THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series) (5 page)

The
Moshe and Sophia
Guttman
Home

Petah
Tikva
, Israel

              
The
General’s words sent Moshe, Sophia, Golda and Yitzhak into stunned
silence. Israel had been invaded and it might not survive, especially since the
U.S. reneged on its written promise to defend Israel were it to be invaded. Not
wanting his family to see his reddened eyes, Moshe went to the restroom. Drying
his face, he returned to find three tearful watchers of the televised pictures
from an IDF drone flying above the Golan Heights. The televised pictures were
in almost HD clarity compared to the previous satellite shots, taken at a
significantly greater height. Seeing the Russian and Iranian tanks,
helicopters, multiple rocket launchers, self-propelled artillery, assault
breachers
and troop carriers, including their
nation’s bright markings emblazoned on them was a jarring sight. These
were massive machines of war being driven rapidly into Israel for a single
purpose – to kill Israelis. As potential death targets the
Guttmans
could do nothing but shed tears and cry out to God
for help. Moshe suddenly realized that maybe there was something he could do.

              
Moshe
excused himself and went to the back hall. He punched in his brother’s
long distance number in Fairfax, Virginia. He looked at his watch. He would be
up by now.

              
"Moshe, great to hear from you, what’s up?"

              
"Ben.
Have you been up long enough to see the news? Do you know
what’s happening
here?"

              
"
News
?
No.
I’ve been out of cell range. Our synagogue had a camping retreat, with
our sons. What’s
happ
…
.
"

              
"Ben,
listen
. We’re being
invaded
."

              
"What?
Invaded?
What do you mean
invaded?
Who would be that crazy? This
is the 21
^st
century."

              
"Russia.
Iran.
Maybe Libya.
Muslim radicals.
You get the idea. They’re already across the border with Syria and into
the Golan."

              
"Oh,
no….What’s the IDF doing?"

              
"So
far, Ben, even though the IDF is on heightened alert, it looks like the
nation’s armed forces are waiting to see what the U.S. does. Saudi Arabia
just issued a challenge to Russia and their old enemy Iran asking them what the
heck they’re
doing,
are they coming into Israel
to take a great spoil? Don’t they have enough oil and gas that they need
more from a conquered Israel? The European Union a few minutes later raised
similar questions."

              
"So,
why is the IDF
waiting
?" If
you’re being invaded, why not massively respond? Throw
everything
at them, including nukes.
That is, if you have any. I know that’s been a not very well-kept
secret?"

              
"Think
about it, Ben. As soon as Israel launches its full forces it invites a full
scale counter by the invaders.
Full scale, as in nukes.
Russia and Iran both have nuclear weapons. Iran has made it clear that they
want to nuke Tel Aviv, for starters. So we start to fight back and then the
nukes rain down
on us
. Israel’s
destroyed and the invaders pick up the pieces, including the new oil and gas
fields."

              
"
Humh
.
I get it.
So….there’s only
one way
to halt the invaders. America
has
to
intervene.
Right?"

              
"Correct.
I’m bothering you because you once told me that one of your dental
patients there in northern Virginia worked at the Pentagon. Am I remembering
right? A general or an admiral or some ranked officer?"

              
"Yeah.
He’s a great guy. But, he was promoted
and he’s not stationed in the DC area. Not sure where exactly. We became
fairly close, so I can locate him from our records. Why?"

              
"It
was a long shot, Ben, but I couldn’t think of anyone else I could call.
Here’s the deal. You know where we live. Anybody east of Tel Aviv is on
the entry point to the city. If America decides to help us, we’ll
probably be alright. Your nephew and niece will live to become adults. But, if
America continues to turn its back on us and walks away, we could be….well,
we wouldn’t likely survive
.
I’d just like to know from someone on the inside, if that’s
possible, which is it going to be? Will the U.S. keep its word, does America
have our back
, as the President once
said, or instead, will the President not change his mind? Can you make an
inquiry? America
has
to help us, Ben.
You promised."

              
"I’ll
find the General and see what he can tell me, if anything. He’ll be
limited, as you can imagine, in what he can divulge
,
if he even knows anything. Maybe America can be convinced to get in, Moshe.
Israel’s our
best friend
in
that part of the world."

              
"Ben,
you know as well as I do that the U.S. has
not
been Israel’s true friend. Things have gone downhill ever since the
President came into office. Why did Israel give up
so much
land? Why is there a Palestinian capital located in East
Jerusalem? Why is our remaining land now so narrow, not really
defensible?"

              
"Well,
Israel was sold on the idea that its security was guaranteed by its Muslim
neighbors. That sounded good when you all were sitting under your fig trees in
peace and security, to use a Biblical phrase. But, now….Israel is being
invaded. America
has
to come to
Israel’s defense.
We must
.
I’ll get back to you as soon as I can reach the General."

Western/Wailing
Wall (
Kotel
)

Jerusalem,
Israel

              
Chief
Rabbi Isaac David Herzog loved Israeli food, lots of it, but not today, maybe
never again. He knew when he called for Israel to fast and pray that he would
not be eating again until the invading army was destroyed. He knew, though,
that the invading army could conquer Israel. He concluded that now was the time
to earnestly seek God,
to
fast and pray for mercy and
God’s protection from the invaders flowing from the north into Israel. He
made his calls on other Jewish religious leaders, quickly organizing them, and
their followers, to meet and implore God to save Israel.

              
Rabbi
Herzog, the Sephardi rabbi for Jerusalem for the last five years, walked slowly
from his office in the Jewish Quarter to the
Kotel
at
the western side of the Temple Mount in the Old City. As he walked, with nearly
a thousand rabbis and Jewish religious leaders in his wake, he recalled that
for 19 years after the establishment of the State of Israel, no Jewish persons
were allowed to worship and pray at the Wall. In 1967, however, when Israel was
attacked, it captured the Old City, opening the Wall to use by Jewish
worshippers. Most in Israel considered the Western Wall and the adjoining
Temple Mount as the most sacred sites in the nation.

              
Rabbi
Herzog said nothing on the way to the Wall, his head downcast, his hands
clasped. His somber demeanor was observed by Israeli media walking with him and
the crowds gathering along the way. Tears began to flow from those watching and
waiting for the Chief Rabbi. As Rabbi Herzog walked slowly onto the stone plaza
adjoining the wall, he also began to quietly weep as the enormity of his task
came upon him. The very continued existence of Israel, and its 7,700,000
residents, three-fourths of whom are Jewish, was at hand.

              
Rabbi
Herzog turned in front of the Wall, facing the growing crowd and numerous
media, with cameras relaying his words to Israel and the world. He nodded to
the sounder of the Shofar, the long Ram’s horn used since ancient days.
The first sound, the
Tekiah
, was a long, loud wailing
sound used to announce God’s intent to establish the area He will occupy.
Next
came
a series of several short, sharp
‘breaking sounds’, the
Shevarim
,
announcing God’s intent to break through barriers and shatter resistance
to his will. Thirdly, the Shofar was sounded in nine staccato notes, the
Teruah
, the sound used to announce God’s arrival on
the scene. The last sound from the Shofar, traditionally known as the sound to
declare God’s complete domain, was an
unbreaking
,
commanding sounding of the Shofar trumpet.

              
As
he prepared to speak, the Rabbi felt a strange stirring in his body, unlike
anything he had ever experienced before in his fifty-seven years. He felt as if
God Himself had placed his hand on his shoulder. Rabbi Herzog was so
overwhelmed by the sensation that for at least a full minute he was unable to
speak. During his silence the Rabbi felt he was being given dictation for his
message.

              
Finally
able to speak, the Chief Rabbi said, "The Prophet Joel foresaw this day.
This very day
.
We
read Joel’s prophetic words in the Holy Scriptures. He was shown a day in
which a great and powerful nation would come down from the north against the
Holy Land, like has never been seen before. The assembled armies that have
entered Israel have come with
fire and
sweeping
destruction
, just as
Joel was shown. These armies of invaders were shown to Joel to have teeth like
lions and fangs of a lioness, and to resemble
great war
horses and chariots, leaping on the tops of mountains. We look at our
television news reports and we see the great and powerful armies that Joel was
shown by Jehovah over 2,700 years ago, even including Russian assault
helicopters which we see on TV leaping across the mountains of the Golan
Heights.

              
"What
is Israel told to do when
this day of
darkness and gloom
comes upon us? Joel was given the answer by the
Almighty. We are told to consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly and gather
the elders and the inhabitants of the land….
to cry out to the Lord
. Joel tells us to blow a trumpet in Zion and
sound an alarm
on his holy mountain.
Today we are crying out to the Lord, as a people whose faces are pale and who
are trembling as we face imminent death and destruction. The priests and ministers
of the altar are called on by God through Joel to put on sackcloth,
to
fast and to lament.
Will
it be enough?
Can Israel, and its people, be spared in the face of this
great and powerful army invading
God’s
Holy Land?

              
"Our
media in Israel are filled with only two questions: They ask first,
will
America intervene to save us?
Secondly, if America doesn’t save us, are Israel’s armed forces
strong enough to save Israel
? My reading
of the Holy Scriptures shows me that
no
nation
, not the United States, not any nation will come to Israel’s
assistance. If our strongest ally lets our blood flow at the hands of this
great invading army, will our military be strong enough to win the war which
has already started? Again, the Prophet Joel was shown that the invaders will
charge, scale walls, leap upon cities and….burst through our
weapons….and….and….
not
be halted
."

              
The
Chief Rabbi stopped, recognizing fully the enormity of what he had just
said,
that Israel had no hope, no defenders and insufficient
military strength to survive the invasion from the north. Millions of tears
flowed from millions of eyes across Israel as Israelites glued to their
televisions watched as the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem delivered his fatal
message. News commentators all day reported America’s refusal to keep its
treaty commitment to Israel, but to hear it from the lips of such a respected
religious leader was more than many could take. Just as difficult was the
thought that Israel’s military might not be able to throw off those who
were coming into Israel to kill, maim and destroy. Many viewers in Israel
decried their nation’s decision to give up part of the land, contrary to
God’s directive not to do so. Now in an untenable, indefensible position,
Israel faced annihilation, invaded by foes committed to wiping Israel and its
7.7 million people off the map.

              
As
grim as his message sounded, the Chief Rabbi wasn’t quite finished.

St.
Patrick’s Cathedral

Manhattan,
New York City

              
Cardinal
Thomas Micah Bolton made it a point to arrive at sunrise on Sundays at St.
Patrick’s. His weekly custom was to change into his Vatican mandated
formal attire, his red wool cassock and red silk skull cap, well before the
morning services were to commence. After being dressed appropriately, he would
proceed to the altar at the front of the historic cathedral and pray for what
would occur in the historic building later in the morning.

              
As
the Cardinal prayed, the altar boys, designated priests and other staff busied
themselves in the sanctuary, doing their best not to disturb the
Cardinal’s prayers. Concluding his prayers, Cardinal Boland genuflected,
stood, turned from the altar and looked out at the 2,200 seat Cathedral. It was
what he expected to see. What he did not expect to hear, though, was what
sounded like loud voices, raised in anger, coming from the Cathedral’s
entry doors. The Cardinal walked down the altar steps from the front to the
main central aisle, heading towards the source of the increasingly raucous noise,
puzzled by what was disturbing the sanctity of this sacred space. He soon
learned the source.

              
As
he was half-way down the central aisle Cardinal Bolton saw several
green-uniformed DHS Conservators shoving persons whom the Cardinal recognized
as employees of the Cathedral, including two armed plains clothes security
officers who worked for the church.

              
"You
can’t
come in here with
weapons
."

              
"
Stand back
or we will be forced to
arrest
you."

              
"Arrested
for what
, for defending our church
from uninvited, armed men?"

              
"We
have a warrant.
Stand back
. This is
your
last
warning."

              
"I
told you, that you
can’t
come
into the…."

              
Two
shots exploded into the echo chamber of a sanctuary, reverberating like two
thunder claps across the long sanctuary.

              
 
The Cardinal stopped, thirty feet or so
from the two church security guards who were now bleeding out on the marble
floor of St. Patrick’s. For a brief moment the Cardinal wondered if this
was another one of those weird dreams he had been having, of strangers invading
the sanctuary. But, his doubt only lasted a moment as he smelled the gunpowder.
This was no dream. It soon became a nightmare, as the Cardinal looked up from
his fallen employees to see that the men who had just fired their revolvers
were now aiming them at him.

              
"
Whoa there
, whoever you are, what do you
think you are
doing
? This is a house
of God."

              
"Shut
up, whoever you are. Oh, so you are
Cardinal
Whatever?
We are
the government
.
We have a warrant. We are here to protect the City of New York.
Stand back….Now
."

              
"A
warrant
?....
By whom?....For
what
? Do you understand
where
you are
? Do you have any idea how much
trouble
you are in? I don’t care what government you say you work for, you
can’t just shoot
peo
…."

              
"
Shut up
, old man."

              
"Have
you
no respect
for…."

              
"
Respect?
You are harboring terrorists, you
silly
old man
in a red dress. We’re here to
shut you down
. We protect the City of New York.
No more 9/11s
, do you understand, old
man?"

              
"Terrorists
?....
Terrorists?
....How
can you
seriously
say….?"

              
"
Enough
of this….
Cuff
the old man….
Nail this
to the entry door….
Padlock
the doors."

              
The
armed, uniformed DHS Conservators cuffed Cardinal Bolton, man-handling him out
of the cathedral to a black armored DHS detention vehicle parked in front. The large
red sign nailed to the ornate front door of St. Patrick’s Cathedral read:

CLOSED

UNTIL FURTHER
NOTICE

BY ORDER OF US
DISTRICT COURT

THIS STRUCTURE
HAS BEEN DESIGNATED

AS A POTENTIAL
TERRORIST SITE

IT IS A FELONY
TO

ENTER THESE
PREMISES

By Order of US
District Judge Lawrence
Barrasso