The Kabbalist (5)
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE.
LONDON. MORNING.
BIG BEN STRIKES ON THE HOUR.
ON THEIR WAY TO WORK, PEOPLE FILL THE STREETS, TWO-STOREY BUSES, AND THE RAILWAY STATIONS.
TRAFFIC WARDENS WEARING BOBBY HATS ARE DANCING IN THE MIDDLE OF BUSY INTERSECTIONS, THEIR WHISTLES COMPETING WITH CAR HONKS AND SHOUTS.
A NEW WORKDAY BEGINS.
THE FAÇADE OF AARON’S HOUSE.
***
INSIDE AARON'S HOME.
A MAID IS CAREFULLY RESTING A BREAKFAST TRAY IN FRONT OF RAV ASHLAG'S ROOM AND PICKS UP A SIMILAR TRAY SHE HAD PUT THERE EARLIER, IT'S UNTOUCHED.
SHE LISTENS.
THE SOUND OF EVEN FOOTSTEPS COMES FROM BEHIND THE CLOSED DOOR.
***
RAV ASHLAG'S ROOM.
THE MANUSCRIPTS ARE LYING ON THE TABLE.
RAV ASHLAG IS PACING AROUND THE TABLE, HIS HEAD DOWN.
HE STOPS, PRESSES HIS FOREHEAD AGAINST THE WALL.
HE STANDS LIKE THAT FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
***
A FLASH OF LIGHT.
HE IS WALKING ALONG A PATH.
CLEAR BLUE VASTNESS ALL AROUND.
GREEN VALLEYS FULL OF FLOWERS TO HIS RIGHT; THE WELCOMING SHADE OF TALL ANCIENT TREES TO HIS LEFT.
THE WHITE CITY GLEAMS ON THE HILLTOP UP AHEAD.
FROM THE DEPTH OF THE BLUE VASTNESS COMES AN ENCHANTING MELODY, AS LUCID AS WATER, BARELY TOUCHING RAV ASHLAG…
***
RAV ASHLAG'S ROOM. RAV ASHLAG TAKES A STEP BACK FROM THE WALL.
HE STRAINS HIS EARS TO LISTEN.
THE MELODY IS NOT THERE.
***
A STREET IN JERUSALEM. NIGHT.
MOSHE AND CHAIM ARE WALKING THROUGH THE CITY.
A BRITISH PATROL COMES OUT OF THE DARKNESS AND WAVES TO THEM.
THEY WALK ON.
TWO SHADOWS CROSS THEIR PATH AND STOP FOR A MOMENT.
A RIFLE IS LOADED LOUDLY SOMEWHERE.
THE SHADOWS DISAPPEAR INTO THE NIGHT.
MOSHE AND CHAIM WALK ACROSS THE OPEN EXPANSE AND ARRIVE AT A LIT WINDOW.
***
THEY ENTER THE CLASSROOM.
BARUCH IS HOLDING A NEW LETTER FROM RAV ASHLAG.
Baruch (reading out loud): “Where is it, the constant thought about unity? Where is the inner scream: ‘Give us the strength to love one another!’”
BARUCH LIFTS HIS EYES FROM THE LETTER.
THEY ARE FULL OF TEARS.
Chaim: Read on!
Baruch: “Think of ways to unite. Pray for His help! Don’t give in. Break your hearts in search of love.”
BARUCH STOPS AGAIN.
HE LOSES HIS BREATH AND CANNOT TALK.
Chaim (pleadingly): Read!
Baruch: “Remember, the Creator heeds only the cry of a broken heart.” (Continues reading to himself)
Moshe (harshly): Well?!
Baruch (continues reading): “But how can I forgive you when the ladder that was lowered down to earth is still standing empty? (Lifts his eyes from the letter) You are not climbing it.”
EVERYBODY IS SPEECHLESS. A LONG SILENCE HANGS IN THE AIR.
BARUCH IS CRYING.
Moshe (suddenly, contemptuously): Wipe your snivel. (Looks around) What’s going on with all of you?! One is sobbing like a girl, another won’t even wake up for the lesson! (Screams) He gave up, this Shimon!
BARUCH AND CHAIM ARE LOOKING AT MOSHE.
Moshe: I think we should forget about him. He’s been absent two nights in a row.
Baruch: We should wake him up and bring him to the lesson.
Moshe: There is no coercion in spirituality.
Baruch: He has simply grown weak.
Moshe: Do as you wish, I'm staying. It's just a waste of valuable study time.
Chaim (to Baruch): I am coming with you.
***
NIGHT. A NARROW STREET IN JERUSALEM.
BARUCH AND CHAIM ARE MOVING SLOWLY IN PITCH DARKNESS.
THEY STOP BELOW THE WINDOWS OF A HOUSE. BARUCH THROWS A LITTLE STONE AT THE WINDOW. THE STONE CLINKS ON THE WINDOW, THEN FALLS ON THE GROUND. HE THROWS ANOTHER ONE. SILENCE.
CHAIM LEANS AGAINST THE WALL. BARUCH GETS ON HIS SHOULDERS AND PULLS HIMSELF UP TO THE WINDOW. HE OPENS THE LATCH AND CRAWLS INSIDE, THEN PULLS CHAIM UP INTO THE HOUSE.
***
INSIDE SHIMON’S HOUSE.
THEY WALK PAST THE CHILDREN’S BEDS AND COME UP TO THE PARENTS' BED AT THE FAR END OF THE ROOM.
THEY SILENTLY LEAN OVER SHIMON, WHO IS SLEEPING NEXT TO HIS WIFE.
THEY CAREFULLY REMOVE THE BLANKET AND GENTLY PICK UP SHIMON IN THEIR HANDS.
SHIMON OPENS HIS EYES, BUT BEFORE HE CAN OPEN HIS MOUTH, CHAIM COVERS IT WITH HIS HAND.
THE FEAR ON SHIMON’S FACE GIVES WAY TO INDIGNATION.
HE MAKES AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK LOOSE, BUT CAN'T.
THEN HE SUDDENLY CALMS DOWN.
BARUCH PICKS UP HIS CLOTHES ON THE WAY OUT.
THEY SILENTLY DISAPPEAR BACK OUT THE WINDOW AND THEN INTO THE NIGHT OUTSIDE.
***
LONDON. RAV ASHLAG'S ROOM.
RAV ASHLAG IS WRITING.
MORE PERFECT LINES OF TEXT, DEVOID OF CORRECTIONS, APPEAR FAST ON THE PAGE.
HIS HAND PUTS PAGE AFTER PAGE ON THE PILE AT THE EDGE OF THE TABLE.
WE CAN HEAR A SOFT KNOCK ON THE DOOR.
Rav Ashlag (without turning): Come on in.
AARON COMES INSIDE WEARING A WHITE ROBE.
HE APPEARS TO HAVE SLEPT WELL.
Rav Ashlag: Sit down and read.
AARON COMES CLOSER, TAKES A STACK OF PAPERS FROM THE TABLE AND DROPS DOWN INTO A CHAIR.
IMMEDIATELY HE IS LOST TO THE WORLD, READING.
THE LIGHT OF DAWN SHINES THROUGH THE MIST OUTSIDE THE WINDOW.
AARON'S EYES FLY THROUGH THE TEXT, ONE LINE AFTER ANOTHER.
RAV ASHLAG'S HAND HOLDING THE QUILL IS MOVING SWIFTLY, WITHOUT STOPPING EVEN FOR A SECOND.
WE CAN HEAR AARON SPEAK:
- It's going to be a great book.
THE QUILL STOPS.
RAV ASHLAG PEERS AT AARON FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE.
Aaron (in excitement): One can write such a book only if the Creator Himself is dictating it to him. I don't understand a thing but I am trembling with the force that it contains.
***
JERUSALEM. EARLY MORNING.
THE FOUR STUDENTS ARE HUDDLED AROUND THE ZOHAR, SITTING CLOSELY NEXT TO EACH OTHER.
Moshe (reading out loud): “And then the common soul shattered into myriad fragments. And the pieces fell down into our world – the world of complete darkness.”
Baruch (whispering): Intention! Intention! Give us the strength to love one another!
Moshe (continues reading): “The pieces inhabited the bodies of this world… and then came hatred.”
Baruch (whispering): Give us the strength to love one another! Give us strength to love one another!
MOSHE PUTS DOWN THE BOOK, IRRITATED.
Moshe: What are you mumbling there all the time!
Baruch: Father wrote that…
Moshe: I don't care what your father is writing! You are mumbling and I can’t understand what’s written here for the life of me!
HE JUMPS UP, KNOCKING HIS CHAIR DOWN.
Moshe: I've come to study Kabbalah – the great science, and instead we are being treated like little kids. Inte-e-ention! I came here to study the great books. I want your father to teach me that.
Shimon: Shut up, you fool!
Moshe (approaching him): Wha-a-at?!
Shimon: Shut up! You are talking about our teacher!
MOSHE PUSHES SHIMON HARD AND HE FLIES ACROSS THE ROOM.
SHIMON TRIES TO STAND UP.
MOSHE APPROACHES HIM WITH CLENCHED FISTS.
SHIMON JUMPS UP, HIS FACE CONTORTED WITH HATRED.
Shimon (screaming): I will kill you, scum!
HE LUNGES AT MOSHE, BUT CHAIM IS HOLDING HIM.
MOSHE SWINGS HIS FIST TO HIT HIM, BUT BARUCH STOPS HIS ARM MIDWAY.
Baruch: Brothers… Brothers! What are we doing!
MOSHE ATTEMPTS TO SHAKE HIM OFF.
Baruch: Father is writing to us…
MOSHE TURNS AROUND AND GRABS BARUCH’S THROAT.
Moshe: What is he writing there, your father, huh?! He left us and now he is writing all kinds of nice words. He gathered us together and then left us—and not only us, but his family and his wife, who is about to give birth without him.
Shimon (yelling): He is your teacher!
Moshe: Shut up, you weakling!
Chaim (standing between them): That's it! We have to calm down.
MOSHE SHAKES BARUCH'S HAND OFF HIM AND SITS DOWN BEHIND THE TABLE.
Chaim: We must calm down.
Baruch: Let's read his letter again.
Moshe: No, let's open the book instead.
Shimon: How terribly wrong this is.
Baruch: We have a mountain of hatred between us. If we don’t rise above it…
Moshe (harshly): We are going to open the book in order to draw the great wisdom hidden within it. Listen to me (with urgency in his voice). We shall open the book and we shall read from the great holy Book of Zohar.
***
LONDON. NIGHT TIME.
RAV ASHLAG IS STROLLING THROUGH THE CITY.
HE WALKS THROUGH WEALTHY QUARTERS WHERE STORE WINDOWS, LADEN WITH EXPENSIVE GOODS, ARE BRIGHTLY LIT EVEN AT NIGHT, WHERE EXPENSIVE CARS WHIZ BY, WHITE SUEDE GLOVES, EVENING GOWNS, AND FANCY RESTAURANTS SHOW OFF THE GOOD LIFE.
HE IS TRAVELING THROUGH OTHER QUARTERS AS WELL, WHERE THE HOMELESS WARM THEMSELVES BY BARREL FIRES, AND THE STREETS BEAR THE MARK OF POVERTY - DILAPIDATED FACADES, GRIMY FACES, AND DIRTY PUBS.
SUDDENLY A FAINT MUSICAL CHORD CATCHES HIS ATTENTION AMIDST THE BUSTLING CITY… AND INSTANTLY DISAPPEARS IN THE NOISE OF THE BUSTLING CITY.
RAV ASHLAG STOPS.
***
A FLASH OF LIGHT.
HE IS STANDING ON THE PATH.
THE CLEAR BLUE VASTNESS IS ALL AROUND HIM.
HE IS MOTIONLESS.
HEAVENLY MUSIC IS WAFTING TOWARD HIM FROM BEHIND THE WALLS OF THE WHITE CITY.
***
LONDON. STREET.
THE MUSIC CAN HARDLY BE HEARD.
RAV ASHLAG IS STANDING FROZEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET.
A PASSERBY TURNS TO LOOK AT HIM…
***
NIGHT. AARON’S HOUSE IS DARK.
AARON'S ROOM.
AARON WAKES UP TO THE SOUND OF MUSIC COMING FROM SOMEWHERE INSIDE THE HOUSE.
HE GETS OUT OF BED, SLIPS ON HIS ROBE, AND GOES OUT OF THE ROOM.
HE GOES UP THE STAIRS TO THE SECOND FLOOR.
HE IS WALKING ALONG A LONG CORRIDOR AS THE SOUND OF A PIANO IS GROWING LOUDER.
HE REACHES THE LIVING ROOM ON THE SECOND FLOOR.
AARON STOPS AND OPENS THE DOOR CAREFULLY.
IN THE DIM CANDLELIGHT HE CAN SEE RAV ASHLAG SITTING BY THE PIANO, HIS FINGERS HOVERING GENTLY ON THE KEYS.
AARON'S FACE - STUNNED AND FEARFUL.
THE DIVINE MUSIC ENVELOPS THE HOUSE AS IT RISES UP ABOVE THE LONDON SKYLINE.
AARON WALKS INSIDE, CAUTIOUSLY…
RAV ASHLAG DOESN'T PAY ATTENTION TO HIM; HE IS OBLIVIOUS TO EVERYTHING.
FINALLY, HIS FINGERS STOP THEIR MOVEMENT AND HANG IN MID-AIR. THE MUSIC STOPS.
Aaron’s voice: It’s Divine… what a beautiful melody! I didn't know you could play the piano so well.
RAV ASHLAG'S FINGERS TOUCH THE KEYS AGAIN, AND AGAIN MUSIC FILLS THE AIR.
AARON APPROACHES THE PIANO AND WATCHES IN AWE AS RAV ASHLAG PLAYS.
Rav Ashlag: But I can't play.
Aaron: But you are playing the piano now!
Rav Ashlag: Nobody’s ever taught me to play anything, but this is not important.
Aaron: What do you mean? Where is this coming from, then?!
Rav Ashlag: I can hear this music.
Aaron: Up there?
Rav Ashlag: Yes. There are no words there, just feelings. You can't share this experience with words. Music is the best way to convey it.
AARON SUDDENLY SQUATS DOWN BEFORE RAV ASHLAG, TRYING TO ENTER HIS FIELD OF VISION.
Aaron: That's it! That is it! It's so simple, so clear! And so sensual! I want to hear it, just hear it forever, this divine music! Dear Rav, if only you could write just as clearly and simply as you play.
RAV ASHLAG STOPS PLAYING, HIS HANDS HANG DOWN.
Aaron: Play some more, please!
NIGHT OVER LONDON.
***
NIGHT OVER JERUSALEM.
THE MUSIC PLAYED BY RAV ASHLAG IS CARRIED ABOVE THE CITY.
***
NIGHT AT SEA.
A SHIP IS ROCKING ON THE WAVES, ITS LIGHTS FLICKERING.
RAV ASHLAG IS STANDING ON THE DECK.
THE MUSIC IS PLAYING IN THE AIR.
JERUSALEM. RAV ASHLAG'S HOME.
THE TABLE IS SET WITH SIMPLE FOOD.
RAV ASHLAG'S FAMILY IS GATHERED AROUND THE TABLE, TOGETHER WITH HIS STUDENTS.
EVERYBODY IS EATING SILENTLY.
RAV ASHLAG RAISES HIS HEAD.
Rav Ashlag: I want to hear about what stopped you from being together.
Chaim: When you left us…
Rav Ashlag: It's you who left me.
Chaim: We tried…
Shimon: But we had doubts.
Moshe: We decided to study the material better, deeper, in order to understand…
Rav Ashlag: Understand what? (With pain) What did you get from this study?
EVERYONE EXCEPT MOSHE AVOIDS RAV ASHLAG’S GAZE.
MOSHE HOLDS HIS GROUND WITH CONFIDENCE.
Rav Ashlag (in a booming voice): Which God were you praying to when I was there?
Moshe: We wanted to know more.
Rav Ashlag: Such knowledge is Pharaoh's greatest weapon!
Moshe: But knowledge gave us confidence!
Rav Ashlag: Too bad! I don’t need those who know! I need those who are confused, sick, and unsure of anything! Those are the students I want!
HE LOOKS AROUND AT EVERYONE.
BARUCH AND SHIMON SIT SILENTLY, THEIR EYES LOWERED.
Rav Ashlag: I’m asking for the last time, why did you surrender?
Chaim: We failed.
Rav Ashlag: Why didn't you cry? Why didn’t you pray?!
Chaim: We tried, but nothing came out of it… without you.
Moshe: No, you are being unfair! (Turns to Chaim) What are you mumbling about? We didn't give up, we were studying The Book of Zohar. What’s wrong with that? We are now familiar with the system of the interaction of the worlds.
Rav Ashlag: I don't need students full of knowledge. I need students full of pain. You can leave – all of you.
Moshe: What do you mean - leave?!
Rav Ashlag: I don't want to see you anymore.
Moshe: How can you throw us out?! My heart has led me here!
Rav Ashlag: Your stinking pride has led you here.
Moshe: How can you say this to me? I gave up everything I had…
Rav Ashlag: Rivka, please show them the way out.
Moshe: You are not a teacher! We’re leaving, never to return.
MOSHE GETS UP AND WALKS TO THE DOOR FIRST.
CHAIM AND SHIMON FOLLOW HIM, THEY LOOK CRUSHED.
BARUCH IS STANDING BY THE WALL.
RAV ASHLAG STARES AT HIM STERNLY.
Rav Ashlag: This concerns everyone!
Rivka (pleading): Yehuda?!
Rav Ashlag: Everyone!
BARUCH NODS AND SLOWLY LEAVES TOGETHER WITH EVERYONE.
Rivka (moans): What are you doing?
Rav Ashlag: The only thing I CAN do for them.
Rivka (almost crying): But they are gone. And Baruch has left with them.
RAV ASHLAG GETS UP AND APPROACHES HER.
- I brought back some money. Enough for a month.
Rivka: It is so hard for me to be with you, Yehuda. (Rivka tries not to look at him) So hard…
***
NIGHT. CLASSROOM.
RAV ASHLAG IS SITTING ALONE IN THE EMPTY ROOM.
HE GLANCES AT THE CLOCK AND OPENS THE BOOK.
IT’S ONE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING.
SUDDENLY THE DOOR SQUEAKS.
RIVKA ENTERS THE ROOM HOLDING A BOOK.
SHE SITS DOWN IN FRONT OF RAV ASHLAG AND OPENS THE BOOK.
SHE WAITS IN SILENCE.
Rav Ashlag: You are here for the lesson?
Rivka: Yes.
HE NODS WITH UNDERSTANDING.
Rivka: I have come here to study. And why not…? I am your wife, after all.
HE LOOKS AT HER AND SMILES BITTERLY.
Rav Ashlag: You thought that nobody would come and so you came to console me. You think I won’t have any more students?
Rivka (sighs): You hurt them deeply, Yehuda. You threw them out.
Rav Ashlag: And you think they won't come back?
Rivka: But you practically kicked them out!
Rav Ashlag: If they don’t return…
Rivka: What would make them come back, Yehuda?
RAV ASHLAG DOESN’T ANSWER.
RIVKA SUDDENLY STANDS UP, WALKS AROUND THE LITTLE TABLE, AND SITS DOWN NEXT TO HIM.
- It feels so good to sit close to you,- she says sizing him up. May I?
HE UNBUTTONS HIS COAT AND WRAPS IT AROUND HER.
- I’ll read you an exquisite piece from The Zohar, - he says.
HE TURNS A PAGE.
- Listen: “Every day when the column of dawn rises, a bird wakes up on a tree in the Garden of Eden and calls three times. And its voice is heard clearly: ‘See here, I propose to you: Choose life.’”
ALL OF A SUDDEN HE INTERRUPTS HIS READING AND ASKS:
- Do you think I am deprived of simple human emotions?
Rivka: Sometimes it seems like it.
Rav Ashlag: It hurts, believe me. It hurts very much.
Rivka: I believe you, my love. Forgive them! What have they done wrong? They are just children, and you are so great.
Rav Ashlag: If they don’t come back, it will mean that I failed to explain the main principle to them.
Rivka: So you are to blame!
Rav Ashlag: Yes, I am. But I can’t call them back. It’s hard for me to explain this to you, (looks into her eyes) but try to understand me. It concerns their spiritual work.
HEAVY RAIN BEGINS TO POUR OUTSIDE.
Rivka: Now they will surely not come. If you only knew how impossibly hard it is to be in your presence!
***
NIGHT. HEAVY RAIN.
A LINE OF JEWS, SOAKED TO THE SKIN, MOVES ALONG A WALL CROWNED WITH BARBED WIRE. WE RECOGNIZE AMONG THEM BARUCH, CHAIM, AND SHIMON.
TWO ARMED BRITISH GUARDS AND AN OFFICER IN LONG RAINCOATS ESCORT THEM.
THE GROUP WALKS THROUGH THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF A PRISON.
THE OFFICER BARKS A LOUD COMMAND IN ENGLISH.
FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE PRISON YARD ARMED GUARDS RUN TO MEET THEM.
TERRIFIED, THE JEWS ARE LINED UP AGAINST THE WALL.
THEY ARE TREMBLING WITH FEAR.
THE OFFICER WALKS IN FRONT OF THE LINE OF JEWS.
BARUCH TAKES A STEP TOWARD HIM.
Baruch: Excuse me, officer, sir…
The officer: I didn't tell you to speak!
Baruch: Officer, sir, we are late for our lesson.
The officer: This is precisely the matter.
Chaim: Sir, you don't have the right to hold us here.
The officer: Shut up and listen.
THE OFFICER TURNS TO HIS SOLDIERS.
The officer (speaking English): Soldiers, do you see these Jews?
Soldiers: Yes sir, we do.
The officer: Do you know why I brought them here?
Elderly soldier: I guess you want us to throw them in jail or put them in front of a firing squad. Just give us the order.
The officer: No, George, you guessed wrong. (Addressing everyone) I've brought them here to show you that you can’t hold a candle to these people.
THE OFFICER STARTS WALKING UP AND DOWN THE RANKS OF SOAKING WET SOLDIERS.
THE RAIN INTENSIFIES.
The officer: Yes, you maggots. Had you even an ounce of guts equal to these scrawny Jews here, we would have conquered this country without firing a single shot and without any bloodshed. And you know why? (He doesn't wait for the answer) Because every night, gripped with fear, they pass through our patrols, disappearing in the dense darkness. They cross the wilderness, risking death by wolves or by the blade of that dog, Abu Khalif. (He stops and shakes his head) Oh, Lord, how we could learn from them the meaning of dedication and sacrifice for a goal.
THE OFFICER STOPS AT THE END OF THE FILE BETWEEN HIS SOLDERS AND THE JEWS.
RAINDROPS BOUNCE OFF THE RIM OF HIS HAT AND THE COATS OF THE SOLDIERS.
The officer: Atten…tion! Salute these Jews!
HE TURNS SHARPLY TO THE FRIGHTENED JEWS AND SALUTES THEM.
ALL THE SOLDIERS OBEY HIM IN DISBELIEF AND FEAR.
***
RAV ASHLAG'S CLASSROOM.
RAV ASHLAG AND RIVKA ARE SITTING SIDE BY SIDE READING THE ZOHAR.
THEIR FEET ARE COVERED WITH A WOOL BLANKET.
RAV ASHLAG IS READING AND RIVKA IS WATCHING HIM WITH DEVOTION.
OUTSIDE IT’S RAINING SO HARD, WE CAN BARELY SEE THE WALLS OF THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR.
THE DOOR OPENS.
FIRST TO ENTER IS BARUCH.
HE IS SOAKING WET.
RIVKA RUNS TO HUG HIM.
Rivka: You are completely wet! Take off your clothes immediately!
Baruch: Mother, wait. (Turns to his father.) I came for the lesson, may I?
Rav Ashlag: Why did you come?
Baruch: I couldn't help it.
Rav Ashlag (more gently): It’s a torrent out there.
Baruch: But haven't you told us yourself that you can only miss a lesson if you’re dead?
Rav Ashlag: In that case, sit down.
Baruch (encouraged): But Father, wait… outside in the street… (he doesn’t finish) One moment!
HE POKES HIS HEAD OUT THE WINDOW AND CALLS OUT.
Baruch’s voice: Come in, quickly!
SHIMON AND CHAIM TIMIDLY ENTER THE ROOM.
Rav Ashlag: Ah, yes, they sent you in first to soften me up, I see. Well… what brought you here?
Shimon: What else do we have in life?!
Chaim: Please don't send us away, teacher.
Rav Ashlag: Rivka, get them some dry clothes from my closet. We are starting the lesson.
***
CLASSROOM. IT’S STILL POURING OUTSIDE.
THE STUDENTS ARE SITTING OPPOSITE RAV ASHLAG, DRESSED IN HIS OVERSIZED FROCK COATS.
THEY LISTEN INTENTLY.
Rav Ashlag: You have to attack [62] all the time. Keep the goal – our unity - in mind all the time and attack! Are you ready for this?
All together: Yes, we are.
Rav Ashlag: This is not an easy path.
All together: We know.
Rav Ashlag: An attack is when you do not rest for even a moment; when descents and ascents merge together into a single scream! (Looks at them) Are you ready?
All together (confidently): We are ready.
Rav Ashlag: Then take your books and don't let go of the thought about your friends. Open The Zohar!
***
THE RAIN PELTS AGAINST THE WINDOWS. IT’S POURING OVER JERUSALEM. WATER FLOWS DOWN ROOFS, GUTTERS, AND WINDOWSILLS.
ONLY ONE WINDOW IS LIT IN THE HEAVY DARKNESS.
Rav Ashlag’s voice (reading from The Zohar): ”How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to sit together.” [63]
CLASSROOM.
RAV ASHLAG RECITES FROM THE TEXT WITHOUT LOOKING IN THE BOOK:
“…These are the friends, as they sit together inseparably.”
THE STUDENTS' FINGERS FOLLOW THE WORDS.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another.”
Baruch (mumbles): Together… toward You… Together!
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “Then they return to a state of brotherly love.”
RAV ASHLAG CLOSES HIS EYES.
“The Creator, what does He say about them? ‘How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to sit together.’...Moreover, the Creator listens to their words and He is pleased and content with them.”
Baruch: Enter together… Together.
Shimon: Give us the strength… together…
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, you will not part henceforth, until the Creator rejoices with you and summons peace upon you.”
RAV ASHLAG OPENS HIS EYES, LOOKS AT EVERYBODY FOR A LONG MOMENT, AND CONCLUDES:
“And by your merit there will be peace in the world.”
AND SUDDENLY HE PRONOUNCES LOUDLY:
- Attack!
Chaim (screams out): Hold o-o-n!
Rav Ashlag: Just don’t think of yourselves!
BARUCH'S HAND FEELS FOR SHIMON’S AND GRABS HOLD OF IT.
SHIMON GRASPS CHAIM’S HAND.
Baruch (whispering): Together!
Rav Ashlag: Attack!
***
A FLASH OF LIGHT.
THE ROOM DISAPPEARS.
THE PATH IS WINDING THROUGH COLORFUL FLOWER BEDS, PAST THE FOREST, TOWARD THE WHITE CITY.
RAV ASHLAG IS WALKING FIRST.
HIS STUDENTS ARE FOLLOWING HIM, SLOWLY, CAREFULLY, AS IF TAKING THEIR FIRST STEPS.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: Hold o-o-o-on!
THEY ARE HOLDING EACH OTHER'S HANDS LIKE CHILDREN.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: We are incapable of loving, but that’s the only thing we truly desire!
THEY APPROACH THE WHITE CITY.
ITS GATES ARE SLIGHTLY OPEN.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: There is no “me”… not a thought about myself, none!
THEY WALK ALONG A STREAM THAT RUNS TOWARD THE WHITE CITY.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: Hold on, my beloved brothers! This is the Land of Israel – the land of those who are walking toward the Creator. Can you see now what He has in store for us?!
Baruch (whispers): What… great… bliss…
Chaim: Give us the strength to… love!
Shimon: Our Lord, please help us… to love!
THE WHITE CITY APPROACHES.
THROUGH THE SLIGHTLY OPEN GATES WE CAN SEE SHADED ALLEYWAYS AND GREEN TERRACES THAT ASCEND TOWARDS THE WINDOWS OF THE HOUSES.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: Jerusalem, the city of the Creator [64].
Baruch (breathes out): Jerusalem!
Chaim: We are coming to you!
Shimon (in admiration): The City of Happiness!
***
NIGHT IN JERUSALEM. THE CLASSROOM.
IT'S STILL DARK OUTSIDE.
THE TENACIOUS RAIN POURS ON.
THEY LIFT THEIR EYES FROM THE BOOK.
RAV ASHLAG IS NOT IN HIS PLACE.
SOMEONE EXHALES HEAVILY. IT SOUNDS LIKE A MOAN.
IT IS SHIMON, HE IS ROCKING IN HIS CHAIR IN DESPAIR.
Shimon (moaning): Back he-e-ere! Once mo-o-re!
Baruch: But we almost made it.
Chaim: Where did we go wrong?!
Shimon (with tears in his voice): I felt you like one heart, my brothers!
Baruch: We shouldn't stop thinking about it. Even now!
Chaim: We are together! We are going to the White City together.
Shimon: But we are here and the Rav is there, why?
EVERYONE TURNS TO LOOK AT RAV ASHLAG'S EMPTY CHAIR.
RAV ASHLAG IS GONE.
THE RAIN IS DRUMMING ON THE WINDOW.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: What are you whining about?!
THEY ALL SWING AROUND AT THE SAME TIME.
RAV ASHLAG IS LEANING AGAINST THE WALL BEHIND THEM STARING AT THEM INTENTLY.
Rav Ashlag: Are you crying about how good it felt there, under the wings of the Creator?!
Shimon: We were together and still we didn't make it! Why?
Rav Ashlag: A handful of individuals throughout human history have seen what you just saw, and you are complaining?!
Shimon: Why then? I just want to understand! Why did we come back?!
Rav Ashlag: You felt too good there.
Shimon (moans): It's true, it was impossibly good.
Baruch: We were together, Father, and you were with us.… We left Pharaoh. It was an exquisite feeling!
Chaim: And the Creator, and that White City, and that sensation… the most exalted sensation of all!
Rav Ashlag: And what about those who were left here?
PAUSE.
SILENCE.
HE GLARES AT EACH OF THEIR FACES IN SUCCESSION.
HIS ANGER IS ONLY MOUNTING.
Rav Ashlag: I’m asking you!
SILENCE.
Rav Ashlag: Do you think you were chosen over everyone else only to feel good?! (Evenly, very distinctly) You want to so-a-r high up, and let this world go to hell? No. This world will scream within you until you extend your hand to every last soul here. You were chosen to bring the Light to everyone, to the whole world. Until you do that, you will have no rest.
SILENCE.
Rav Ashlag: Are you ready?
SILENCE.
Rav Ashlag: You have discovered the secret of the main gates. You have to lead everyone through it. (Suddenly whispering) Hold tight! Hold t-i-gh-t!
Baruch: Hold on tight!
Chaim: We are all one man!
Shimon: With one heart!
Rav Ashlag: The whole world is one soul! We are all parts of one common soul. We feel the separation only in our egoistic senses. From the viewpoint of the Creator, we are all connected. Our task is to correct the sensation of separation that exists among us.
***
THE ROOM DISAPPEARS ONCE MORE.
A FLASH OF LIGHT.
THEY CAN SEE THE GATES TO THE WHITE CITY OPEN WIDE.
THEY STAND ON THEIR TOES IN EXPECTATION OF A MIRACLE.
RAV ASHLAG APPROACHES THE GATES.
THEY TAKE A STEP FORWARD.
SUDDENLY A GREAT CHASM SPLITS THE GROUND OPEN. THE DARK CRACK APPROACHES THEM WITH DIZZYING SPEED.
Rav Ashlag screams: Hold tight!
BARUCH, SHIMON, AND CHAIM PRESS TIGHTLY AGAINST EACH OTHER.
THE CRACK IS SHOOTING TOWARD THEM RIPPING THE GROUND APART.
Baruch (whispering): Hold o-o-o-n tight, brothers!
THE LAND OPENS UP AND FROM IT, HURTLING UP LIKE A ROCKET, RISES THE PEAK OF A MOUNTAIN.
IT ASCENDS HIGHER AND HIGHER, THROWING DUST AND DEBRIS EVERYWHERE, OBSCURING THE GATES OF THE WHITE CITY AS IT CARRIES RAV ASHLAG UP WITH IT.
***
JERUSALEM. A POURING RAIN.
THE STUDENTS ARE SITTING QUIETLY, OVERWHELMED.
THEY ARE AFRAID TO MOVE A MUSCLE.
RAV ASHLAG LOOKS AT THEM.
- Once you decide to unite, you should be prepared for the worst, - he says, – prepare to abandon your own “I” [65]!
***
A FLASH OF LIGHT.
THE MOUNTAIN IS NOW PROTRUDING FULLY FROM THE GROUND.
CHAIM IS PINNED DOWN BY A LARGE ROCK.
- Are you ready for that, my beloved brothers? – comes Rav Ashlag’s calm voice.
BARUCH IS PRESSED AGAINST THE ROCKY WALL, BALANCING HIMSELF ON A NARROW LEDGE.
- To give yourselves up, expect nothing in return?
SHIMON IS HANGING AGAINST THE FACE OF A CLIFF, HOLDING HIMSELF BY THE TIPS OF HIS FINGERS.
HIS KNUCKLES TURN WHITE FROM THE EFFORT.
Chaim (moans): Shimon, hold on!
SHIMON’S HAND BEGINS TO SLIP.
BARUCH TAKES A STEP TOWARD HIM, BUT SHIMON LETS GO AND PLUMMETS INTO THE ABYSS.
WITHOUT HESITATION, BARUCH DROPS HIMSELF AFTER HIM.
CHAIM MANAGES TO ROLL THE ROCK OFF HIS BODY AND JUMPS DOWN AFTER HIS FRIENDS.
***
LONDON. CENTRAL HOSPITAL.
WHITE ROOM.
A FEW DOCTORS ARE STANDING AROUND AARON.
AN OLD PROFESSOR FEELS AARON, LOOKS INTO HIS EYES, AND ASKS HIM TO OPEN HIS MOUTH.
THEN HE EXCHANGES GLANCES WITH THE OTHER DOCTORS.
HE SITS IN THE CHAIR. SOMEONE HANDS HIM A FILE WITH VARIOUS DOCUMENTS.
HE READS THROUGH THEM ATTENTIVELY AND EXCHANGES MORE GLANCES WITH THE DOCTORS.
FINALLY, HE WHISPERS SOMETHING TO THE NURSE WHO WALKS UP TO AARON.
The nurse: Mr. Goldberg, could you wait outside, please? I will call you back in just a few moments.
AARON WALKS OUT.
The professor (shaking the file): Is this his diagnosis?
A doctor: Yes, it is.
The professor: Are you making fun of me? Who wrote this?
THEY PASS OVER ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS TO HIM.
THEY ARE TAKING THEM OUT ONE AT A TIME FROM A THICK FILE.
THE PROFESSOR REVIEWS THEM WITH GREAT INTEREST.
A doctor’s voice: This is the conclusion of Professor Wilson. Here is another conclusion, by Dr. Greenberg. Here is a note from Dr. Atkins, and here is the conclusion of the medical board of Her Majesty’s Hospital. Note the royal seal.
The professor (takes off his glasses): I don't understand any of this. (Irritably) I just don't get it!
***
HOSPITAL CORRIDOR.
AARON IS SITTING BY THE DOOR.
THE NURSE’S HEAD POKES OUT AND SHE INVITES HIM INSIDE.
***
HOSPITAL ROOM.
The professor: I wish to tell you, dear Mr. Goldberg, that you have… a clean bill of health.
AARON'S LEGS UNHINGE.
HE SITS DOWN.
The professor: You are as fit as a bull, my dear. They can send you to unload ships on the London docks! How can you explain this?
AARON IS SILENT.
The professor: Believe it or not, we are clueless as well! According to the documents (Shows the medical conclusion), you were sick. And yet now you are healthy. Tell us, please, how is it possible? Did you undergo some sort of alternative treatment?
AARON SUDDENLY GETS UP.
The professor: Where are you going?
Aaron (walking to the door, picking up his pace): Please excuse me, but I have to leave immediately. I have a lot of unfinished work to attend to. I must leave right away.
***
LONDON.
PRINTING HOUSE.
WORKERS ARE PACKING STACKS OF BOOKS INTO CRATES FOR SHIPMENT.
AARON IS LEAFING THROUGH ONE OF THE BOOKS. HE INHALES THE SMELL OF PRINTED PAPER AND SMILES WITH SATISFACTION, THEN PRESSES THE BOOK TO HIS CHEST AND LAUGHS AS TEARS RUN DOWN HIS CHEEKS.
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE.
ORTHODOX JEWS DEMONSTRATING IN JERUSALEM.
THE STREETS ARE FULL OF PEOPLE YELLING, WAVING THEIR FISTS, PICKING UP STONES OFF THE ROAD.
THE CHIEF RABBI OF ISRAEL, RAV KOOK, IS WALKING AMONG THEM. THEY SURROUND HIM.
***
JERUSALEM.
THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF RABBI OF ISRAEL; RAV KOOK IS SITTING AT HIS DESK.
OPPOSITE HIM SITS A DELEGATION OF RABBIS HEADED BY RABBI LEVI, WITH RAV HADAD AT HIS SIDE.
THEY ARE FLANKED BY A FEW ELDERLY RABBIS.
MOSHE IS STANDING A LITTLE BIT BEHIND THEM.
RAV HADAD UNFOLDS A LETTER AND WAVES IT IN RAV KOOK'S FACE.
Rav Hadad: He is terrorizing the whole of Europe! Just look what he writes to them, incessantly, despite ours and theirs continued bans. He writes non-stop, like a madman.
Rabbi Levi (ominously): He is mad!
Rav Kook: Please read it, Rav Hadad, don't be distracted.
Rav Hadad (reading): “Don't believe your rabbis!…” (To Rav Kook) How do you like that?!
Rav Levi (addressing Rav Kook): I was told that you support him.
Rav Kook (to Rav Hadad): Go on!
Rav Hadad: “They can't see the impending doom that is converging over Europe. Heed my warning, I can see it and I am crying out to you.” (To Rav Kook) He is crying out to them! (Continues to read, panting) "Leave your homes, leave everything and come to the Land of Israel!” (He shakes his forefinger) Just listen to what he writes, listen! “Your teachers are blind. I cannot stop the looming disaster.”
Rav Levi (smirking): He cannot stop the looming disaster. Who does he think he is, the Messiah?
Somebody’s voice: What an insolent fellow, huh?!
A COMMOTION BREAKS OUT IN THE CROWD.
THEY ARE ALL TALKING AT ONCE, INTERRUPTING EACH OTHER.
Rav Hadad: I would like to add that this man—I don't want to mention his name—is nothing as a Kabbalist. He is a charlatan, a self-proclaimed nobody, an upstart. (Turning to Moshe) Go on, tell the Chief Rabbi what he has been teaching you!
Rav Kook (harshly to Moshe): Stop! Don’t say a word ( looks at Moshe)so you don’t regret it later.
EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT RAV KOOK.
Rav Kook (looking at his hands): Is that all you have to say?
Rav Levi: You have to make a difficult, painful decision.
Rav Kook (looking around the room): I've made it.
Rav Levi: What is your decision, Chief Rabbi of Israel?
RAV KOOK GETS UP FROM HIS CHAIR.
HE IS TALLER THAN ALL OF THEM.
HE SPEAKS SLOWLY AND CLEARLY:
Rav Kook: As long as I’m alive, not a single hair will fall from the head of this great man.
EVERYONE IS DUMBFOUNDED. THEY LOOK AT RAV KOOK IN BEWILDERMENT.
***
JERUSALEM.
A SMALL UNASSUMING HOUSE ON ONE OF THE STREETS OF THE OLD CITY.
TWO GUARDS ARE PATROLLING OUTSIDE.
THEY EYE WITH SUSPICION ANYONE WHO APPROACHES.
A STEADY MURMUR OF VOICES COMES FROM THE OPEN WINDOWS.
***
A ROOM INSIDE THE HOUSE.
THROUGH CLOUDS OF CIGARETTE SMOKE WE CAN SEE PEOPLE SITTING ON CHAIRS.
ONE OF THEM IS RAV ASHLAG, ANOTHER IS A SMALL, ENERGETIC MAN WITH TUFTS OF UNRULY WHITE HAIR ON HIS BIG HEAD. IT'S BEN-GURION [66]. THE THIRD, SITTING IN THE CORNER, AND SUCKING ON A LONG CIGARETTE HOLDER, IS THE HARDLINER MILITANT, ZE’EV JABOTINSKY [67].
TENSE SILENCE HANGS IN THE AIR.
Rav Ashlag: Millions will die because of us.
SILENCE. THEY ARE ALL LOOKING AT HIM.
Rav Ashlag: You are being torn apart by self-interest. There's no love here, no unity. Simple egos won’t even let you hear each other out.
Jabotinsky: Who are you?
Rav Ashlag: I am Rav Ashlag, a Kabbalist. I've come here to make another attempt to stop the destruction of the world.
Jabotinsky: Spare us the high rhetoric. Destruction of the world… please - it sounds so lofty. Personally, I couldn’t care less about the world if there is no place for the Jewish state in it.
Ben-Gurion (can't keep silent): But the world will determine if such a state can exist.
Jabotinsky: No, it depends only on us (he stands up, begins to walk and make gestures), on whether the Jewish state is going to be powerful, decisive, with armed forces against which no Arab army can stand, and spread across both sides of the Jordan river.
Ben-Gurion: You are provoking hatred towards us!
Jabotinsky: And you don’t want to see how…
RAV ASHLAG TAKES A GLASS FROM THE TABLE AND THROWS IT ON THE FLOOR WITH FULL FORCE.
THE GLASS SHATTERS TO BITS.
BEN-GURION AND JABOTINSKY STOP ARGUING AT ONCE AND TURN TO RAV ASHLAG.
Rav Ashlag: Even now, facing the deaths of our children, our families, and close relatives in Europe, you cannot stop fighting over power.
Ben-Gurion: We are debating essential issues.
Rav Ashlag: No. There is only one essential issue—to rise above your egos for the sake of one exalted goal. Right now, right here, all that’s needed is just one thought about unity. Just a single thought! Forget about who is right and who is wrong in these debates and focus on attaining unity. Then a new state will arise, without blood or tears, an eternal state founded on spiritual laws, and the Creator will bless it.
Jabotinsky: Are you speaking on behalf of the Creator?
Rav Ashlag: Yes.
Jabotinsky: Did He authorize you?
Rav Ashlag: Yes.
Jabotinsky (ironically): Are you holding discussions with Him?
Rav Ashlag: Yes, I do.
Jabotinsky: I see, and what does He tell you?
Rav Ashlag: He is saying that He gave us Jews the instructions for bringing all of humanity to happiness.
Ben-Gurion: And you know those instructions?
Rav Ashlag: I do. And I am calling upon you to hear me.
Jabotinsky: This is all delusions, every word you are saying, and it's strange to hear such words coming from a Jewish rabbi. Besides, I already told you, I don't care about humanity.
JABOTINSKY GETS UP.
BEN-GURION FOLLOWS HIM.
Ben-Gurion: Unfortunately, what you are proposing is utopian.
Rav Ashlag (takes out of his pocket a crumpled piece of paper): Here is my address. Hitler will come to power in Germany in three days. We can stop it.
BEN-GURION QUICKLY LEAVES THE ROOM.
JABOTINSKY FOLLOWS HIM.
***
JERUSALEM. NIGHT. CLASSROOM.
THE STUDENTS ARE SITTING OPPOSITE RAV ASHLAG.
THEIR EYES ARE FIXED ON HIM.
HE IS STANDING BEFORE THEM.
Rav Ashlag: Start thinking about the whole world as if it were your child (he stretches out his arms lovingly, looking at them). Here it is, lying in your arms.
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE FROM 1933.
DEMONSTRATIONS IN PALESTINE.
JABOTINSKY DELIVERS A SPEECH AT THE CONGRESS OF THE REVISIONIST PARTY.
BEN-GURION IS WAVING HIS FISTS AGGRESSIVELY AT THE LABOR PARTY CONGRESS.
STALIN LIGHTS UP HIS PIPE.
ROOSEVELT SMILES AT JOURNALISTS.
HITLER SALUTES A CROWD OF STORM TROOPERS. IN THREE DAYS HE WILL BECOME CHANCELLOR.
SUDDENLY HITLER TURNS HIS HEAD. HE IS LOOKING STRAIGHT AT US.
***
JERUSALEM. RAV ASHLAG’S ROOM.
THE DOOR OPENS AND RIVKA WALKS IN.
THE CHAIR IS EMPTY, THE BED IS EMPTY, THE WINDOW IS OPEN.
SHE LOOKS AROUND THE ROOM AND COMES UP TO THE TABLE TO FIND A NOTE WRITTEN IN RAV ASHLAG’S METICULOUS HANDWRITING: "I SHALL RETURN IN THREE DAYS. DON'T LOOK FOR ME. DON'T WORRY. YEHUDA."
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE.
A RIDE THROUGH BERLIN.
RAV ASHLAG IS LOOKING OUT FROM THE BUS WINDOW.
AND HERE HE IS, WALKING IN THE STREET, APPROACHING A CROWD OF SHOUTING STORM TROOPERS, SQUEEZING THROUGH THEM.
WE CAN SEE HITLER, DELIVERING A SPEECH.
SUDDENLY HITLER STOPS, DUMBFOUNDED.
HE TURNS HIS HEAD AND LOOKS STRAIGHT AT RAV ASHLAG.
RAV ASHLAG IS STANDING IN THE MIDST OF THE SHOUTING CROWD OF STORM TROOPERS IN HIS ORTHODOX JEWISH ATTIRE.
NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE HIM EXCEPT HITLER.
HE QUICKLY WALKS TOWARD RAV ASHLAG.
HE GRABS HIS HAND WITHOUT SLOWING DOWN AND DRAGS HIM INTO A NICHE IN THE WALL OF AN OLD BUILDING.
Hitler: Why did you come here, Jew?
Rav Ashlag: To see everything with my own eyes… and maybe try to do something.
Hitler: There is nothing you can do now; the machine has been put into motion. Where have you been all this time?
Rav Ashlag: I was trying to prevent all this. I succeeded – partially. I already have a small group…
Hitler: And I have an army.
Rav Ashlag: We are trying to awaken people's hearts.
Hitler: You are trying, and I achieve it with one speech.
Rav Ashlag: I am writing a lot… and thinking.
Hitler: My book is a bedtime story for all Germans. They are not thinking. (Pointing at the wild crowd) They are acting.
Rav Ashlag (silent for a long while): It’s not simple to stop being a slave. I don't have enough money to buy paper, and I have so much to write.
Hitler: I’m flooded with money.
Rav Ashlag: Many people don't understand me.
Hitler: Everyone understands me. I am guaranteed to win the elections. No one can stop me now (quietly, turning around). But I pleaded with you!
Rav Ashlag: I know that I don't have much time left, I know it. (In despair) I have to awaken people, to beg, to scare… to make them listen.
SUDDENLY HITLER GRABS HIS HAND AND DRAGS HIM AROUND THE CORNER.
THEY FIND THEMSELVES IN A SIDE ALLEY WHERE NOBODY CAN SEE THEM.
HITLER TAKES OUT HIS GUN FROM ITS HOLSTER AND OFFERS IT TO RAV ASHLAG.
Hitler: You can stop everything right now. Well, do it! Generations of people will glorify your name forever.
RAV ASHLAG LOOKS AT THE GUN, THEN AT HITLER.
Hitler: Well?! (Tries to thrust the gun into Rav Ashlag's hand)
Rav Ashlag: You’ve understood nothing, you poor thing. Don’t you get that you are nothing? If not you, there will be another Fuehrer. The root of evil is not in you.
Hitler: Well, then… If you won’t shoot me… very well.
HITLER PRESSES THE GUN AGAINST RAV ASHLAG’S BELLY.
Hitler: Farewell, Jew. You are either stupid or naïve, or you simply don’t exist; you’re just a figment of my imagination. Either way, farewell!
GUNSHOT.
RAV ASHLAG'S BODY SLOWLY COLLAPSES ON THE PAVEMENT.
HITLER IS FOLLOWING IT WITH HIS GAZE.
THE DEAD EYES OF RAV ASHLAG ARE STARING STRAIGHT AT HIM.
HITLER TURNS AROUND AND QUICKLY WALKS OUT OF THE ALLEY.
HIS SECURITY OFFICERS ARE ALREADY RUNNING UP TO HIM.
The first German security officer: Is everything all right, mein Fuehrer?!
Hitler: Take away this Jewish dog. Throw him in a ditch somewhere.
THE OFFICERS DISAPPEAR AROUND THE CORNER.
HITLER IS WALKING FAST TOWARD THE SQUARE WHERE STORM TROOPERS ARE ALREADY GREETING HIM.
BEFORE HE CAN REACH IT, THE TWO SECURITY OFFICERS CATCH UP WITH HIM, LOOKING AT HITLER IN BEWILDERMENT.
The first German security officer: Is he a Jew?
Hitler (leers): Can't you see that for yourself?
The second German security officer: We checked him through and through, mein Fuehrer. He is of German blood as far back as at least ten generations.
Hitler (stopping sharply): What?!
The second German security officer: Gunter, born in Austria to the family of…
Hitler: Which Gunter?
The first German security officer: Your adjutant, mein Fuehrer.
HITLER TURNS AROUND AND RUNS TO THE ALLEY.
HE STOPS OVER THE DEAD BODY, LYING IN THE VERY SPOT WHERE RAV ASHLAG FELL.
BUT INSTEAD OF RAV ASHLAG, WE SEE A DEAD GERMAN OFFICER LYING THERE, HIS GLAZED EYES FIXED ON HITLER…
Hitler (whispering): Gunter… (leaning forward) it’s impossible… (turning to his perplexed security officer) …it can’t be!
The narrator’s voice: On the 31st of January, 1933, Hitler came to power.
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE.
HITLER COMES TO POWER TO THE SOUND OF A DAZZLING MARSH.
HE IS SURVEYING MILITARY PARADES.
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN GREET HIM WITH FERVENT “HEIL HITLER” SALUTES.
***
JERUSALEM. NIGHT.
RAV ASHLAG IS WALKING DOWN A NARROW DARK STREET.
Narrator’s voice: On this day, the 31st of January, 1933, Rav Ashlag’s most earnest and mysterious letter was written. It’s one of the letters that were preserved by accident. It is the Creator’s answer, the prophecy.
***
THE YELLOW PAGES OF A LETTER, WRITTEN IN RAV ASHLAG'S NEAT HANDWRITING, ITS EDGES SLIGHTLY CHARRED.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “And it came to pass in the days of the war, the days of the dreadful carnage, that I was praying, crying bitterly all through the night.”
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE.
WE SEE ALL THE 20th CENTURY'S TRAGEDIES: THE BURNING CITIES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, BATTLES, CONCENTRATION CAMPS, EXECUTIONS, THE DEATHS OF MILLIONS AND ALL THE WARS, GREAT AND SMALL, THAT FOLLOWED IT; THE FAMINE IN AFRICA, TERROR IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THE CRASHING OF THE STOCK MARKETS, THE ARMS RACE.
THE VOICE OF RAV ASHLAG IS HEARD OVER IT:
Rav Ashlag’s voice (continuing the prophecy): “And behold, at the break of dawn, it seemed as though all the people in the world had gathered in a group before my mind’s eye. And a man was hovering amongst them…”
***
RAV ASHLAG IS WALKING ALONG THE OLD CITY WALLS.
IT'S WINDY. THE SHADOW OF A STORM CLOUD IS MOVING AHEAD OF HIM.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “I could not stride among the people who were vain and slandering the Creator and His creation, while I was satiated and praising, merrily walking, as though mocking those wretched ones. Matters have touched me to the bottom of my heart…”
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE OF THE 20th CENTURY CONTINUES TO ROLL: A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION DECIMATING EVERYTHING IN ITS RANGE, BARREN GROUNDS WITH BURNT TREES, PORTRAITS OF SUFFERING PEOPLE OF EVERY RACE AND NATIONALITY.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “…and I resolved that come what may, even if I descended from my sublime degree, I must make a heartfelt plea to the Creator to grant me attainment and knowledge of the prophecy and wisdom, and to give me the words by which I could help the forlorn people of the world, to raise them to the same degree of wisdom and pleasantness as mine.”
***
THE YELLOW PAGES OF THE LETTER.
ONE LINE REPLACES ANOTHER.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “Afterwards, the Lord spoke unto me in a vision, saying, ‘Lie down on your right-hand side.’ I lay down on the ground and He said unto me: ‘What do you see?’ I said, ‘I see many peoples and nations, rising and falling…’”
***
RAV ASHLAG IS SITTING IN HIS ROOM, SILENT.
HIS HAND HOLDING THE QUILL IS FROZEN ABOVE THE TABLE.
HE IS LOOKING STRAIGHT AHEAD.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “And the Lord said unto me: ‘All My goals will be fulfilled through you.’”
RAV ASHLAG'S QUILL IS WRITING BRISKLY.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “All of us, the whole world, are one Soul.”
***
STORM TROOPERS ARE RUNNING THROUGH THE STREETS OF BERLIN.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “One unified soul, linked together by the Law of Unity - the Law of Love!”
THE TROOPERS ARE PAINTING SWASTIKAS ON JEWISH STORE FRONTS.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “We are divided into bodies that loathe one another, yet we are one soul nonetheless.”
STORM TROOPERS ARE SMASHING STORE WINDOWS.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “And if we unite in mutual love, we will see You.”
JEWS DISPLAYING THE YELLOW STAR ON THEIR CLOTHES ARE RUNNING DOWN THE STREET.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: So let us feel that we are one soul, that we are responsible for one another. Sooner or later we will have to do it.”
RAV ASHLAG'S EYES.
Rav Ashlag’s voice: “We must do it now, right now! Otherwise, great suffering will compel us to do it later.”
RAV ASHLAG'S HOME. NIGHT.
RAV ASHLAG IS SITTING AT HIS TABLE, READING.
BARUCH AND CHAIM ARE SITTING IN FRONT OF HIM.
THE DOOR OPENS AND SHIMON WALKS IN.
A MAN OF ABOUT THIRTY-FIVE FOLLOWS SHIMON IN.
THEY SIT DOWN SILENTLY ON THE SIDE.
RAV ASHLAG RAISES HIS EYES FROM THE BOOK AND LOOKS AT SHIMON.
Shimon: This is my uncle, Joseph. He understands nothing about Kabbalah and about our cause. Just as you requested.
JOSEPH IS SMILING TIMIDLY AND MAKES A GESTURE OF HELPLESSNESS.
RAV ASHLAG STANDS UP AND STARTS THE LESSON RIGHT AWAY.
- The pyramid. (He draws an imaginary pyramid in the air) The entire world - the whole universe - is an integral system. It is built like a pyramid.
HE APPEARS TO BE ADDRESSING ONLY JOSEPH.
- The Light is coming to the world from above. The Light has to pass through the apex.
JOSEPH NODS.
- Here, at the top of the pyramid, are those who meet the Light first.
HE IS TALKING VERY SLOWLY NOW AND VERY CLEARLY.
- Those who have to make sure the Light passes through them and isn’t being blocked, are special souls chosen by the Creator. They have to be transparent, similar to the Light.
RAV ASHLAG MOVES CLOSER TO JOSEPH.
- What does that mean? It means that they have to be filled with love for one another and for the whole world. Otherwise the Light won't pass through.
JOSEPH IS LISTENING ATTENTIVELY.
- We, and none other, happen to be up here at the top of the pyramid.
RAV ASHLAG STOPS TWO STEPS AWAY FROM JOSEPH AND CONTINUES TO SPEAK EVEN SLOWER.
- When we let the Light through, the world feels the Light. Everyone is happy. There are no wars. There are only thoughts of the Light, unity, and love, thoughts of spirituality. When we block the Light, the whole world suffers.
FOR A MOMENT, HE STOPS TALKING AND LOOKS AT JOSEPH.
JOSEPH IS TENSE.
- If we don’t let the Light into this world, we become a redundant link in this chain, - says Rav Ashlag. Everyone begins to hate us, beat us up, and chase us out of every country… destroy us, because we are not true to our mission.
JOSEPH RAISES HIS HAND.
RAV ASHLAG NODS, LETTING HIM ASK A QUESTION.
Joseph: Excuse me, but you keep saying "we." Who are "we" exactly? Do you mean, you?
Rav Ashlag: An entire nation was chosen to tell the world how to arrive at happiness. It was given a special method that teaches how to do it, called The Wisdom of Kabbalah.
Joseph: Why wasn’t I told about it then? Am I not a member of this nation?
Rav Ashlag: Kabbalah is revealed only to a person who craves spirituality. It is said about such people that they have a point in the heart. Sooner or later that point will awaken inside of you as well.
Joseph: But for that to happen I need to at least know that such wisdom even exists!
Rav Ashlag: Correct.
Joseph: And that it speaks of Light and love, rather than of some dark mystic secret or something.
Rav Ashlag (smiling): Yes, very good, you've got it.
Joseph: Then why was it concealed for so long if it's so important?
Rav Ashlag: Because it is like a medicine. First, people have to realize that they are sick and that they need medication.
Joseph: Have they realized it?
Rav Ashlag: They are starting to feel their illness. We are living in the twentieth century – a century of sick people.
Joseph: What’s wrong with them?
Rav Ashlag: They have no love for one another.
Joseph (nods): That’s true.
Rav Ashlag: Everyone lives for his or her own sake.
Joseph: Right you are!
Rav Ashlag: But slowly, people are starting to realize this.
Joseph: You bet!
Rav Ashlag: They are starting to see that the lack of love is the reason for all of their suffering. We are unable to agree with each other, to share equally, to unite…
Joseph (sighs): And how could we?
Rav Ashlag: This is what Kabbalah teaches. It tells us how to become equal, rise above our egos and unite.
Joseph: Is it even possible?
Rav Ashlag: We won’t survive without it.
Joseph: Then how come our rabbis aren’t telling us about Kabbalah?
Rav Ashlag: Because they themselves don't know about it!
Joseph: Why, then, don't they tell us that there are Kabbalists, like you, and that we should listen to them?
Rav Ashlag: Because they don't feel that they are sick.
Joseph: Then we must make them feel it. Otherwise the whole world will suffer all the time and we will get beaten for it all the time.
Rav Ashlag: Correct.
Joseph: Who will make them listen?
Rav Ashlag: We will. We will test this medicine on ourselves and show the world how it works. We will disseminate it everywhere, announce it from rooftops. We won't stop, and the world won't let us rest now. People will gradually realize they are mortally ill and will demand the cure from us. Our time is coming.
JOSEPH IS LOOKING AT THEM.
THE STUDENTS' FACES ARE GLOWING.
THEY ARE LOOKING AT JOSEPH, WAITING FOR HIS REACTION.
Joseph: You are good people. I can sense that you are good people. I was afraid to come at first. I told Shimon: “Don't take me to these Kabbalists.” (Suddenly he starts to rummage in his pockets and takes out two one-pound notes.) But Shimon paid me, gave me this money and said, “You just have to come and listen, that's all.” He told me that you (to Rav Ashlag) had asked for someone off the street, a simpleton who doesn't understand a thing. So he brought me.
JOSEPH STANDS UP AND PUTS THE MONEY ON THE TABLE.
HE RUMMAGES THROUGH HIS POCKETS AND ADDS ANOTHER TWO NOTES.
Joseph: I would like you to use this money properly. Thank you. I've understood everything. ( Turns around, repeats his little gesture of awkward helplessness) I can't study myself, but I can tell everyone about you. ( Turns to Rav Ashlag) Everything you said was clear to me, I swear.
RAV ASHLAG WALKS UP TO HIM AND HUGS HIM.
HIS STUDENTS SEE, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, HIS EYES BECOMING MOIST.
THEY ALL, AS IF ON COMMAND, STAND UP AND HUG EACH OTHER.
***
JERUSALEM.
A GRAVEYARD ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF THE OLD CITY.
A LARGE CROWD OF PEOPLE GATHERS AROUND ONE OF THE PLOTS.
A BODY, WRAPPED IN A TALLIT, IS LAID IN THE GRAVE.
WE HEAR THE CHANTING OF A KADDISH [68].
RAV LEVI IS STANDING IN FRONT OF THE ORTHODOX JEWISH CROWD.
RAV HADAD IS AT HIS SIDE.
RAV LEVI KEEPS LOOKING TO HIS RIGHT. RAV HADAD DOES THE SAME.
TO THE RIGHT, RAV ASHLAG IS STANDING MODESTLY, BLENDING IN WITH THE CROWD, SURROUNDED BY HIS STUDENTS.
HIS FACE IS TILTED UP TO THE SKY.
THE CEREMONY IS CONCLUDED.
PEOPLE DISPERSE SLOWLY.
BARUCH, SHIMON, AND CHAIM FOLLOW RAV ASHLAG DESCENDING TOWARD THE MAIN ROAD.
AFTER A FEW FEET THEY ARE STOPPED BY A SOFT WHISTLE COMING FROM ONE OF THE CRUMBLING CRYPTS TO THEIR SIDE.
MOSHE IS POKING HIS HEAD FROM BEHIND A RUINED WALL, GESTURING FOR THEM TO COME CLOSER.
RAV ASHLAG, BARUCH, CHAIM AND SHIMON APPROACH HIM.
Moshe (whispers): I heard Rav Levi say to Rav Hadad: “Now that Rav Kook is dead, there's no one to protect him.” They are up to something.
RAV ASHLAG TURNS AROUND IN SILENCE AND WALKS AWAY AS IF IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM.
Moshe (to the students): Don't let him out of your sight, even for a second.
Chaim: Thanks for the warning.
Moshe: And forgive me…
BARUCH, CHAIM, AND SHIMON RUN AFTER RAV ASHLAG.
THEY CATCH UP WITH HIM AND CONTINUE WALKING BY HIS SIDE.
Rav Ashlag (orders): Go home.
Shimon: No, we are staying with you.
Rav Ashlag (stops): You are going home!
Chaim: We won't leave you.
Shimon (stubbornly): Do whatever you want, but we won’t leave you alone!
OUT OF THE CORNER OF HIS EYE, RAV ASHLAG SEES A HANDFUL OF STUDENTS CONGREGATING AROUND RAV LEVI.
RAV LEVI IS TELLING THEM SOMETHING.
THEY ARE LISTENING.
HE POINTS IN RAV ASHLAG’S DIRECTION AND SUDDENLY THEIR EYES MEET.
RAV ASHLAG STARTS TO WALK IN HIS DIRECTION.
EVERYBODY AROUND RAV LEVI TURNS AROUND TO FACE HIM.
SHIMON, CHAIM, AND BARUCH ARE WALKING NEXT TO RAV ASHLAG.
THEY FEEL THE SITUATION IS GETTING TENSE, BUT THEY ARE PREPARED FOR IT.
RAV ASHLAG APPROACHES RAV LEVI.
RAV LEVI LOOKS AROUND ANXIOUSLY.
RAV ASHLAG STOPS A STEP AWAY FROM HIM.
Rav Ashlag: Why do you need this?
Rav Levi: I don’t understand you.
Rav Ashlag: There’s nothing you can do about me now. It’s important for me that you understand it.
Rav Levi: Why are you telling me this at such a difficult time?
Rav Ashlag: So that you know that I have a mission and I will fulfill it in any case. Sooner or later… I will open The Zohar to everybody!
Rav Levi: That’s impossible!
Rav Ashlag: Two days ago I thought the same.
Rav Levi (looks at him fixedly): What has changed in these two days?
Rav Ashlag: Everything!
Rav Levi (looking at him attentively): What do you mean, “Everything”?
Rav Ashlag: I mean that nobody can stop me now.
RAV ASHLAG TURNS AROUND TO LEAVE.
HE TAKES A FEW STEPS, BUT HIS LEGS BUCKLE SUDDENLY AND HE COLLAPSES.
HIS STUDENTS FAIL TO CATCH HIM.
HE LANDS IN THE DUSTY CEMETERY GROUND.
HIS ALARMED STUDENTS HUDDLE OVER HIM.
Baruch (whispers): Father!
HE TRIES TO AWAKEN HIM, BUT RAV ASHLAG DOESN’T RESPOND.
Shimon: Rav…! Rav! (crawls in the dust by his teacher)
Chaim (screams hysterically and holds his head up): Someone, help!!
RAV LEVI AND RAV HADAD ARE STANDING CLOSE BY.
THEIR STUDENTS DO NOT DARE PROVIDE ANY ASSISTANCE.
Shimon (looking at Rav Levi): He is dying!
RAV LEVI LOWERS HIS HEAD.
Shimon: But he is dying! You can’t leave him like that!
RAV LEVI TURNS AROUND SLOWLY, BUT SHIMON SWIFTLY MOVES TO BLOCK HIS WAY.
Shimon (looking into his eyes): You won’t forgive yourself, do you hear me?! If anything happens to him today, you’ll never forgive yourself… And nobody will ever forgive you.
RAV LEVI LOOKS INTO SHIMON’S EYES.
SHIMON IS STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, UNWILLING TO BUDGE.
Shimon (whispers): I beg you!
RAV LEVI TURNS AROUND AND SLOWLY APPROACHES THE COLLAPSED RAV ASHLAG.
HE LOOKS INTO HIS LIFELESS FACE.
RAV ASHLAG IS LYING STILL. HE DOESN’T SEEM TO BE BREATHING.
RAV LEVI PUSHES HIS STUDENTS AWAY AND KNEELS DOWN NEXT TO HIM.
HE PLACES HIS HANDS ON BOTH SIDES OF RAV ASHLAG’S HEAD AND CLOSES HIS EYES.
HE IS SILENT.
EVERYBODY IS WATCHING HIM INTENTLY.
HE APPLIES MORE PRESSURE TO RAV ASHLAG’S TEMPLES.
Shimon (almost mutely): Is he alive?
Rav Levi: Shut up!
RAV HADAD IS STANDING BEHIND RAV LEVI.
Rav Hadad: Honorable Rav…
Rav Levi: You shut up as well!
HE PRESSES RAV ASHLAG’S TEMPLES HARDER.
SEVERAL MINUTES PASS BY.
ALL OF A SUDDEN RAV ASHLAG’S EYELASHES BEGIN TO GENTLY BAT.
Shimon (exhales): He’s alive…!
RAV ASHLAG OPENS HIS EYES SLIGHTLY.
RAV LEVI’S FACE FLOATS INTO HIS BLURRY FIELD OF VISION.
Rav Levi: You work too much, Ashlag.
Baruch: He works 18 hours a day.
Shimon (adds): He almost never sleeps.
Rav Levi: It’s not good. He has to get some rest. You should rest more, Ashlag! (He looks at Chaim) What kind of students are you if you don’t take care of your teacher?!
Chaim: It’s impossible!
Rav Levi: Don’t tell me this! Next time it could end much worse. This was just a warning. (Looks at Baruch) Tell your mother, Rivka, that he has to go to the seaside, (Baruch doesn’t have a chance to answer) and don’t argue with me, I know what I am saying.
RAV LEVI GETS UP AND WIPES THE DUST OFF HIS KNEES.
Rav Levi: How cunning he is, Rav Kook… See how he had set us up to meet like this. (Grins) I knew that he was a great Kabbalist!
HE TURNS AROUND AND WALKS AWAY.
HIS STUDENTS FOLLOW HIM.
RAV HADAD WALKS IN SMALL STEPS NEXT TO HIM AND GLANCES AT HIM.
HE TRIES TO SAY SOMETHING, BUT RAV LEVI IS ALREADY DEEP IN SILENT THOUGHT.
***
JERUSALEM. RAV ASHLAG'S HOME.
RAV ASHLAG IS LYING IN BED. HE IS PALE.
ONE WEEK HAS PASSED SINCE RAV KOOK’S PASSING.
ALL THIS TIME HE HASN’T BEEN ABLE TO GET UP.
THE DOCTORS’ DIAGNOSIS IS STRANGE – “ACUTE EXHAUSTION.”
ONLY ON THE MORNING OF THE EIGHTH DAY DOES HE BEGIN TO FEEL BETTER.
RIVKA EXPECTED THIS EXACT MOMENT:
- We are moving away from here tomorrow, - she says to him. - We are going to Jaffa. We will live by the sea and you will be able to think and write freely.
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE.
JAFFA OF THE 1930S.
SHIPS ANCHOR AT THE DOCKS.
FISH MONGERS; THE SMELL OF SEAWEED.
NARROW STREETS BAKED IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SUN.
A SMALL CART CARRYING RAV ASHLAG, RIVKA, THEIR CHILDREN, AND THEIR FEW BELONGINGS IS MOVING ALONG ONE OF THE NARROW STREETS.
THE ASHLAG FAMILY WALKS DOWN TO THE BEACH.
THE CHILDREN START PLAYING IN THE SAND, THE ELDER KIDS WATCHING OVER THE LITTLE ONES.
RAV ASHLAG SITS ON THE SAND WEARILY.
THE KIDS SURROUND HIM.
Rav Ashlag: Do you want me to tell you a little story?
The kids: Ye-e-s!
THEY SIT AROUND THEIR FATHER.
Rav Ashlag: Two sailors go out to sea in a boat. They reach the open sea and can't see the shore anymore. Then, suddenly, one of them takes a drill and starts drilling a hole underneath him. The second one screams at him: "Stop! What are you doing?!" And the other one answers: "Why should you mind, I am drilling under my seat, not under yours!"
Bat Sheva (13-year old girl, screams): What a fool!
Rav Ashlag: Why is he a fool?
Shimon (a 5-year old): They are sailing in the same boat and they are both going to drown because of that hole.
Rav Ashlag: You are right, Shimon. (Strokes his head) Well done.
RIVKA SMILES.
SHE SITS DOWN ON THE SAND.
SHE IS HOLDING SHMUEL, THEIR ONE-YEAR-OLD SON.
Rav Ashlag: Who can tell me what is the lesson here?
Bat Sheva: That we are all sailing in one boat.
Rav Ashlag: All who?
Shimon: All the Jews!
Bat Sheva: The whole world!
Rav Ashlag: So what?
Bat Sheva: Well, we don't understand that we are in one boat. And that we depend on one another…
Rav Ashlag: What a clever girl I have!
Shimon: Me, too, I know it, too!
Rav Ashlag: You are also clever, Shimon! So what should we do, then?
Shimon: Love one another.
Bat Sheva: We need to understand that we are sailing in the same boat.
RAV ASHLAG HUGS SHIMON AND BAT SHEVA…
HE HOLDS THEM TIGHTLY.
THEN HIS EYES SWITCH TO RIVKA.
SHE IS HAPPY, PROUDLY WATCHING OVER THE ENTIRE SCENE.
SUDDENLY RAV ASHLAG STANDS UP SHARPLY, UNDRESSES TO HIS UNDERWEAR, AND STARTS TO MARCH INTO THE SEA.
IT'S WINTER, THE WATER IS COLD, BUT IT DOES NOT SEEM TO BOTHER HIM.
HE DIVES IN AND DISAPPEARS UNDERWATER FOR A LONG TIME.
A MINUTE GOES BY, THEN TWO.
RIVKA SQUINTS HER EYES, LOOKING INTO THE SEA.
HE IS NOWHERE IN SIGHT.
SHE MOVES CLOSER AND CLOSER TO THE WATER.
HER FEET BECOME WET. THE SMALL WAVES LAP AT HER SHINS, WETTING HER SKIRT.
ANOTHER MINUTE PASSES.
THERE IS NO TRACE OF HIM.
Rivka (whispers): Yehuda… (Suddenly screaming) Yehuda-a-a-a!
RAV ASHLAG EMERGES FAR AWAY FROM THE SHORE AND BEGINS TO PADDLE IN LONG, GRACEFUL STROKES TOWARD THE SHIPS STANDING ANCHORED NEXT TO THE FAR DOCKS.
RIVKA FOLLOWS HIM WITH HER GAZE UNTIL HE IS A TINY DOT IN THE DISTANCE.
OPEN SEA. RAV ASHLAG IS FLOATING ON HIS BACK WITH HIS ARMS OUTSTRETCHED TO BOTH SIDES.
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE. 1933, 1934, 1935. NAZI GERMANY CELEBRATES ITS ACHIEVEMENTS.
***
THE SEA. RAV ASHLAG IS STARING AT THE SKIES, UNBLINKING.
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE OF STALIN'S REPRESSIONS.
ALL THE PREVIOUS FOOTAGE IS GATHERED TOGETHER: HITLER’S NAZI GERMANY, THE MULTITUDES WHO GREET HIM WITH A NAZI SALUTE, MUSSOLINI’S FASCIST ITALY, CHURCHILL’S ARISTOCRATIC ENGLAND, STALIN’S COMMUNIST RUSSIA, ROOSEVELT’S CAPITALIST AMERICA.
***
RAV ASHLAG FLOATS ALONE IN THE OPEN SEA.
***
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE OF 1936.
ORTHODOX JEWS DEMONSTRATING IN THE STREETS OF JERUSALEM, COMMUNIST DEMONSTRATIONS IN THE STREETS OF TEL AVIV, EXCERPTS OF SPEECHES BY LEADERS OF DIFFERENT PARTIES: BEN-GURION, JABOTINSKY, WEITZMAN, AND OTHERS.
1936. LOS ANGELES, HOLLYWOOD.
THE SET OF THE MOVIE MODERN TIMES.
THE SCENE IS NOT WORKING OUT.
AN IRRITATED CHARLIE CHAPLIN IS SCREAMING AT EVERYBODY.
Chaplin: I will fire each and every one of you!
HE THROWS HIS TATTERED GLOVES ON THE GROUND AND WALKS ASIDE.
NONE OF THE CREW OR CAST DARE APPROACH HIM.
SUDDENLY AARON APPEARS FROM BEHIND THE PAINTED SCENERY.
Aaron: Mr. Chaplin, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for a week now.
Chaplin: Who the hell are you?!
Aaron: My name is Aaron; I have a very important matter to discuss with you.
Chaplin: How did you get in here?
Aaron: I climbed over that fence.
Chaplin: And now climb back.
Chaplin (yells): Sidney, I told you not to let anyone near me! Get rid of that moron over there! (Points at Aaron)
SEVERAL ROBUST PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS COME RUNNING.
THEY GRAB AARON AND DRAG HIM OFF THE SCENE.
AARON TRIES TO RESIST TO NO AVAIL.
***
EVENING.
CHAPLIN WALKS OUT OF THE STUDIOS, LOOKING VERY TIRED, AND HEADS TO HIS CAR.
AARON IS WAITING FOR HIM THERE.
Chaplin: Don’t you know that boxing is my favorite sport?
Aaron: You can hit me. I won't move.
Chaplin: Do you want to become an actor?
Aaron: No, no way!
Chaplin: Ah, of course, a director?!
Aaron: No, no.
Chaplin: Then you have written a brilliant script.
Aaron: I haven't. But the script is brilliant.
Chaplin: I’ve no time and I'm dead tired.
Aaron: Just give me ten minutes of your time.
Chaplin: No.
CHAPLIN GETS IN THE CAR AND CLOSES THE DOOR.
THE CAR STARTS MOVING.
AARON BEGINS TO WALK BY IT.
Aaron: I am rich. I will pay you for every minute of your time!
Chaplin: Wha-a-a-t?! (Stops the car, opens the door) You want to buy me?
Aaron: Yes, this matter is very important, and not just to me.
Chaplin: How much are you willing to pay?
Aaron: Name your price.
Chaplin: Five thousand dollars a minute.
Aaron: Deal.
Chaplin: Seven…
Aaron: I agree.
Chaplin: Ten.
Aaron: I will pay you anything you want.
Chaplin: Well then, come on in.
AARON JUMPS IN THE CAR.
CHAPLIN SLAMS HIS FOOT ON THE ACCELERATOR.
Chaplin: Today I’m hosting a company of stars. Would you like them to listen as well?
Aaron: Certainly.
Chaplin: What is the script about?
Aaron: About love. About how we can love one another.
Chaplin: Are you homosexual?
***
CHAPLIN'S HOUSE.
A LAVISH SALON PACKED WITH A CHIC HOLLYWOOD CROWD SHOWING OFF THEIR SHINY JEWELRY AND BRIGHT SMILES.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN, WITH AARON BY HIS SIDE, IS WALKING THROUGH THE CROWD.
WE HEAR HIS VOICE.
Chaplin’s voice: Greta Garbo – charming, mystical, lonely.
GARBO PUTS ON HALF A SMILE.
- Paul Muni – recently received an Oscar for his role as Emil Zola. A small town Jew, full of fears and neuroses.
PAUL MUNI FLASHES A BOGUS SMILE.
- Victor Fleming – director. Ironic, heartless, devilishly talented. He is shooting his new film, Gone with the Wind. I think it's going to be a hit.
VICTOR FLEMING IS WAGGING HIS FINGER AT CHAPLIN.
- Vivien Leigh.
SHE OFFERS A MELANCHOLIC SMILE TO AARON.
- Lovable and… depressed.
- Clark Gable – dashing and married to a woman seventeen years older than him. And that says something, doesn't it?
CLARK GABLE SQUINTS AT THEM AND ADJUSTS HIS HAIR.
- Rachmaninov, my close friend. A great pianist and an unhappy exile.
RACHMANINOV FOLLOWS THEM WITH HIS GAZE.
- My beloved, my good luck charm, Paulette Goddard.
PAULETTE GIVES CHAPLIN A LOVING LOOK.
AMIABLE WAITERS ARE WALKING AROUND CARRYING TRAYS LADEN WITH DRINKS AND SANDWICHES.
FINALLY, THE NOISE SETTLES DOWN AND EVERYONE FINDS A PLACE ON COMFORTABLE CHAIRS AND SOFAS.
CHAPLIN AND AARON REMAIN STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM.
Chaplin: Aaron Goldberg is from England. He is a very wealthy man, ready to pay ten thousand dollars for a minute of our time.
Greta Garbo: Can you afford a beautiful woman?
Chaplin: Greta dear, with all due respect, we have something much more serious on our hands. Aaron intrigued me. He said he knows how to make us love one another. How do you like the idea?
Greta Garbo: Utopian.
Clark Gable: But interesting.
Chaplin: Aaron, please, the clock is running.
Aaron: It's not a secret that you have big egos.
Victor Fleming: No, it's not.
Paul Muni: Otherwise we wouldn't be here.
Rachmaninov: The worst place on the goddamn earth.
Aaron (looking at Rachmaninov): You are just another proof of the fact that money can’t buy happiness.
Rachmaninov: I’m miserable with it and miserable without it.
Chaplin (to Aaron): I must warn you that you've already spent ten thousand dollars of your time.
Aaron: You may not believe me, Mr. Chaplin, but I truly don't care about the money.
Greta Garbo: But why?
Aaron (addressing everybody): Because if I'm able to explain it to you so that you understand what I have to say, it'll be worth all my millions.
Vivien Leigh: Interesting. Well, speak on!
Aaron: I adore Charlie Chaplin. How come everyone loves him?
CHARLIE CHAPLIN STANDS UP AND DOES HIS FAMOUS PENGUIN WALK.
HE PICKS UP HIS CANE ON THE WAY AND PROPELS IT AROUND HIS FINGER.
Aaron: He gives everything to people. He is a great altruist who doesn’t think about himself.
Chaplin: Keep this up, Aaron, and I will give up part of the money you owe me.
Aaron (to all): You can influence the world like no one can; that's why I came to you. You are godlike! People listen to you. You have to tell the world that it needs to change.
Greta Garbo: Good God, are you a revolutionary?
Rachmaninov: He is a Commie.
Paul Muni: I can’t stand Commies.
Aaron: You have to pass on to the world just one thought, and the world will change!
Chaplin: And that thought is…?
Aaron: That we are all one.
Greta Garbo: It will never happen. A Nazi will never love a Jew.
Aaron: Because he doesn't know to what extent he depends on him. He doesn't know that by hating someone else, he is killing himself. Just imagine that each of us is but a wheel in a machine.
Vivien Leigh: No, he is not a Communist, he is an idealist and I love it.
Aaron: I represent here the most pragmatic person alive today, my teacher, Rav Ashlag.
Paul Muni: A Jew. Of course. We can't keep our noses out of other people's business, and now we want to correct the whole world, do we?
Aaron: No, we want the world to understand – on its own, that it has to correct itself.
Victor Fleming: What's so wrong with our world?
Clark Gable: Yes, what’s wrong with it?
Aaron: Everyone cares only for themselves.
Victor Fleming: We wouldn’t survive otherwise.
Aaron: We won’t survive if we keep living like this.
Rachmaninov: Do we have to divide all property evenly among the rich and the poor?
Aaron: No! We just have to understand that we are all united. We are one! We are like cells in a body, as my great teacher says. But we are cancerous cells.
Vivien Leigh (with dread): Cancerous?!
Aaron: Each one of us lives only for himself and by so doing he’s destroying the world.
Fleming: It's baloney. If not for our egos, there would be no art.
Aaron: Not this art, but we would have art that unites us with Nature!
Vivien Leigh: Is Nature altruistic?
Aaron: Absolutely.
Greta Garbo: Then why is it hurting us… and painfully so?
Aaron: Because it loves us.
Paul Muni (jumps up): Nonsense! It's all made up! Where's the proof?!
Aaron: The proof is in this book.
AARON WALKS QUICKLY TO HIS BRIEFCASE RESTING ON THE WINDOWSILL.
HE TAKES OUT A BOOK AND RAISES IT HIGH ABOVE HIS HEAD.
Aaron: I translated it into English. In this book, the man who discovered the spiritual laws that govern our world tells us how we, humanity, can survive.
Chaplin: The future is dim, isn't it?
Aaron: Very much so, Mr. Chaplin.
Chaplin: And you want us to…
Aaron: Mr. Chaplin, if not now, then in a few years, or a few decades, Hollywood will understand that it must make movies only about that. (Shaking the book) Only about that!
SILENCE.
Chaplin: Could you leave this book here, with us?
Aaron: Of course! I printed many copies of it in England. I will publish it here, too.
Chaplin: What are you missing in my Charlie character, Mr. Goldberg?
Aaron: Just one thing: we need Charlie to tell everyone that we won't find anything inside our egos except depression and loneliness, and that we will never be happy if we don’t learn to love one another, to give to one another. I'm not a filmmaker, so I don't know how to express this visually, but Nature wants us to be happy! And your Charlie, he is so wonderful, he will live on for generations, and if only you could add that purpose to him, if only he could say this to people…
Chaplin: Thank you, Aaron, I will think about it.
Vivien Leigh: So, one can find a way out of loneliness?
Aaron: If we create unity throughout the world, what loneliness can we speak of?
Greta Garbo: It sounds beautiful.
Rachmaninov: I would really like to believe it.
Aaron: Well, my ten minutes are up. (He takes out his wallet)
Chaplin (stops him): You know, Mr. Goldberg, I won’t get rich off your money. Better you use it to publish your books. Moreover, don’t let our smiles and accord fool you. We are actors, aren’t we, my darling? (Looking at Greta Garbo)
GRETA GARBO NODS.
VIVIEN LEIGH SADLY LOWERS HER EYES.
FLEMING RAISES HIS HAND IN INDIGNATION.
Chaplin: Still, we learned something from your speech. We were touched by your confidence. I watched my friends and noticed that their eyes were twinkling. It’s not every day that someone can reach down and touch their stony hearts. You know what? I have a business proposition for you: Let’s meet again to talk about this at length – not for ten minutes. I promise that I will bring to that meeting the cream of the Hollywood crop. (His eyes meet those of Clark Gable) If they don’t agree to come, I’ll pay them and then they will surely come! (Clark Gable nods)
Rachmaninov: I promise I’ll be there. Even without your stinking money, Charlie.
Greta Garbo: I will also be there. I am intrigued.
- So will I… And I…, - more voices chime in.
Aaron (looks at everybody beaming with joy): If you could only know how grateful I am to you! If you could only know…
[61] The word Har [mountain] comes from the word Hirhurim [thoughts/reflections]. The name Sinai comes from the word Sinaa [hatred]. A man must arrive at Mount Sinai, that is, to crave to unite with the others and to suddenly feel that it’s impossible. One must feel a “mountain of hatred” toward others, which is impossible to conquer alone. This comes in order to induce a collective request for help from Above. This is a real descent for the sake of an ascent.
[62] A state within a person when he feels that together with his friends, he can rise above his egoism and unite with them into a common prayer. He feels there are all the conditions for it now, meaning that all sensations of failure and suffering have gathered together and there is only one thing left to do—attack the selfish desire!
[63] It refers to the desires called “brothers,” meaning close desires. They are close in the sense that they have the same goal: to unite, to become similar to the Creator, to bestow and love. For this, they first have to sit together (to sit means to become equal). Afterwards, they have to undergo correction from hatred to love for one another. And then the Creator is pleased with them, connects with them, and says, “How good and pleasant it is for brothers to sit together.” All of humanity is brothers. Unavoidably, they will have to undergo this path.
[64] The name Yerushalaim (Jerusalem) comes from the combination of two words: Yirah Shlemh (complete fear). In spiritually, this name describes a state of fear due to inability to give to the Creator to the same extent that He gives to a person. It is fear of not being able to love the Creator as much as the Creator loves the person. Only such a person can dwell in (the spiritual) Jerusalem.
Also, Jerusalem means Ir Shalem (a complete city), which is man’s heart when it is devoid of self love.
[65] Abandoning the “I” means to rise above one’s egoistic desires, to “lose” oneself, to exit the sensation of one’s singularity so as to learn to feel others.
[66] David Ben-Gurion—One of the founders of the State of Israel and its first Prime Minister.
[67] Ze’ev Jabotinsky—Leader of the right wing revisionist movement.
[68]Kaddish is a prayer recited in Aramaic as part of the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name.