THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series) (8 page)

The
Moshe and Sophia
Guttman
Home

Petah
Tikva
, Israel

              
Several
hours had passed since the President’s White House Press Room news
conference in which he had announced that America would not get involved in the
invasion of Israel by Russia, Iran and Libya. During ten of those hours the
Guttman
family inhabited their flat’s safe room.
Though they didn’t have cable in the safe room, a small radio
kept them apprised of the latest news.
They were temporarily cheered
when the radio newscaster announced that Israel’s PM was making what he
called "one last attempt" to change the President’s mind and
obtain American military help against the forces invading their country. That
good news allowed the four family members to finally get some sleep on their
cots, which were none too comfortable.

              
Just
after 6 AM Moshe awoke and turned the radio on at a low volume so as not to
awake the others. He listened carefully to reports of the location of the
invading forces. He heard a reporter who was located at Israeli Defense Forces
headquarters in downtown Tel Aviv confirm that the lead units of the invading
force were still traveling south on Highway 6, Yitzhak Rabin Highway, and were
just now south of Highway 5. With a sinking feeling Moshe realized that the
invaders of Israel were now only about four miles from Petah
Tikva
and their apartment building. Moshe knew that if the
armored column pushing south left Rabin Highway and headed west towards Tel
Aviv on 483, then moved to 481, one direct route to Tel Aviv, that his building
and his neighbors in east Petah
Tikva
might escape
harm. On the other hand, if the forces turned south on 40, the
Yerushalayim
Highway, they would soon be on their doorstep.
Maybe, just maybe, they’ll take 483 and 481 straight into Tel Aviv. If
they do in Tel Aviv what they’ve done already in Israel, he realized, his
dental office would be no longer, but at least they would still be alive.

              
Sophia
was also awake. She could hear the radio reports of the location of the
invading forces. Being the practical member of the family, she immediately
realized when she heard that the invaders were south of Highway 5 on Rabin
Highway, that their community offered too attractive of a bombardment target to
ignore. She said her prayers quietly, not wishing to wake the children, whom
she knew would be awake soon enough once artillery shells began to rain down on
their neighborhood.

              
Moshe
heard Sophia’s fervent prayers. As reports were broadcast that the
invading forces were turning south on Highway 40,
Yerushalayim
Highway, next to their home, Moshe reluctantly realized that the
Guttman
family might not survive the next hour. When they
purchased their flat the salesman had been quite specific that the safe room
would afford only limited protection if larger rounds of ammunition were to be
used. His expression at the time, Moshe recalled, was, "This is
not
a bomb proof room, and just
barely
a bullet proof room, depending on
the size of the munition being used". Moshe decided he needed to pray
also.

              
As
he finished his prayers, Moshe heard two things simultaneously, the radio
newscaster announcing the latest location of the armored column on
Yerushalayim
Highway, just a block from their building, and
the sound of exploding ordinance. The armored column made its way south on
Yerushalayim
Highway, blasting each residential tower on
its way, moving west to downtown Tel Aviv. As numerous shells tore the
buildings apart, screams of the residents could be heard in the loud
explosions. A Russian artillery unit pulled up next to the six story apartment
tower in which the
Guttmans
lived and fired four
devastating rounds into the building. The blasts had the effect of collapsing
the first floor, which led to the pancaking of the upper floors. The apartment
tower was no longer a tower, but was now a pile of rubble, surrounded by dust,
in the midst of which flames erupted from opened gas lines, consuming what was
left in the building that could burn.

              
Moshe,
Sophia, Golda and Yitzhak
Guttman
were no more. The
Guttman
safe room and flat on the third floor of the
apartment tower collapsed into the rubble. Their bodies were torn and crushed
by the explosion which destroyed their home. Moshe, Sophia, Golda and
Yitzhak’s blood flowed from their smashed bodies, mixing with the
concrete dust, disintegrated timber and what was left of their family home.
Thus, the four
Guttmans
’ lives flowed out of
their bodies as their blood ran onto the Promised Land. Though what had just
happened in Petah
Tikva
was of no great concern in
America, it was noticed where it counted.

The
Old Cemetery

Rosh
Pina, Israel

              
For
the site of the curse the Rabbi chose the Old Cemetery at the back of the 135
year old town known as Rosh Pina. The town was settled in 1878 by orthodox
Jewish farmers, financially supported by Baron Edmund de Rothschild. The town
boasted the nation’s second oldest
modern
Hebrew
school and Baron’s Gardens modeled after Versailles. Buried in the Old
Cemetery is
Shlomo
Ben-Yosef who died at the age of 25
in 1938. He was the first Jewish resident of the British mandate area executed
by the British. Ben-Yosef led an attack on an Arab bus in retaliation for the
killing of six Jews by Arab militants. When his death verdict was announced,
two months after the attack,
Shlomo
Ben-Yosef stood
and shouted,
"Long live the Kingdom
of Israel on both banks of the Jordan".

              
The
Rabbi selected the Old Cemetery not only for its notable history, but also
because it was the same cemetery where he had some years before performed a
Pulsa
Dinura
curse. He called
then for a curse on the Prime Minister of Israel who gave away Gaza, leading to
the forced eviction of ten thousand Jewish settlers from 21 communities, many
of whom had lived in Gaza for decades. The
Pulsa
Dinura
curse was performed by twenty bearded, married
Jewish residents over the age of 40 and under a rabbinical order for the curse.
Four months after the Rabbi called in the curse for angels of destruction to
come against the Prime Minister, Israel’s leader lapsed into a vegetative
coma, dying several years later. In the years following the Rabbi’s call
for the curse and the PM’s stroke, the Rabbi frequently referred to the
Pulsa
Diura
curse as the
underlying cause of the Prime Minister’s stroke and eventual death. He
also noted that the hurricane which became America’s costliest natural
disaster slammed into the southern U.S. during the last two days of the forced
evacuation of Jewish residents of Gaza, which started on August 16
^th
and ended on the 30
^th
. The Rabbi suggested to anyone who would
listen that when America pushed Israel to force the Jewish residents out of
their Gaza homes that God then allowed a hurricane to push Americans out of
their homes.

              
On
this day of great danger and turmoil in Israel, the Rabbi gathered the same
group of bearded, married Jewish residents who had earlier assembled near the
grave of
Shlomo
Ben-Yosef for the first
Pulsa
Diura
curse. Each was
dressed in black, with the exception of the Rabbi who was dressed in white.
Prior to their meeting, a question had been raised by one who participated in
the first curse as to whether the second curse which the Rabbi was proposing
was in keeping with rules for the
kabbalistic
ceremony. The Rabbi had let it be known that the new curse would be upon
America for failing to keep its word to come to Israel’s defense if
Israel were to ever come under attack. Under
halacha
, traditional Jewish law, the ceremony was to
be against people who are Jewish. The Rabbi, after studying
halacha
and consulting with other scholars, concluded
that such a curse would be appropriate, given the fact that America had many
Jewish residents, several of prominence being in the U. S. government at high
levels.

              
The
invokers of the curse walked solemnly into the Old Cemetery just before dusk,
the sun just finishing its job for the day as it lit the dust and pollen motes
circulating in the air. They said nothing as they made their way to the sacred
burial site of Ben-Yosef, revered by many in Israel as a young man willing to give
his life for the formation of the State of Israel. They stood around the burial
site, their hands clasped and their eyes either closed or filled with tears.
The Rabbi prayed,
then
briefly reviewed the
unforgiveable crime of America, that the world’s most powerful nation had
given its solemn, written commitment to Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of
Israel on March 26, 1979. To induce the signing of the Camp David Peace Accord,
America, through its President, gave its promise to come to Israel’s defense
were it to be militarily attacked.

              
The
Rabbi recited the facts of the current invasion of Israel from the north. He
reminded everyone present, though they were all quite well aware of the facts,
that America’s promise was being breached by its refusal to help little
Israel, it’s only ally in the Middle East. Thus, he cried out, America
has become a betrayer of Israel, as scripture prophesied. The Rabbi mentioned
the several verses in scripture pointing to America as the rich, influential
and powerful end times country described as the Daughter of Babylon. He
finished the charges against Israel’s former friend and protector and
lowered his head. The assembled men prayed fervently for God’s justice.
After their prayers, waiting for a few moments, the Rabbi gave for all to hear
the basis for the
Pulsa
Diura
curse, as he then read aloud from Jeremiah 51:33, 35, 49 and 56:

"For thus says the
Lord
of
hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like
a
threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and
the
time of her harvest will come."

"May the violence done to our flesh be upon
Babylon," say the inhabitants of Zion. "May our blood be on those
who live in Babylonia," says Jerusalem.

"Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain,
just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon."

"A destroyer will come against Babylon; her warriors
will be captured, and their bows will be broken. For the LORD is a God of
retribution; he will repay in full."

              
The
Rabbi then prayed and called upon God to send angels of destruction on the
nation which betrayed Israel, as Isaiah warned in 21:2 -
"the traitor betrays".

              
"Oh,
God, we only ask for
justice for Israel
and to avenge the blood of our people, your people, which will be shed in this evil
invasion. We ask you to
keep your promise
given by the Prophet Jeremiah that the violence done to our flesh and our blood
shed
will be upon the betrayer
, upon
the Daughter of Babylon, upon the United States of America, just as you
promised.
A
Pulsa
Diura
curse we call for on the Daughter of Babylon,
on America
. May you have
mercy
on
their
souls.
Amen and Amen.

Highway
40

 
East of Tel Aviv, Israel

              
It
started with a single large raindrop hitting the windshield of the Russian
Commander’s armored mobility vehicle, which was mine-resistant and
designated as INV-1, the command vehicle for the invasion. The Russian
Commander, who had been studying ground invasion terrain maps, heard the rain
drop hit, looked up and saw that it had splattered right in front of him. His
first thought was that it had be from a bird, as they had carefully chosen this
day based on perfect weather to move massive machines and large numbers of
troops quickly across Israel. Couldn’t be rain, he thought, as he looked
back at his maps.

              
Shortly
thereafter, though, another large drop splattered his windshield, followed by
another and then many drops began to pummel his column of armored vehicles and
armed soldiers. Within ten minutes the rain had turned into a torrential
downpour. Some of the force’s armored fighting vehicles had windshield
wipers, but many of the larger vehicles had not been so designed or built. As
the rain increased in intensity it was soon obvious that the column would have
to stop, as the drivers of the larger vehicles with no wipers couldn’t
see to stay on the road. Even in vehicles with wipers, set at the highest
speed, drivers were not able to see clearly through what looked like buckets of
water being thrown on them from above.

              
Commander
Nikolaevich
issued the order to halt their advance to
Tel Aviv, temporarily, until the rain slackened. He radioed his column control
officers who were further back, some still in the mountains of the Golan
Heights, to warn them that they might encounter exceptionally heavy rain when
they arrived further into Israel. Each officer with whom the Commander spoke
responded that they were already experiencing a great deal of rainfall, which
had forced them to halt their advance. Strange, thought the Commander of the
invasion force, that there should be so much rain over such a large area, yet
with no prior weather warning. He concluded that it was nothing like he had
ever before encountered, he’d just have to wait it out.

              
As
the rain continued to pour down in increasing intensity, the Commander received
a flash message from Moscow asking why they were stopped, as the satellite feeds
in the Kremlin confirmed. After being strongly reprimanded by the Kremlin for
‘letting a little rain slow you down’, the Commander hung up,
adjusted his uniform, pulled on his General’s high-peaked hat and opened
his side door, noticing as he did so that there were now some sizeable
hailstones mixed in the falling rain. He stood up on the side platform, tried
to look at the road ahead, which he could just barely make out, then turned his
head to see how much of his column he could see in the downpour.

              
As
he turned he was thrown off of the side platform onto the ground. At first he
thought he had just slipped on the wet platform, but then as the ground was
violently shaking below his fallen prone body he realized that an earthquake,
an exceptionally large quake, had shaken his vehicle so violently that he was
thrown off. He looked up at a small building near the edge of
Yerushalayim
Highway. It was being shaken like a pit bull
ripping apart a small dog. Cracks appeared in the walls, followed by the building
shaking apart and collapsing to the ground. He looked the other direction at
the mountains that he could just barely make out in the rain. The mountains
were undulating up and down, with walls of what looked like large rock sections
shearing off and falling off the mountains. One large cliff appeared to bolt
straight up, then fall sideways and pitch down the side of the mountain.

              
The
Commander’s last conscious thought was to ask
himself
how there could be such an enormous, damaging earthquake in an area of the
world not known for seismic disturbances. As the thought came to his mind,
something else came to his head. A falling seven pound hailstone split the rain
and the Commander’s skull, killing him instantly. The driver of the
command vehicle saw his Commander’s body on the rain-soaked ground, blood
spewing from his smashed head. He jumped out of the vehicle to assist the
fallen officer, only to himself be struck dead by multiple softball and larger
sized hailstones.

              
 
Most of the invading troop carrier
vehicles were of the same design used in prior wars, with canvas tops and
sides. The plummeting hailstones quickly split open the canvas of the trucks,
hurtling onto the soldiers lined up inside. Within minutes, no matter how the
troops tried to avoid the armament from heaven, most couldn’t and died
from traumatic injuries, head concussions and smashed rib cages and limbs.
Those who tried to escape by jumping from the personnel carriers were quickly
struck down, as the hailstones were pervasive across the invading column and
beyond. Armored vehicles with metal tops were pounded by round after round of
increasingly heavy hailstones, collapsing the roofs, crushing the troops
within. The world had rarely witnessed such an exhibition of cosmic power, but
it wasn’t yet over.

              
The
earthquake aftershocks grew in intensity with the rain and hailstones also not
slacking. In the IDF War Room Israel’s military leaders were monitoring
the rain and hail on weather radar. The earthquake seemed to be centered on the
invading armored column in the Golan and south into the plains of north central
Israel. Its effects swayed the IDF tower and other buildings in Tel Aviv. At
the same time, a wire service news bulletin reported that record-sized
earthquakes were happening in Moscow, Tehran and other cities of nations whose
troops were part of the Israel invasion force, with reported widespread
destruction caused by unusual fire falling from the sky.

              
Just
as IDF’s commanding general turned from the wire bulletin to make a comment
to Israel’s PM, a blinding flash appeared on several of the television
monitors in the war room. The PM shouted, "
What was that
? What was
that
?
I haven’t released our nukes, yet. That looked like a nuke detonation.
What
was…
.
"

              
A
review of the electronic monitoring resources in the room disclosed that three
explosions had just detonated, in the Golan Heights, near Mount Tabor and
northeast of Tel Aviv, near the intersection of Highways 5 and 6. The PM
reviewed the monitoring results, sipped more coffee to moisten his throat which
was made dry by the tension and stress of watching what certainly appeared to
be the world’s first nuclear war-time detonations since 1945, and again
asked, "
What
? These
weren’t
our
nukes. We
know
that. But, none of the three were
detonated on our population centers. I don’t get it. Are you telling me
that these are maybe
less
than a
megaton? That’s close to normal ordinance as far as blast effect, but of
course, the radiation will kill thousands.
Uhm
, I
don’t….Do you think?
Uhm
.
Maybe.
Get me Rabbi Herzog.
Now
.
He prayed for
this….it sure looks like the Prophet Ezekiel’s prophecy that the
Rabbi called down on the invaders at the Wailing Wall, praying for
Israel’s invaders to suffer. What did he call it?
‘
Fire and sulfur’
?
That sounds
a lot like the effects of a nuke. You don’t suppose?"

 
             
Rabbi
Herzog’s office thanked the PM’s staffer for the call, but
explained that the Chief Rabbi was in prayer at
Yad
Vashem
and couldn’t be disturbed. The staffer
conveyed the response to the PM, who replied, "The
last thing
I would do is to interrupt Rabbi Herzog as he prays at
Israel’s national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. His prayers
at the Wailing Wall may well have saved us from
a second holocaust
, here in our own land. When he calls back,
connect me
right away
."