"So you must have known Decker before that."
"Oh, yes," answered Rosen. "We met back in 1978 on the Shroud of Turin expedition in Italy."
"No kidding? I didn't realize that you were a part of that project," Tom said. "I'd like to talk to you about that sometime."
"Please," said Liana, "don't get him started."
Joshua pretended not to hear his wife's last remark, but went on with his story. "Anyway," he said, "where was I? Oh, yes, when Decker arrived I convinced him that there were really two stories to be told here. First was the story about the United States' decision to scrap lasers and particle beams, which is what he had called me about; and second was about Israel's policy to deny citizenship to Messianic Jews."
"Decker wrote about what happened to us and how we had been refused citizenship," Liana interjected. "He really put his heart into that story. But in the end the editors at your magazine cut huge pieces from our story and ran it as a sidebar article."
"While Decker was preparing the story he interviewed several members of the Knesset who are very staunch supporters of an Israeli missile defense," Joshua added, retaking control of the conversation. "When they became aware of our situation they demanded that the bureaucrats grant us Israeli citizenship immediately. Within two weeks we were given a hearing which went so quickly we were not even given a chance to speak. Before we knew what was going on, the judge found in our favor and soon after we became citizens. You see," Rosen explained, "without Israeli citizenship, I would not have been allowed to work on classified defense programs. We were trying to draw attention to the law against Messianic Jews: that became moot when we became the exception to that law."
"So have you seen your son since then?" Tom asked.
"Yes, at the hearing," Liana answered. "He was very upset about the way the case was rushed through, but apparently, seeing us there, fifteen years older, made him think. He called us two days after the hearing and asked to see us. He has never exactly apologized, but he has learned to accept us. And it turns out that, at least in one way, he has followed in his father's footsteps."
"Yes," Joshua said, continuing Liana's thought, "Scott has proven himself to be a first rate physicist. That's how he found out that we were in Israel and seeking citizenship: he too is involved in strategic defense research."
"Now we see him every few weeks," Liana interjected.
"We've even worked together on a couple of projects," Joshua added.
Each paused and took another sip of coffee, signaling the apparent close of the subject. Tom had one other thing he wanted to clear up, and so took advantage of the silence. "Joshua and Liana, you've mentioned 'Yeshua' several times. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with who or what it is you're talking about."
"Yeshua haMashiach," Joshua Rosen answered in Hebrew. You are probably more familiar with the Anglicized pronunciation of the Greek form of his name: Jesus, the Messiah."
Tom raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. "You mean that Yeshua is the Jewish word for Jesus?"
Joshua and Liana both nodded.
"But how can you be Jewish and Christian at the same time?"
"Well, there are a great many people here in Israel who would ask the same question," Joshua answered. "But surely you know that all of the earliest Christians were Jewish. For most of the first century, Christians – who at the time were called 'Followers of the Way' – continued to live among their Jewish brothers as equals and became a rather large sect within Judaism. In fact, the first real disagreement among the followers of Yeshua was whether or not Gentiles had to convert to Judaism before they could become Christians."
"I guess I never really thought about that," Tom said. "So the reason that your son turned you in is because you're Christians."
"We prefer the name 'Messianic Jews,'" Joshua answered. "But to answer your question: yes."
Tom shook his head as he considered the Rosens' story. The conversation seemed to have reached a conclusion, the coffee had all been drunk, and the bagels had all been eaten. Tom reached over and shook Decker from his sleep. Joshua had taken the day off so he could take Tom and Decker into Jerusalem for some sightseeing. Decker drank the last of his coffee, which was by now quite cold, and the three men left for the city.
Joshua took his guests on a whirlwind tour of some standard tourist stops, all of which shared one thing in common: Israeli police and military. Jerusalem is a city where the people have grown accustomed to such things. Tom Donafin was particularly interested in the Wailing Wall, which was the western wall – and all that remains standing – of the ancient Jewish Temple.
As they approached the wall, they were handed black paper yarmulkes to place on their heads. The Israeli government allows tourists to visit the wall but requires men to wear the traditional covering for their head. Near the wall dozens of darkly clad men formed a constantly moving mass as they rocked back and forth, in a practice called dovening, while they prayed or read from their prayer books. Some of the men had ropes or cording tied around their arms and wore small boxes called phylacteries tied to their foreheads like a headband. Inside the boxes, Joshua explained, were pages from the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.
As he had at their other stops, Joshua gave a brief history of the site. "The original Temple," Joshua began, "was built by King Solomon and was destroyed during the Babylonian captivity. It was rebuilt beginning in 521 B.C. and later went through major renovations under King Herod. In about 27 A.D., Yeshua prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed again before all of those listening to him died. Just as he predicted, the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. when Titus invaded Jerusalem to put down a Jewish revolt against Rome. An interesting point of disagreement exists among biblical scholars on the extent of the destruction Yeshua was prophesying. What he told his disciples was that the entire Temple would be destroyed before the last of them died. But, as you can see, this portion of the wall is still standing. Some say that he meant only to include the structures within the walls of the Temple. Others say that the western wall was merely part of the foundation and therefore, by their reasoning, was not included in Yeshua's prophecy. But according to Josephus, who was present at the Roman siege of Jerusalem, Titus ordered that parts of the city be left standing as a monument to his accomplishments. He wanted everyone to be able to see the kind of fortification he had to overcome to defeat the Jews."
"So, which interpretation do you hold?" asked Tom.
"I am reluctantly forced to side with those who say the prophecy only included the buildings of the Temple and not necessarily all of the walls."
"Why do you say 'reluctantly'?" Tom asked.
"Because Yeshua seems to have gone out of his way to make the prophecy all-inclusive, saying that 'not one stone will be left standing upon another.'13 Since the wall is still standing, there are only two other possibilities that I can think of: either Yeshua was wrong – a hypothesis which I cannot accept – or," Joshua concluded with a strained chuckle, "at least one of those who was with Yeshua when he prophesied about the Temple two thousand years ago, is still alive."
"Joshua, forgive my ignorance of such things," Tom said, "but this is the Temple where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, right?"