHERS STICKING UP ON THE TOP OF HIS HEAD.
YEHUDA’S BACK FREEZES IN FEAR.
HE SEES BARUCH'S LEGS TURN INTO THE STRONG, MUSCULAR LEGS OF A LARGE BIRD. BIRD-BARUCH SCREAMS AND GUSHES PAST YEHUDA INTO THE SEALED WINDOW. THE BOARDS COVERING THE WINDOW SHATTER INTO TINY SPLINTERS.
YEHUDA SEES HOW A LARGE WHITE BIRD TEARS AWAY FROM THE HOUSE AND, SLOWLY BEATING ITS POWERFUL WINGS, CLIMBS TOWARD THE SETTING SUN. IT ROCKETS PAST SIMCHA, WHO IS WALKING IN THE FIELD. BARELY TOUCHING THE TIPS OF THE TREES, BIRD-BARUCH FLIES PAST THE FOREST TOWARD THE SUNSET.
YEHUDA CANNOT MOVE.
***
ALL IS CHAOS IN THE HOUSE.
IN THE CORNER, A SPIDER HANGS BY THE THREAD OF A COBWEB.
ALL IS ABSOLUTE STILLNESS.
SUDDENLY, EVERYTHING BECOMES BLURRY IN YEHUDA'S EYES, AND WHEN THE SCENE COMES BACK INTO FOCUS, YEHUDA SEES BARUCH'S FACE, STILL CLOSE TO HIS.
Baruch: Have you seen it?
Yehuda (whispering): Yes, I have.
Baruch: Do you believe it now?
Yehuda (trying to swallow a lump stuck in his throat): Y-yes, I do.
Baruch: What do you believe in, (Baruch leans lower) this nonsense?!
Yehuda (stuttering): But I…I saw…
Baruch: What did you see?
Yehuda: A bird.
Baruch: What bird?
Yehuda: A huge… bird.
Baruch: What if I tell you that nothing happened, you foolish little Jew?
Yehuda: But I … saw it … myself. You turned into…
Baruch: What if I tell you that what you saw was a trick?!
Yehuda: A trick?!
Baruch: Yes! A simple hocus pocus! A cheap trick!
Yehuda: A trick?!
Baruch: That was enough to lead you away from the Creator.
YEHUDA’S HANDS BEGIN TO SHAKE.
Baruch (as if not noticing his condition): You were weak. You fell for a cheap trick and gave it a great definition: Faith.
NOW YEHUDA’S LIPS TREMBLE.
- Never do this again, you hear me! - Baruch suddenly yells at him. – Remember! You have to become strong! And understand - there are no miracles in this world! All the miracles in this world are nothing more than cheap tricks!
BARUCH TOWERS OVER YEHUDA.
- Tricks! You hear me?
YEHUDA’S FACE IS FROZEN IN FEAR.
HIS EYES LOOK AT BARUCH PLEADINGLY.
ALL OF A SUDDEN, BARUCH GOES LIMP AND SITS DOWN AT THE TABLE WEARILY.
HE LOOKS INTO YEHUDA’S EYES.
- I used to know many such tricks, – he says. - I could manipulate people as I wished. And I did. Those fools, they were mesmerized and followed me anywhere I would lead them. I became famous. I made a fortune.
HE PAUSES.
SUDDENLY HE STARTS SPEAKING CLEARLY SO YEHUDA CAN HEAR EVERY WORD:
Baruch: But the more I was sinking into this lie, the more I discovered an abyss between myself and the Creator. He was leaving me. Do you hear me, Yehuda? Do you hear me?
Yehuda (whispering): Yes.
Baruch: Faith is when the Creator appears to you. And you truly feel Him, the way you feel me. He will appear to you only when you stop believing in all that nonsense: that some miracle can actually happen here in this world, on this earth. It can't.
BARUCH STOPS TALKING. HE ROCKS IN HIS CHAIR AND LOOKS AT YEHUDA.
Baruch: Why did you come to me? Because life treated you hard?
Yehuda: I was desperate.
Baruch: How so?
Yehuda: I didn't know what I was living for.
Baruch: Do you know now?
Yehuda: Yes, I do.
Baruch: Well… Tell me. What is it you are living for?
Yehuda (in doubt): I want… I want… (stops talking)
Baruch: Well?
Yehuda: I want…
Baruch (impatiently): Well, what do you want?
Yehuda (exhales): I want to meet Him.
BARUCH STOPS ROCKING IN HIS CHAIR AND ASKS:
- What?
Yehuda: I want to meet Him.
Baruch (quietly): You want to meet Him?
Yehuda: Yes.
Baruch (louder): Him?
Yehuda: Yes.
Baruch (in disdain): You-u-u-u… want to meet the King of the Universe?
Yehuda (mutters): Yes.
Baruch (crushingly): You sorry bug, you-u-u-u-u... little drop of filth that believes in all the scum of this world?!
BARUCH’S FACE TWISTS INTO A GRIMACE. HIS MOUTH OPENS TO SWALLOW THE AIR IN BIG GULPS.
- You want to meet Him?! Do you know what it means to meet Him?! Do you?!
YEHUDA IS SILENT, EITHER OUT OF FEAR OR BECAUSE HE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY.
Baruch (hisses): It means to become worthy of this meeting. Wor-thy!
HE BEARS DOWN ON YEHUDA AGAIN AND ASKS HIM STRAIGHT TO HIS FACE:
- And what does it mean to become worthy of such a meeting?! The greatest, the wisest have failed! The best of the best! Do you know that?
AND WITHOUT WAITING FOR AN ANSWER, HE EXHALES:
- The greatest, the wisest… Those who gave up their lives for it… He didn’t accept them!
BARUCH SUDDENLY FALLS SILENT.
HE AGAIN SEES YEHUDA’S TERRIFIED FACE AND HIS CHILDISH HANDS RAISED AS IF IN DEFENSE.
BARUCH SILENTLY GETS UP, TOWERING OVER THE BOY.
A MOUSE IS SCURRYING IN THE CORNER.
IT’S UNUSUALLY QUIET OUTSIDE.
- Are you scared? – asks Baruch.
- Yes, – Yehuda answers almost inaudibly.
- Good. The first commandment is fear. But you shouldn't fear me. Who am I? I am nothing. Fear Him!
BARUCH SITS DOWN AND TURNS HIS EYES FROM YEHUDA TO THE SOILED TABLE TOP IN FRONT OF HIM.
HE FORCES HIMSELF TO SPEAK:
- You should be afraid… of disappointing Him.
BARUCH’S HANDS WRAPPED IN A WEB OF SWOLLEN VEINS ARE RESTING POWERLESSLY ON HIS KNEES. HE SIGHS:
- You can't imagine how right you are, Yehuda. You discovered His plan. More than anything else, He wants that all of us would say what you just said: “We want to meet You; we can’t live without You, and having said that, would do anything to make it happen!”
THROUGH THE CRACKS IN THE WINDOW ONE CAN SEE SIMCHA WALKING BACK TOWARD THE HOUSE. HE APPROACHES IT AND PEERS INSIDE.
HE SEES YEHUDA AND BARUCH SITTING PEACEFULLY FACING EACH OTHER, AND HE TOO SITS DOWN ONTO A STACK OF FIREWOOD BENEATH THE WINDOW.
HE ROCKS SILENTLY AS IF IN PRAYER.
THE SUN IS SETTING BEHIND THE FOREST.
INSIDE THE HOUSE, BARUCH, SILENT AND OLD, REACHES BELOW THE TABLE AND TAKES OUT AN OLD BOOK IN A TATTERED COVER. HE PUTS IT ON THE TABLE AND COVERS IT WITH HIS HAND.
Baruch: Do you know this book?
Yehuda: This is The Book of Zohar.
Baruch: Have you read it?
Yehuda: Yes, I have.
Baruch: Did you understand it?
Yehuda: No.
Baruch: Did you feel it?
Yehuda: Yes, I did.
Baruch: What did you feel?
Yehuda: Warmth.
Baruch: This is good…. Warmth is very good. The Book of Zohar is humanity’s greatest book, although people still don't realize it. (Baruch is being restrained and soft now. He wants Yehuda to hear and to understand him.) All of the holy books, Yehuda, were written by Kabbalists. Kabbalists live in the spiritual worlds, while you, Yehuda, are here. They are writing to you personally, little Yehuda, from up there. Up there is the Light, and here it is darkness. They describe to you, Yehuda, the path toward the Light.
BARUCH BRINGS HIS FACE CLOSE TO YEHUDA'S AND WHISPERS LOUDLY:
- Yearn to come close to Him all the time. Do you hear me, Yehuda? Realize that if you do not succeed, nothing else is worth living for.
BARUCH SUDDENLY SPREADS OUT HIS ARMS AND PRONOUNCES MYSTERIOUSLY:
- “2nd century CE. Judea is under Roman rule. Like dogs, the Romans are searching everywhere, sniffing each trail, prowling every road, stopping every passerby.”
***
SUDDENLY, A PICTURE APPEARS.
2nd CENTURY JUDEA. ROMANS ARE RUNNING WITH THEIR ARMOR CLANKING.
HERE THEY WALK IN THE FOREST, LIFTING EVERY BUSH.
HERE THEY ARE PRESSING TWO OLD JEWS AGAINST THE WALL, THEIR SPEARS PRESSING DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO THEIR FLESH.
Baruch’s voice: What are these dogs looking for? They are hunting for Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai [8], the foremost student of the great Rabbi Akiva [9].
YEHUDA IS WATCHING BARUCH, CAPTIVATED.
BARUCH, THE GREAT ACTOR, IMPERSONATES EVERY CHARACTER IN HIS STORY.
Baruch (changing his voice): Rabbi Akiva was executed horridly, publicly tortured to death. Now it's the turn of his prime disciple, Rabbi Shimon. "Exxxxx-ecute him! Execute him before the crowd!" – scream the simpletons. "Skin him alive and let everybody see how their great sage moans, pleading for mercy! Their grea-a-a-a-t sage!"
A TRAIL SNAKES UP THE SIDE OF A HILL, DODGING TREES, THROUGH THE FOREST AND CLIMBING UP STONY CREEKS, SQUEEZING THROUGH WINDING PASSAGES, HIGHER AND HIGHER.
Baruch’s voice: Of course! Someone told the Romans that the great one is none other than Rabbi Shimon. That he, together with his great son, Elazar, are undermining the Roman rule. These Roman dogs, tin heads, just can’t figure out how two pitiful Jews could subvert the Roman behemoth, the empire, the power! They can’t grasp it, but they feel it!
THE PATH IS LOST IN THE TALL GRASS AND SUDDENLY REAPPEARS BEFORE THE MOUTH OF A CAVE.
- But their fears are justified. At that very moment, in a cramped, damp cave in the North of the Land of Israel, a mighty force is being unleashed against all the evil that is and ever will be on the face of the earth.
A CANDLE BURNS DEEP IN THE CAVE, BARELY LIGHTING THE BEARDED FACES OF THE MEN SITTING INSIDE.
YEHUDA HEARS BARUCH’S VOICE:
- Do you see the cave?
Yehuda: I do.
Baruch’s voice: Is there anyone inside?
Yehuda: Yes. There are ten men. I see them.
Baruch’s voice: What do you think they are doing there?
Yehuda: They are hiding from Romans.
Baruch’s voice: Correct. And why is that?
Yehuda: I don’t know.
Baruch voice: They are writing the great Book of Zohar, that’s why they are there.( Baruch’s voice is calm and confident.) They are writing the book that describes how the entire world and every single person in it can exit the filth of this world, exit the hatred toward each other, and learn how to truly, not for his own sake, Yehuda, but truly love.
BARUCH NODS HIS HEAD AND TRIES TO ANIMATE HIS EXPLANATION WITH GESTURES.
- Love your neighbor, love the whooooooole world, love everybody… Love! And know, Yehuda, that love is not just a word. Love is not thinking of yourself, but only of others! It is living not for your own sake, but for the sake of others! This is love.
BARUCH’S EYES ARE BURNING; HE IS BREATHLESS WITH EXHILARATION.
- Do you understand, Yehuda, how sublime it is? It is so very high, my son! It makes my head spin! Just imagine, it all happened in the 2nd century, when the world was drowning in blood, when people were mowed down by epidemics like blades of grass. It was a time when power, fame, and wealth were the principal values in the world. Yet, at such a rotten time, ten scrawny, starving men were writing a book about Love, about what they had attained. They were writing a book about your connection with the Creator, Yehuda.
BARUCH IS IN FRONT OF HIM, SHAKING HIS HEAD, AS IF AMAZED BY HIS OWN WORDS:
- What will you say to that, son?!
YEHUDA IS SILENT. WHAT COULD ONE POSSIBLY SAY TO THAT?!
HE IS LOOKING AT BARUCH IN ADMIRATION, AND BARUCH GOES ON:
- What are all these Romans so afraid of? It’s only a book, only a book about love. But they felt it, Yehuda, they felt that a tremendous force was being put into it, a force capable of transforming this filthy, unjust world entirely.
BARUCH MOVES CLOSER TO YEHUDA:
- And now answer me, Yehuda. How can this book possess such a power?
Yehuda (quietly): Because they are not writing it alone.
Baruch (pointing a finger at Yehuda): Well done!
Yehuda: It's because… the Creator is writing the book with them.
BARUCH IS LOOKING AT YEHUDA.
FROM THE WINDOW, SIMCHA IS LOOKING AT YEHUDA, TOO.
BARUCH MUTTERS:
- The lesson is over. Take him away.
***
A COUNTRY ROAD.
YEHUDA AND SIMCHA ARE FOLLOWING IT TOWARD A FARAWAY FOREST.
SIMCHA IS CONSTANTLY LEANING TOWARDS YEHUDA AND PROBING HIM WITH QUESTIONS. YEHUDA RESPONDS BRIEFLY, LOST IN HIS OWN THOUGHTS.
IT’S COLD. SIMCHA TAKES OFF HIS BLACK FROCK COAT AND COVERS HIS SON'S THIN SHOULDERS. YEHUDA DOESN'T RESIST.
THE COAT’S FLAPS DRAG IN THE DAMP ROAD.
BARUCH'S EYES ARE FOLLOWING THEM FROM BEHIND THE BOARDED WINDOW.
YEHUDA TURNS BACK AND SEES BARUCH'S HOUSE SWAYING, ITS OLD WOOD SQUEAKING IN THE WIND.
***
THE ASHLAG FAMILY HOME.
YEHUDA IS RESTING IN BED. SIMCHA COVERS HIM WITH A BLANKET.
AS SOON AS THE DOOR CLOSES BEHIND SIMCHA, YEHUDA SLIPS OUT OF BED AND RUNS BAREFOOT UP TO THE TABLE TO PICK UP THE BOOK.
THE DOOR SWINGS OPEN IMMEDIATELY.
SIMCHA IS STANDING AT THE DOORSTEP.
YEHUDA'S MOTHER IS CRANING HER NECK FROM BEHIND HIS BACK.
Simcha: We have agreed that you are going to sleep, haven’t we, Yehuda?
YEHUDA LEAVES THE BOOK ON THE TABLE AND RETURNS TO HIS BED WITHOUT SAYING A WORD.
Simcha: Your mother and I can’t bear it if you go insane.
YEHUDA CLOSES HIS EYES AND SEES…
***
2ND CENTURY. JUDEA. CAVE.
A MAN’S FACE IS LIT BY A CANDLE.
IT IS HARD TO TELL HIS AGE BECAUSE OF HIS BEARD.
HE IS DICTATING SOMETHING TO ANOTHER MAN WHO IS OBVIOUSLY MUCH YOUNGER THAN HIM.
Baruch’s voice: Rabbi Shimon was dictating, and Rabbi Abba was writing. It’s because only he, Rabbi Abba, could encrypt the words of Rabbi Shimon. You are asking why he was doing it. He was doing it so that no corrupt men would be able to misuse it. The book contained mighty powers. Tremendous! And yet, immediately following its completion, the book vanished for centuries.
***
MORNING, IN FRONT OF BARUCH'S HOME.
SIMCHA SITS ON THE STACK OF FIREWOOD BELOW THE WINDOW. HE CAN HEAR EVERYTHING THAT’S HAPPENING INSIDE THE HOUSE.
THE BOOK OF ZOHAR IS RESTING ON THE TABLE BETWEEN BARUCH AND YEHUDA. YEHUDA SITS, MOTIONLESS, WITH HIS MOUTH HALF OPEN, LISTENING TO BARUCH.
Baruch: Is it interesting for you?
Yehuda: Yes, very much so.
Baruch: No, that’s not the right word. Absolutely not! “Interesting,” what kind of word is that? (He mimics himself.) “In-te-res-ting!” It is life for you, Yehuda! Here, Yehuda, it is written how you should live. How you, Yehuda, can reach the Creator, come to Him and tell Him: “I, Yehuda, have come to You! And the great Book of Zohar has led me to You.”
***
10TH CENTURY CE. A COLORFUL ORIENTAL BAZAAR.
THE HIGH-PITCHED CALLS OF MARKET VENDORS FILL THE AIR.
THE CROWD MOVES LAZILY ABOUT THE MARKET.
Baruch’s voice: The book disappeared for centuries. People forgot that it ever existed. It showed up again only when there was a real need for it.
***
SUDDENLY THE CROWD IN THE MARKETPLACE PARTS.
A BAREFOOT BOY RUSHES THROUGH THE MARKET.
A BREATHLESS, SCREAMING MERCHANT IS CHASING HIM.
HE SHOUTS, GASPING FOR AIR:
- Stop him, stop him!
SOMEONE TRIPS THE BOY, AND HE ROLLS INTO THE DUST.
THE MERCHANT CRASHES DOWN ON HIM THEN PICKS HIM UP.
PAGES OF PARCHMENT FALL FROM UNDER THE BOY'S CLOTHES.
Baruch’s voice: It emerged in the 10th century CE at the Safed marketplace. A boy was selling pages of the manuscript to merchants, who used the pages to wrap the spices they were selling. Many pages were lost this way until one sage recognized in these parchments the most precious thing on Earth.
***
BARUCH'S HOME
Baruch: That’s right, Yehuda, The Book of Zohar (raises his finger) was used to wrap figs and candy. (With excitement) Huh?! a fine example of human life, Yehuda: superficial and false to the core. Beauty conceals emptiness. Dirt hides wisdom, poverty masks a precious soul. Don't be misled by beauty, Yehuda, don't get carried off by flattery. Search for the inner meaning behind all things. Learn to live like that.
BARUCH DOES NOT LET YEHUDA PONDER IT EVEN FOR A SECOND.
HE OPENS THE BOOK IN FRONT OF YEHUDA.
IT’S TATTERED, EVEN TORN IN A FEW PLACES.
HE GENTLY CARESSES IT.
Baruch (gently): Many tried to solve its mystery. The smartest people in the world racked their brains over it until one day, 400 years ago, a boy was born. He became known as the holy ARI [10].
BARUCH GROWS SILENT AND FIXES HIS EYES ON YEHUDA.
A MINUTE PASSES.
BARUCH KEEPS LOOKING SILENTLY AT THE BOY.
Yehuda: Why are you looking at me like that?
Baruch: He was the one who turned everything around. That boy.
***
15TH CENTURY. AN OLD SYNAGOGUE IN CAIRO, EGYPT.
A 15-YEAR-OLD BOY, DRESSED IN A LONG WHITE ROBE, IS PRAYING.
TEN OTHER PEOPLE ARE PRAYING INSIDE.
ONE OF THEM, A STRANGE OLD MAN DRESSED IN RAGS, STANDS BY THE WINDOW.
HE IS ROCKING, HUNCHED OVER A BOOK.
Baruch’s voice: The ARI was three years old when he came to Egypt with his mother. When he was 15, he saw a strange-looking pauper in a synagogue. He was young and very curious.
THE ARI APPROACHES THE PAUPER, STANDS BEHIND HIM, AND LOOKS OVER HIS SHOULDER AT THE BOOK THE PAUPER IS READING.
HE NOTICES THAT THE PAUPER IS HOLDING THE BOOK UPSIDE DOWN. IT IS NEITHER A PRAYER BOOK NOR THE TORAH, BUT SOME OTHER BOOK IN ARAMAIC [11].
THE PAUPER TURNS TO LOOK AT THE ARI.
THE ARI STEPS BACK IN HORROR.
TWO SCARS, INSTEAD OF TWO EYES, ARE LOOKING AT HIM.
***
BARUCH'S HOME.
Baruch: Thus The Zohar came into the ARI's possession - from the hands of a Marano [12], made blind by the Spanish Inquisition. He brought it with him to the ARI through all of Europe and Africa, enduring thirst, hunger, and exhaustion just to pass it on to the ARI. Truth be told, he was bound to bring it. In this world, Yehuda, everything is predetermined.
***
15TH CENTURY CAIRO. A SYNAGOGUE.
THE ARI OPENS THE BOOK AND STARTS TO READ IT AVIDLY.
THE BLIND PAUPER IS SLEEPING ON THE BENCH NEXT TO HIM, FINALLY AT REST.
AFTER MANY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, HE IS SMILING IN HIS DREAM.
Baruch’s voice: When did you discover The Book of Zohar?
Yehuda’s voice: It fell on me when I was five.
Baruch’s voice: It “fell” on the ARI when he was fifteen.
***
BARUCH'S HOME.
BARUCH IS GAZING INTO YEHUDA'S FACE ONCE AGAIN.
Yehuda: Why are you looking at me like that?
Baruch: I'm thinking of something.
Yehuda: What?
Baruch: Maybe I will tell you later… or may be you will understand it yourself.
***
15TH CENTURY. CAIRO.
THE ARI IS WALKING DOWN THE STREET WITH THE BOOK OPEN IN HIS HANDS.
OBLIVIOUS TO HIS SURROUNDINGS, HE CAN’T STOP READING.
HE WALKS THROUGH THE ENTIRE CITY WITHOUT STOPPING, AND INTO THE FOREST.
Baruch’s voice: The ARI became the greatest Kabbalist, the greatest of them all! He knew everything about us, Yehuda, about our entire sorry world. He knew that new times were coming, that lowly souls were beginning to descend into the world, and that by our time, all the human ugliness would surface. He prepared a medicine for us, a system of refinement: the ARI's Kabbalah. He “brewed” this medicine within the pages of this book, The Zohar.
***
BARUCH'S HOME.
BARUCH GENTLY CARESSES THE BOOK.
- It won't disappear any more, no. Its time has come – the time of despair. No one can ever mistake man for anything but the self-indulgent animal that he is!
BARUCH SHAKES HIS HEAD. HE LOOKS AT YEHUDA.
- Yes, yes! We all live only for our own sake, Yehuda, and only because of that, do you understand, Yehuda? Only because of our selfishness are wars being waged, to be followed by far more terrible ones. Illnesses will not be cured, and doctors will cry in defeat; the suffering will be unbearable, and people will cry for help!
BARUCH SITS UP AND SPREADS HIS HANDS.
- But help won't come.
BARUCH SPREADS HIS HANDS. HE GETS UP, WALKS UP TO THE WALL, AND RAISES HIS HEAD TO THE CEILING. HE WATCHES THE SPIDER METHODICALLY WEAVING ITS WEB. HE POINTS HIS FINGER AT THE SPIDER.
Baruch: This spider is as old as I am. I call him Baruch.
HE TURNS TO YEHUDA. THEIR EYES MEET.
HE UNDERSTANDS THAT HE HAS TO COME BACK TO THEIR CONVERSATION.
- You want to know how to help them?
YEHUDA NODS HIS HEAD.
- When they stop believing in themselves, Yehuda, only then will they beg for help.
HE TAPS HIS FINGER ON THE TABLE AND POINTS AT THE BOOK.
- And they will find it in here.
AGAIN, HE WATCHES YEHUDA CLOSELY.
- Our wise fathers sent it for us a long time ago. They saw it all, they knew everything. They knew that this book would find you, Yehuda.
ANOTHER LONG PAUSE AND TOTAL SILENCE.
EVEN BARUCH, THE SPIDER, STANDS STILL IN ITS WEB UNDER THE CEILING.
SIMCHA IS SITTING UNDER THE WINDOW, MESMERIZED BY THE HEAVY SILENCE INSIDE THE HOUSE. HE IS STRAINING TO LISTEN. THEN HE STANDS UP AND TRIES TO LOOK INSIDE THROUGH THE CRACKS BETWEEN THE BOARDS.
HE LOOKS CLOSER BUT HE DOES NOT SEE ANYONE. IN PANIC, HE RUSHES TO THE DOOR AND HURLS IT OPEN. THERE IS NO ONE IN THE HOUSE.
- Yehuda!
SIMCHA DARTS INTO THE HOUSE, RUNNING TO AND FRO, LOOKING IN EVERY CORNER.
- Yehuda, son!
AND SUDDENLY HE HEARS BARUCH’S CALM VOICE BEHIND HIM:
- What's all the fuss about, Simcha?
SIMCHA TURNS AROUND.
BARUCH AND YEHUDA ARE SITTING AT THE TABLE AGAINST EACH OTHER AS BEFORE.
- What’s happened, Father? – Yehuda asks as if nothing had happened.
- I… I was looking for you, I was knocking… - Simcha mumbles – Nobody was here. It was silent. I got scared.
Baruch: Don't be afraid, Simcha. There's nothing you can do now. Step outside, sit down for a while. I want to ask your son a very important question.
Simcha: But there was no one here.
Baruch: You think so? And in your opinion, does this entire world exist?
Simcha (irritated): I don't want to listen to your nonsense!
HE WALKS OVER TO YEHUDA AND TAKES HIS HAND:
- Yehuda, it's late already. Let’s go!
Baruch (sharply): Leave!
SIMCHA DROPS YEHUDA'S HAND, TURNS AROUND, AND OBEDIENTLY WALKS TO THE DOOR. HE OPENS IT AND STEPS OUTSIDE.
SIMCHA SITS BACK AT HIS PLACE UNDER THE WINDOW AND HEARS BARUCH SPEAKING:
- So, Yehuda, answer me, do you know the burden you are placing on your shoulders?
SIMCHA IS ROOTED TO THE LOGS.
HE CAN HEAR EVERYTHING BUT IS UNABLE TO MOVE.
Baruch: You will assume a huge responsibility, not for yourself – who are you after all?! – but for the entire world. And you will suffer not for yourself, but for the entire world. Have you considered that, Yehuda? You are making a far-reaching, radical decision here. Better think a hundred times before you make up your mind.
SIMCHA TRIES TO STAND UP BUT CAN’T.
WRIGGLING, HE PULLS HIMSELF TO THE WINDOWSILL WITH HIS HANDS.
HE WANTS TO SCREAM TO HIS SON: “WAIT! THINK IT OVER! DON’T RUSH!”
BUT IT’S TOO LATE.
- I've thought about it. I want it. – He hears Yehuda’s answer.
EXHAUSTED, SIMCHA SLIDES FROM THE LOGS ONTO THE WET GRASS.
IN THE HOUSE, BARUCH IS FIXING YEHUDA WITH A HARD STARE.
Baruch (ruthlessly):
If so, here is your first assignment. Take the ARI’s poem. It is not a simple poem. It is about the beginning of all beginnings. Here it is.
BARUCH, WITHOUT LOOKING, OPENS THE BOOK AT THE RIGHT PLACE.
Baruch: Penetrate it. Submerge yourself in it. Try to hear the teacher, the great ARI. Follow him.
BARUCH RAISES HIS HAND. YEHUDA FOLLOWS IT WITH HIS EYES. SLOWLY AND GRACEFULLY BARUCH MOVES HIS HAND BEFORE HIM, AS IF DRAWING CIRCLES IN THE AIR.
Baruch (rhythmically, as if singing):
- “Behold, that before the emanations were emanated and the creatures were created, the simple upper light had filled the whole of existence. And there was no vacancy, but all was filled with a simple, boundless light.”
***
SIMCHA AND YEHUDA ARE WALKING SILENTLY BY THE SIDE OF A LAKE.
THE SUN HAS ALREADY SET.
WARSAW APPEARS UP AHEAD.
WE CAN HEAR THE YEHUDA’S CHILDISH VOICE, CONTINUING:
- “And when upon His simple will came the desire to create the worlds and emanate the emanations, to bring to light the perfection of His deeds, His names, His appellations, which was the cause of the creation of the worlds, He then restricted Himself, in the middle, precisely at the center. He restricted the light. And the light drew far off to the sides around that middle point.”
***
ASHLAG FAMILY HOME. NIGHT.
YEHUDA IS SLEEPING IN HIS BED.
HIS FATHER, WATCHING HIM FROM THE DOORSTEP, APPROACHES AND LISTENS TO YEHUDA'S BREATH. HE ADJUSTS THE BLANKET AND QUIETLY LEAVES THE ROOM.
AS SOON AS THE DOOR CLOSES BEHIND HIM, YEHUDA OPENS HIS EYES. HE QUICKLY STANDS UP, PICKS A BOOK FROM THE SHELF AND A LAMP FROM THE WINDOWSILL, AND DUCKS UNDER THE TABLE, COVERED BY A LONG TABLECLOTH THAT REACHES ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FLOOR.
THE LAMP BURNS UNDER THE TABLE.
YEHUDA IS READING THE BOOK. WE CAN HEAR HIS VOICE:
- “And the restriction had been uniform around the empty central point, so that the space was evenly circled around it.
There, after the restriction, having formed a vacuum and a space precisely in the middle of the endless light, a place was formed, where the emanated and the created might reside.”
IN THE WINDOW, THE MOONLIGHT WANES, DISSOLVING IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW DAY.
THE SWEEPERS GO OUT TO THE STREETS.
A MILKMAN RIDES PAST THE HOUSE, HIS BOTTLES RATTLING.
WE HEAR A SHARP ROOSTER’S CALL.
YEHUDA'S EYES ARE FIXED ON THE LINES IN THE BOOK:
- “Then from the Endless Light, a single beam came down, lowered down into that space. And through that beam, He emanated, created, formed, and made, all the worlds.”
***
A HEIDER (CLASSROOM). CHILDREN ARE SITTING IN ROWS, LEANING OVER THEIR BOOKS. THE MORNING SUNLIGHT STRUGGLES THROUGH THE TINY WINDOWS, PLAYING WITH THE DUST AS IF IT WERE GOLD DUST.
YEHUDA SEEMS TO BE READING THE TORAH, JUST LIKE THE OTHERS.
BUT HE IS NOT.
SHMUEL, THE TEACHER, SILENTLY APPROACHES YEHUDA FROM BEHIND.
HE NOTICES PAGES FROM ANOTHER BOOK CONCEALED INSIDE YEHUDA'S TORAH BOOK.
IT IS THE POEM OF THE ARI, REWRITTEN NEATLY IN A CHILD'S HANDWRITING.
YEHUDA IS IMMERSED IN READING AND DOESN’T HEAR ANYTHING.
HE WHISPERS TO HIMSELF:
- “And through this beam the light came down unto the worlds, each and every circle from all the worlds, that are within the void, and each circle that is closer to the light of infinity is higher and superior to the other, and this worldly, material world is the middle point within the circles, inside the empty space.”
SUDDENLY A HAND FLASHES IN FRONT OF YEHUDA’S FACE AND THE PAGES DISAPPEAR.
YEHUDA LOOKS UP.
THE PAGES TREMBLE IN THE TEACHER’S HANDS.
HE BRINGS THE PAGES CLOSER TO HIS NEAR-SIGHTED EYES AND READS SUSPICIOUSLY.
- “It is so removed from the Infinite, more so than all the other worlds, which is why it is so lowly and material in its base corporeality since it resides in the midst all of the circles.”
The teacher: The ARI’s poem. I see, I see.
YEHUDA STANDS UP.
The teacher: Can you explain it?
YEHUDA IS SILENT.
The teacher: Who gave it to you?
YEHUDA IS SILENT.
THE ENTIRE CLASS IS SILENT, TOO, FROZEN IN ANTICIPATION OF A PUNISHMENT.
The teacher (loudly): I don’t want these texts to go around the class. You are lost, your parents surrendered, but my goal is to save the rest. Go, Yehuda (waves his hand). Get out!
THE TEACHER TURNS HIS BACK TO YEHUDA AND HEARS THE BOY’S VOICE:
- Give me back those pages.
THE TEACHER IS TRANSFIXED, HE LOOKS AROUND THE CLASS AND UTTERS, WITHOUT TURNING BACK:
The teacher: Are you talking to me?
Yehuda: To you.
The teacher: What?
HE TURNS AROUND SUDDENLY AND HIS POINTER ABUTS ON YEHUDA’S NOSE.
The teacher: What did you say?!
Yehuda (stubbornly): The pages!
The teacher(suspiciously): Is this a request or an order?
THE ENTIRE CLASS HOLDS ITS BREATH IN SHEER DREAD.
Yehuda: Give me back the pages. Those are my pages.
AGAIN A PAUSE AND A LONG SILENCE.
The teacher: I warned your parents – people go mad from it. Well, it happened. They will cry their eyes out, your parents, when you are foaming at the mouth, fear and anguish living in your eyes forever! When this world becomes your hell.
YEHUDA EXTENDS HIS HAND TOWARD THE TEACHER.
THE TEACHER BECOMES SILENT.
YEHUDA TAKES THE PAGES OUT OF HIS HAND, TURNS AROUND, AND QUICKLY EXITS THE CLASSROOM.
***
BARUCH'S HOME.
BARUCH IS PACING BACK AND FORTH.
YEHUDA IS WATCHING HIM.
THE LIGHT OF DUSK PERMEATES THE HOUSE THROUGH THE CRACKS IN THE BOARDED WINDOW.
Baruch’s voice: Five worlds, one hundred twenty-five degrees, separate you from Him. He is calling you from up there. His appeal comes from the world of Atzilut [13]: “Come back, son! Break through! Break through the doubts, the pain, the downs and the ups. I am waiting for you! I love you! Hear Me, I am pleading!” But His call fades, growing weaker and weaker. Man's pride stands in the way. Only a person with a broken heart can hear His voice.
BARUCH IS STANDING WITH HIS BACK TO YEHUDA, LOOKING AT THE SETTING SUN THROUGH THE CRACKS IN THE WINDOW.
Baruch’s voice: Why is it broken? Because the Creator is absent in our world. He has locked us up in the world of lowly desires. We suffer in anguish, our blood spills onto this dirty earth for centuries. Why did He make it so? Where was His love for us?! Where was His compassion for these lowly, ignorant creatures?!
BARUCH TURNS TO FACE YEHUDA.
Yehuda: He loves us.
Baruch: Who told you that?
Yehuda: I can feel it.
Baruch: What can you feel, you drop of filth?
Yehuda: I can feel that I am a drop of filth. And He… He is the Light, He is Love! He is everything.
Baruch: But how could the Light have created darkness? How could love have created hatred? How could He… He have created a drop of filth?! So many of these drops?! This base humanity? Where were His eyes? Tell me! Can you justify Him, Yehuda?
YEHUDA IS THINKING AND WE CAN SEE THAT HE IS STRUGGLING WITH THESE QUESTIONS.
Yehuda: I don't know. I don't know yet because I haven't met Him yet. I can only feel it.
BARUCH SITS IN FRONT OF YEHUDA.
Baruch: You don’t know?
Yehuda: No, I don’t.
Baruch (with great urgency): You really don’t know?!
Yehuda: I don’t know.
Baruch: You are correct. He – the purest of all - couldn't have made filth. Just as a lion can't give birth to a mouse, perfection can't give rise to imperfection.
BARUCH IS SILENT, WATCHING YEHUDA.
HE IS EXPECTING YEHUDA TO ASK A QUESTION, BUT YEHUDA IS NOT ASKING.
Baruch: Well, ask! Ask me, why did He create all of this?
Yehuda: Why?
Baruch: Simply because… Come on, you’ve already answered this question. Well?!
Yehuda: I don't know.
Baruch: So that you, Yehuda, yes you, of your own free will, would decide, would realize that it's unbearable to exist in all this filth; that you cannot stand to be so far away from Him, so that you would then plead from the very bottom of your heart. He heeds only such a prayer. He wants you to come to Him on your own, of your own free will. And then you will tell Him: “Here I am, I have come to You through my own efforts because I want to be Your friend.” And you will do it all on your own. Of your own free will, Yehuda!
Yehuda: What do I have to do to be able to say that?
BARUCH SPEAKS CLEARLY, DRYLY AND DISTINCTLY.
Baruch: If you haven't made contact with the Creator in this life, you are nothing.
Yehuda: How can I achieve that? This is why I have come to you.
YEHUDA SUDDENLY GETS UP, TOWERING OVER BARUCH, AS IF THEY HAVE EXCHANGED ROLES. NOW LITTLE YEHUDA IS SPEAKING ANGRILY AND AUTHORITATIVELY.
Yehuda: I am sick and tired of this empty talking. I don't have time for this.
BARUCH LOOKS AT HIM WITH AWE.
Baruch: Oh, how you remind me of someone! But he wasn’t eight years old; he was forty-eight!
Yehuda: I don't need all these stories. You must lead me to Him!
Baruch (laughing and pointing his finger at Yehuda): Yep, Mendel from Kotzk was just like that: unyielding, uncompromising.
AND SUDDENLY HE STOPS LAUGHING, SEEING THAT YEHUDA IS PAST LAUGHTER.
Baruch: We led a peaceful life. We believed in God. We were told that He exists and we believed it. We followed His laws, studied the Torah. Mendel came and ripped our peaceful life apart. He made us abandon this world and demand another. He yelled at us, threw his fists at us, and cursed us. But nothing came out of us. We remained the beasts we were. (He sighs and orders sharply:) Sit, Yehuda.
YEHUDA SITS DOWN.
Baruch: Open!
YEHUDA OPENS THE BOOK.
BARUCH PUTS HIS HAND ON THE FIRST PAGE AND TAPS HIS FINGER ON THE FIRST LINE.
Baruch: The cure is here, Yehuda! Only here! This is where life is. Do you get it?
Yehuda: Yes.
Baruch: Well, if you do, then start. Start looking for it within you, son.
YEHUDA BEGINS TO READ SLOWLY.
THE CHILD'S FINGER TRACES THE LINES OF THE BOOK.
Yehuda’s voice: “A river stretches out from Eden…” What is “river?”
Baruch: “River” stands for your readiness to bestow everything to others—every single thing you’ve got…
Yehuda: What is the Garden of Eden? (Smiles) It must be something very, very good.
Baruch: Right you are, son! The Garden of Eden is a collection of your best desires. The best! Friendship, love, bestowal… These desires are planted in you, son, like trees in the ground. They are called “The Garden of Eden,” and they yield the tastiest fruit.
NIGHT FALLS BEHIND THE WINDOW. THE OLD HOUSE CREAKS IN THE WIND. THE CANDLE ON THE TABLE LIGHTS THE FACES OF YEHUDA AND BARUCH.
Yehuda’s voice: “That river swells and flows, it enters the lower Garden and irrigates it with waters from above, satiating it, bringing forth fruit and seeds.”
SHADOWS DANCE IN THE CORNERS OF THE ROOM.
BARUCH’S HANDS ARE CLENCHED IN GNARLED FISTS. YEHUDA’S FINGER TRAVELS ALONG THE LINES OF THE BOOK.
[1] A Heider (Hebrew: a room) is a small classroom, the orthodox Jews’ equivalent of elementary school.
[2] “Le” is a common suffix to a person’s name used as a term of endearment.
[3] Ramak – Rav Moshe Kordovero (1522-1570), a great Kabbalist. Lived and taught in Safed (a Kabbalists’ town in Northern Israel). The title Rav, as opposed to Rabbi, will be used throughout the book to indicate one’s being not just an ordained rabbi, but also a Kabbalist.
[4] Ramchal – Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1747), a great Kabbalist. Lived and taught in Italy and Holland.
[5]Hassidim (pl. for Hassid) – pious followers.
[6] A point in the heart is a special kind of emptiness and lack of satisfaction that appears in a person’s heart, compelling that person to search for answers to the questions about the meaning of life. This is how the Creator leads someone towards Him.
[7] Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1788 – 1859), a great Kabbalist who formed one of the most famous Kabbalah groups.
[8] Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (a.k.a. Rashbi) wrote with his nine students The Book of Zohar.
[9] Rabbi Shimon’s teacher and the greatest sage of his time. He coined the maxim, “Love your friend as yourself.”
[10] The ARI, an acronym for Eloki (Godly) Rabbi Itzhak (1534-1572), was born as Isaac Luria. He was born in Jerusalem, moved to Egypt, but worked and taught in Safed during the last 18 months of his short life. He founded what is now known as LurianicKabbalah, approaching Kabbalah from a scientific perspective. Like Rashbi, his books were not written by him, but by his prime disciple, Rav Chaim Vital.
[11]The Book of Zohar was written in Aramaic. In his Sulam (Ladder) commentary, Yehuda Ashlag translated the book into Hebrew, as well as interpreted the meaning of the words for today’s readers.
[12] Maranos—Jews of Spanish origin who were forced to accept Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition, but secretly continued to observe the Jewish tradition.
[13] The word, Atzilut, is derived from the Hebrew word Etzlo (at His place). Atzilut is the world that we reach when we are corrected and discover the Creator to the fullest.