TCF

Being a wickie at St. Catherine’s Lighthouse on the Isle of Wight had its good points, Benjamin thought. His wife Edith and daughter Judith aided him in his work, so it became a family endeavor. Also the lighthouse grounds doubled as a meteorological outstation.

During daylight, the Margolies family sent hourly reports of temperature, humidity, cloud height, cloud formation, wind direction, and wind force to the Meteorological Office in London by Teletype. This allowed Benjamin the satisfaction of working within his chosen field.

When Benjamin was paid his salary a small amount of petrol was delivered to power the engine that turned the lighthouse shaft. He was never tempted to divert a portion of this petrol to his motorcar, as he had none, but he did have to keep an eye out for neighbors who did.

On weekday mornings Judith trudged up from Undercliff to the village of Niton for her primary school, and sometimes her mother accompanied her when she needed to attend to shopping. At sunset on Friday, when it was Shabbat, Benjamin and his family ceased from all their labors and remained indoors.

On rare occasions Benjamin took his family by ferry and bus on such modest holidays as they could afford. One time they went to the beautiful Lake District in the northwest of the country, camping in the high, treeless hills called fells that qualified as mountains in England.

The Isle of Wight lay within the English Channel, and the English Channel was the chief arena of contest between the United Kingdom and Germany in 1940. That is not to say the Margolies family would have been entirely safe if they had moved closer to the Lake District.

The Luftwaffe had a clear advantage when it came to the quality of their aircraft, but with the new Chain Home Radio Direction Finding systems providing early warning of attacks, RAF pilots could rest until scrambled, use less fuel, and put less wear on their own aircraft.

As the Luftwaffe began to take heavy losses in bombers and fighter cover they tried attacking some of the Chain Home stations, including one that was constructed near to St. Catherine’s Lighthouse. The Margolies family was unharmed but they had their first taste of the War. Towers constructed with an open lattice structure are practically immune to blasts. The few antennas the Germans did manage to topple were repaired within days while operators from nearby dummy stations broadcasted signals to make the enemy believe no harm was done at all.

The Luftwaffe tried flying lower and approaching England below the sight line of Chain Home stations but the British used smaller systems intended to direct gunfire against ships in the Channel and German losses continued to mount at an unacceptable rate. Eventually the Luftwaffe accepted they would be spotted electronically and switched to night raids, thinking the RAF’s fighters could not see them in actual combat. The British quickly produced even smaller systems for planes that rapidly ended German night bombing over England.

The Luftwaffe lost nearly two thousand planes and Hitler was forced to shelf his invasion plans indefinitely. In hindsight Hitler’s ‘Operation Sea Lion’ was never realistic. Even if Germany had obtained a lasting command of the air, Britain still had an unmatched Navy.

The United Kingdom shifted emphasis from air defense to air offense, but during the course of 1941 it became clear to Bomber Command that nighttime navigation to the correct target was a serious issue. In 1942 an electronic guidance system called Clarinet was developed. Clarinet used two highly directional radio beams, one transmitting Morse code dots and the other one transmitting dashes, to be received by a single bomber flying point in the wave to minimize the chance of the Germans reverse-engineering the system from a downed plane.

The night bombers flew out from England on a straight line along the radio dots, and when the lead plane encountered the strongest part of the radio dashes from another angle it dropped a load of marker flares. Then the whole bomber wave dropped their bombs on the flares.

Concrete was transparent to the Clarinet frequency. So an antenna was constructed inside Benjamin’s lighthouse mounted to the central shaft. That way the structure of the lighthouse would hide the antenna and the Germans, it was thought, would never suspect a thing. Periodically a targeting order came to Benjamin Margolies over the same Teletype he used to transmit his weather information to London. The message gave him a precise angle to position the antenna, a duration and start time, and whether he was to transmit dots or dashes.

The Margolies family was kept busy throughout 1943 as the RAF focused their bombing campaign on Hamburg and the industry centered in the Ruhr valley. The next year a large number of American, Australian, En Zed, and Canadian troops were transported to the south of England.

They trained with Tommies in preparation for the invasion of France. To ensure their success a tower of deception was assembled that the world had never seen before nor since. False plans were even planted on a corpse that was allowed to wash up on a French beach. A world of false radio traffic was created and maintained to let the German High Command conclude that US Army General G. S. Patton was gearing up to lead the entire force over the narrowest part of the Channel where Dover could be seen from Calais. The Germans knew it was the smart move.

Admiral Sir Bertrand Ramsay, in overall command of the invasion, left absolutely nothing to chance. On June 4, 1944, just before D-Day, Sir Ramsay actually took time to visit St. Catherine’s lighthouse. The weather was quite murky and wet so he cut his inspection short. Benjamin showed Ramsay the room where the Teletype and Clarinet transmitter were installed. Ramsay thanked Benjamin personally for his service to the King, and Benjamin, for his part, considered it prudent not to mention the assistance he received from Edith and Judith.

The Admiral seemed to be captivated by a wall chart and asked Benjamin to identify it.

“That’s my moving five-day weather forecast for Undercliff, sir. That would be this stretch where the lighthouse is located. We are in a rain-shadow, you know. And also a fog-shadow. The weather here is not nearly as immoderate as it is for the Overners.”

After the War it was Benjamin who coined the word microclimate.

He led the Admiral into the white octagonal tower to inspect the Clarinet antenna and took him spiralling up the ninety-four steps to the top. Benjamin showed Sir Ramsay where the huge crystal lens had been chipped by a 1943 air raid. They could see thirty nautical miles out to sea. The whole English Channel was roiling with whitecaps kicked up from high winds which threatened to derail the immanent invasion.

“And you do this weather forecasting as a sort of hobby?”

“Perhaps more than just a hobby, Admiral Sir Ramsay. I’m trained as a meteorologist, and I’m a damn fine one, if you don’t mind me carrying my own chair. But it’s wartime now, and I’m a wickie for the duration. Now I know we’ve all got to pull together to stop Jerry, sir, and I’m sure other professional men are in the same predicament as myself, but all the same, one must use the skills one has been trained to use, or one’s mind gets in a bit of a rut.”

“I see,” said Ramsay.

“It’s not the purely sterile pursuit you might imagine it to be, Admiral Sir. By a strange fluke of geography and wind and water currents, the weather here at the lighthouse has a very high correlation with the weather directly across the Channel on the coast of France. I’ve checked it for years, sir, in every season, and the match occurs more than eighty percent of the time, well outside the realm of coincidence. I intend to publish a paper about this after the war.”

“Is that so? Remarkable! And what do you forecast for Undercliff?”

“A twenty-four hour break in this miserable weather, partly cloudy, winds drop to five knots. Then on the afternoon of the sixth of June we return to the same pattern. Everywhere else along the English Channel there will be fog and rain and winds gusting to thirty knots.”

Admiral Sir Ramsay was elated. Eisenhower’s chief meteorologist had predicted the same short break in the weather using B-17 aircraft far out over the Atlantic to gather the data. General Montgomery was willing to take the risk, but Ramsay and Ike were still cautious.

Allied Intelligence said General Erwin Rommel, master of the Atlantic Wall, wasn’t even presently in France, a sign the Germans were anticipating at least a week of bad weather. But now a doughnut hole in that weather was confirmed by a second, entirely unexpected source. Sir Ramsay had moved over to General Montgomery’s camp and was ready to give the nod on the invasion. It might be enough to convince Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, to launch the massive invasion of France just as the Germans were letting down their guard.

The Admiral asked, “Does the strange correlation of weather between Undercliff and the French coast hold for the Pas-De-Calais?”

“Alas, no, I’m afraid that predicting the weather for Dover and Calais is a puzzle, and my reports to the Weather Office are but one piece.”

The Admiral sighed, suddenly reluctant to proceed. There was one final duty Benjamin Margolies could perform for England, and it saddened the Admiral to deceive the man, but there was no choice. It was, in fact, the chief reason for his visit. He said, “Then it is time to reveal the real purpose of my visit here, and why I have attended to this myself rather than send a staffer. What I’m about to tell you has the highest possible classification. You cannot mention a word of it even to your family.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Mr. Margolies, the following three weeks will be very lively ones for you, I’m afraid. You might be aware that much of southern England has become one large armed camp containing millions of troops from several countries, and all their supplies. As we get closer to the moment of the Allied invasion across the Strait of Dover, which is set for the final week of June, you will find that your Clarinet task orders will be coming in at a much greater rate than ever before.”

“Nightly rather than weekly, then, sir?”

“Twice nightly, I’m afraid. We will soon be bombing the potential landing areas continuously, day and night, and you’ll need to get such sleep as you can when it is light. I wanted to tell you this, Mr. Margolies, so when it happens you do not imagine things have gone terribly amiss.”

“I understand what I must do, sir,” said Benjamin Margolies. “Perfectly.”

So after a brisk shake of their hands they descended the spiralling steps mounted inside the structure of St. Catherine’s lighthouse and were parted, but Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay felt thoroughly soiled.

--

811 When Yishak was seventeen years of age Melchizedek returned to Earth and journeyed once more to the town called Harran in the land of Abraham's kin. There he became acquainted with Bethuel, who was the son of Milcah. Milcah was the wife of Nahor. And Nahor was Abraham's brother.

812 In the household of Bethuel there dwelt a young woman named Rebekah. She was Abraham's great niece, and therefore Yishak's first cousin once-removed. Eyeing her, Melchizedek told Bethuel it had fallen to him to find a wife for Yishak from among Abraham's kin.

813 The Ophan could, at need, dispense of Abraham's entire estate. He had brought as much as ten mules could carry, as well as precious stones and jewelry from Heaven itself. All these riches he dangled before the eyes of Bethuel, which prompted him to say, “Rebekah, will you go with this man?”

8144 Thus Rebekah was formally asked to take her place in the epic set in motion when Elyon inserted herself into human history and commanded Abraham to go to the land of Canaan. But the display of wealth did not sway Rebekah. She wanted to know more about Yishak himself.

815 So Melchizedek spoke to Rebekah of the time three years prior when as a boy Yishak feared losing his life at the point of a blade. Hy remaining carefully vague about the fact that hy hymself had relayed the kill order from Elyon, the eloah worshiped by Abraham as his deity.

816 And Melchizedek told Rebekah how the incident caused Yishak to develop a more profound affection for his mother, while deliberately neglecting to tell her how Yishak in fact almost never left his mother's tent after he barely escaped being sacrificed to his father's god.

817 The prince used all the statecraft hy had learned at the foot of his father King Melchiyahu. Yet Rebekah did not make her decision on the basis of Melchizedek's testimony of Yishak's personal character.

818 Melchizedek had presented hymself to Rebekah and her family as courteous, humble, and devout. The gifts were obligatory. Something still seemed a bit off, but she decided to proceed on a hunch. She judged Melchizedek to be a good man, for a man she thought him to be.

819 Rebekah was very intelligent and it stood to reason that if the servant was a good man (for a simple servant Melchizedek held hymself out to be) then hyz masters, her kin Abraham and Yishak, must be good men as well. So she answered her father Bethuel by saying, “I will go.”

820 When Melchizedek returned to the oasis at Beersheba, Yishak brought Rebekah into his late mother Sarah's tent and took her as his wife, and he loved her. So was Yishak comforted after his mother's death. Melchizedek, in a sense, had provided Yishak with a replacement mother.

821 Rebekah sensed this and felt perhaps a twinge of regret, but she was an honorable woman who had assented to the marriage sight unseen.Then Melchizedek received word that his father Melchiyahu had died in his sleep, making him the king of Salem by right of succession.

822 So Melchizedek bid farewell to Abraham. He passed out of all knowledge of those who dwell on Earth, and he came there not again. The task laid upon him by his father to set aside a holy people for Elyon had been fulfilled.

--

One time a German U-boat captain gazed at the shore of the Isle of Wight through his periscope and noted that St. Catherine’s lighthouse stopped flashing for hours. It was a small matter but he noted the start and stop time. The report wound its way through Berlin. One clever analyst realized the data matched the start and stop time of the Clarinet signal originating from what they thought was a nearby antenna. A second observation verified the light beam remained lined up on a target in Germany that was taken out by night bombing.

In the early morning hours of June 5, 1944 a U-boat surfaced off the Isle of Wight. Commandos rowed ashore to raid the lighthouse, led by an SS captain named Felix Schaub who doubled as the political officer to ensure the crew’s loyalty to the gangsters running Germany. On this occasion Felix Schaub wore his black pre-war Schutz Staffel uniform for the brutal psychological effect he knew it would have on the Margolies family.

Judith and Edith whimpered in terror when they were tied up and threatened with pistols pointed at their heads. Benjamin demonstrated the operation of the Clarinet system to Captain Schaub, but the Germans neither destroyed the gear nor tried to remove it to their submarine. Instead, Schaub identified each member of the Margolies family by name, and told them he knew they were Jews.

“Mr. Margolies,” Straub said, “this is a matter of life and death for your wife and daughter. I do not make empty threats. The fate of Edith and Judith will depend on how you answer two questions. First, what is the target area of the planned invasion across the Channel?”

Benjamin stiffened in dismay. He was confronted with the choice of losing his family or betraying the trust Admiral Sir Bertrand Ramsay had given him. To prod him along, there was a slight nod from Schaub. The hammer was pulled back on the pistol pointed at Judith’s head.

Margolies capitulated. It was never really a question. “Dover to Calais,” he said, letting escape the breath he had been holding for half a minute.

“Goot,” Captain Schaub said. “And the timing?”

“I do not know the precise day. I know only that it will be during the last week of June.”

The SS officer smiled. “I am a man of my word,” he said. “Your family is safe. But this is what I want you to do now, Mr. Margolies. When you get your orders to operate Clarinet, you will carry them out, but you will be just a little sloppy when you align the antenna. Not too much, Mr. Margolies! Perhaps only a fraction of one degree. Just enough to throw off the resulting bombing raid by a few hundred meters. You will do this until your government returns to their original wisdom and no longer prosecutes its war against the Reich. But this is the most important part: you must tell no one you are sabotaging the raids, or that we were ever here.”

“Or you’ll return and kill us?”

“Mr. Margolies, now I am disappointed in you! What does a man have in this world if he fails to do what he promises he will do? You have my word that neither you nor your lovely wife Edith nor your beautiful young daughter Judith will be killed. But I am not sure that you are a man of your word, Mr. Margolies. So at this time we will take them to the concentration camp near Saint-Malo in France.”

“No, I beg you!”

“Do not be alarmed, Mr. Margolies. Your wife Edith and your daughter will not be unduly mistreated there, nor even on the way there. This camp I mentioned that lies in Brittany is where all the British Jews we captured in the Channel Islands have been relocated. But if we learn that a future air raid using the transmitter inside this lighthouse is successful, things will not seem so good. But even then, my word will hold! Judith and Edith will be simply be transferred to a work camp deeper in France or perhaps even in Germany.”

Judith and Edith Margolies were taken to Cherbourg by raft and by sub, and by the morning of June 6 they were inducted into a French farm that had been dubbed a clinic for racial hygiene.

Schuab’s report, sent by coded radio from the U-boat, filtered up to Hitler, and the final piece of deception in the Fortitude element of Operation Bodyguard was in place. Hitler reinforced the defenses in the Pas-De-Calais region and left only a skeleton force at Normandy. Captain Felix Straub and the Uboat at his beck and call only just made it to Cherbourg in time.

In the early morning hours of June 6 the Channel was filled with 7,000 vessels carrying 160,000 men to the beaches of Normandy, and not Calais, as Benjamin told his tormentors. Mr. Margolies’s weather forecast had tipped Ramsay into Montgomery’s camp for having a go, and that in turn convinced Eisenhower.

Two Panzer tank divisions, which might have defeated the invasion, were kept on a tight leash by Hitler because he didn’t trust his own generals. Hitler himself slept until noon on the sixth of June, and didn’t release the Panzers until four in the afternoon, by which time the beachhead was relatively secure and Allied aircraft dominated the skies to the point of forcing all German tanks to move only at night.

For two months the Allies were tied down in the Normandy region trying to break out of hedgerow country while the Germans attempted to contain them. When the Allies did escape, the breakthrough was very near to the Saint-Malo area where Judith and Edith were being held. To prevent their premature liberation the Germans moved everyone in the camp to another one deeper in France, far from the front lines, precisely what Felix Straub threatened would happen should Benjamin Margolies prove faithless in his sabotage, when he in fact never was.

Benjamin continued to operate the Clarinet system when the nightly orders came in over the Teletype, but he deliberately altered the requested target angle slightly. He sincerely believed Captain Straub that it was the only way he could save the lives of Edith and Judith.

The deception came crashing to an end in September when Judith failed to register for secondary school. The constable came calling, and he found evidence of the raid by the German frogmen. He notified army intelligence, and they in turn squeezed the truth out of Benjamin. Sir Ramsay successfully intervened to keep Benjamin out of prison, but Sir Arthur Harris of RAF Bomber Command insisted the man be sacked from his lighthouse job. He was forced to move to a small cottage on the beach nearby and he was not even permitted to operate his weather station inside St. Catherine’s lighthouse. In his isolation Benjamin gradually began to despair of seeing either one of his loved ones again.

After breaking out of Normandy at Avranches, General Patton’s Third Army moved across France at an unbelievable pace, performing a right hook that nearly encircled Hitler’s forces opposing the invasion. Judith and Edith were moved to different camps at least once a month. The constant relocation was encouraging in a way, but things grew progressively worse the nearer Edith and Judith were taken to Germany itself. Internment camps were abandoned for work camps, which were evacuated in turn for what could only be called punishment camps.

--

822 In the three and thirtieth year of the Covenant Abraham died and his son Yishak became High Priest of Elyon. Yishak begat twin sons and named them Esau and Yakob.

823 Esau became a cunning hunter, a extroverted man of the field, while Yakob was an introverted man dwelling in tents. Esau derived his life, and life more abundantly from the earthly goods which he was able to obtain by his own efforts.

824 Yakob, as the more interior man, could not compete on those terms, but he took thought obtain more abundant life another way. The first step was to claim the Birthright, which entitled Yishak's son to a double share of Abraham's estate.

825 On only one occasion did Esau's prowess fail him. He came in from the field famished and begged Yakob for some food. Yakob provided bread and lentil soup, but the price was Yishak's Birthright that was Esau's by dint of being born just moments before Yakob.

826 Esau was more than willing to trade his Birthright away, so close to death was he. Esau just needed a little help that one time. So he left with a full stomach and almost convinced himself the Birthright was nothing much anyway.

827 But as time went on the injustice of the incident weighed on the mind of Esau and the bad blood grew until Yakob began to fear for his life.

828 Already the servants of Yishak had become divided into two camps, one favoring Esau and the other Yakob, and at times they came to blows. All it took was a command from Yakob to split off the half of the livestock and servants and depart the lands north of Mount Nebo where Yishak had grazed his flocks from the time his father Abraham died.

829 In the three and sixtieth year of the Covenant Yishak died, and Esau buried him in the tomb that held the bones of his grandfather. Esau left his mother Rebekah in the keeping of his chief steward, then sojourned with his flocks to search out his brother and tell him of the passing of their father.

830 For three generations of men Elyon and Samael carried out a test to see if one clan on Earth could maintain a covenant with the elohim without any intervention. The eloah named Israel made a journey to the Land of Promise to see the place with is own eyes.

831 Israel took little thought for his personal safety. Elyon had said Yakob was more the son of his mother than the son of his father, a man who preferred the womanly arts of whispering and plotting to more masculine action on the field of the hunt or battle.

832 When Israel caught up with Yakob he was preparing to cross the Jordan River. There Yakob had sent messengers to meet his brother Esau and mention that he had a lot of spare animals, hopefully to smooth over any hard feelings Esau might still have from losing the Birthright.

833 The messengers returned with a report that Esau was coming out to meet Yakob with four hundred men, so he divided his caravan in twain. If Esau smote one the other might escape. Yakob prayed to Chokhmah for deliverance, then set aside a portion of his herd as a gift to Esau.

834 Yakob sent two hundred twenty goats, two hundred twenty sheep, thirty horses, fifty cattle, twenty asses, and ten foals, which his servants took on ahead to Esau. As for Yakob himself, he hung back as a rearguard, not against Esau but against someone else he happened to see.14 Yakob hid himself amid thick vegetation near the place where the Zarqa River merged with the Jordan River. When the stranger approached, unaware of Yakob's presence, Yakob assailed him suddenly and there ensued a bitter fistfight that changed into an epic wrestling match.

835 The stranger kept grasping Yakob's clothing to hurl him around, so Yakob shed his clothing and fought entirely in the nude. Then Israel saw how Abraham's grandson bore the peculiar mutilation that Keter had demanded in hyz bid to sabotage Chokhmah's experiment.

836 So Israel had the answer hy had come to Earth looking for, but there was still the growing matter of the ongoing tussle. As they fought Yakob kept asking, 'Who are you?' but Israel refused to say. As the night wore on hy grew dismayed how Yakob proved to be so tenacious.

837 Israel wrenched Yakob's femur out of its socket at the hip, causing intense torment, but Yakob refused to yield. At dawn Israel, a full cubit taller than Yakob and far more bulky, was at the end of hyz own resources and near exhaustion. Hy commanded Yakob to let hym go.

838 Yakob said, 'I will not release you until you tell me who you are, and bless me.' His foe said, 'No longer shall men call you Yakob, but Israel, for you have contended with gods and men, and you have prevailed. You have even wrested my name away, and taken it for your own.'

839 Then Yakob unhanded the bruised seraph, nameless now. He had sufficient dark light banked to crack open a fold-door little more than a cubit tall, just enough to wriggle back into Heaven like a maggot, and he never came again any closer than the Earth's moon.

840 Three of Israel’s servants found him beaten and unable to stand, with a dislocated hip. Two of them held him down with a bit between his teeth while the third popped it back in place. With help he was able rejoin his wife but he walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

841 Esau drew near with his men. Israel stood in front of his people bowed before his brother. And to Israel's everlasting surprise, Esau did not strike him, but rather he embraced and kissed him, and he told him their father was dead, and they both wept.

842 So the great family feud was ended, yet there had never been a feud, since Esau obtained more than his rightful share Yishak's flocks and servants anyway, and after that he had come to miss his brother.

843 Israel begged his brother to accept the gift of herd animals he had already sent to him, saying, 'Take them please, my lord, because Chokhmah has dealt graciously with me, and I have enough. More than enough!' And Esau assured Israel that none of his men gave Israel his beating

844 Esau agreed to go on ahead because Israel’s group had children and young animals and he himself had a limp. Both brothers mourned the passing of their father but even so they rejoiced that they had returned to the good terms they had enjoyed in their youth.

845 Israel would ponder the strange nighttime fight for the rest of his life, whenever his limp prompted him. Ultimately he drew the conclusion that God Most High had sent a thrall to put him to the test even as his grandfather had been tested with an order to slay his father Yishak.

--

Early in 1945 after one more relocation, Edith and Judith reached their final destination, an extermination camp called Ohrdruf-Nord deep in the heart of Germany proper. In that place Jews were worked to death constructing a railroad center that would never be finished. Along the way currency, gold, and jewelry (of which Judith and Edith had none) were sent to the SS headquarters of the Economic Adminstration. Watches, clocks, and pens were sent to the troops on the Western, Eastern, and Italian fronts. Their civilian clothing was given to increasingly needy German families.

Judith saw things that pushed far beyond any boundaries of human evil she thought were possible to exist. Ohrdruf wasn’t even the worst camp in the hellish constellation. Those were to be found further to the east, in Poland. Many men have a taste for sixteen year old female flesh. Judith learned to trade her body for scraps of extra food. The longer she could delay taking on the figure of a skeleton, the more opportunities he might have to trade her body for food, for both herself and Edith.

This became a huge problem during the terrifying and humiliating appells, or inspections, that followed roll call and lasted most of the day. The guards realized Judith and Edith were wasting away at a slightly slower rate than their companion prisoners. They were successful in feigning weakness, but it was almost impossible to hide their extra weight, and suspicion was raised.

When the guns of Patton’s tanks could be heard only forty miles away, the twelve thousand inmates of the camp were being loaded onto cattle cars. The prisoners were being rushed to transfer to Buchenwald. Edith Margolies slipped and revealed that she had a little extra food hidden away. What happened after that Judith told no one but her father, years after the war, on his final day of life. Learning the manner of the passing of his wife might have even been the thing that killed him.

Troops of the 89th Infantry Division of the US Third Army captured Ohrdruf-Nord on April 4, 1945. Judith was one of the very few prisoners left standing. After the war in Europe when Judith had been sufficiently deloused and scrubbed, and had demonstrated her status as a British subject to the satisfaction of the Occupation, she was placed on a ship and sent home to her father.

She met him on a dock at Portsmouth. Judith gazed upon him as though across a great gulf which was the memory of the unspeakable ordeal she had somehow survived. They were utter strangers to each other. When he took her home Benjamin tearfully begged his daughter to tell him what happened to Edith. The girl said nothing. Every time he pressed, she would only shake her head. But the beach bungalow was very small, and it was not very long before Benjamin caught a quick glimpse of the mass of whip scars on his daughter’s back.

--

846 Esau continued in all the ways passed down from his grandfather Abraham to his father Yishak to himself. He wandered the land with his people and his flocks increased.

847 But Israel tarried in the hill country between the river and the sea where few inhabitants dwelt. On a hilltop Israel built an altar unto God Most High, and he named that place Beit-El, or House of God.

848 Israel and his servants built a courtyard around the altar, and ringed this open area with houses of mud brick laid on stone foundations. And the hillside was terraced for crops, and trees were planted bearing olives and fruits, but the animals were set to graze freely nearby.

849 Israel begat a daughter named Dinah, and he begat sons Levi, Judah, and Joseph. When they were of age Judah departed Beit-El and taking his inheritance of servants and animals he built the town of Hebron near the tomb of his father.

850 And Joseph with his inheritance of servants beat down the tower of Rabbah, and the men of that fenced city came out before them, but God dicomfited them before Joseph with stones of ice from heaven and he slew more of the males of Rabbah than Joseph and his servants did with the edge of the word.

851 Judah son of Israel took to wife Mahlah daughter of Shuah the Canaanite and he begat a daughter, Shelomit. And Judah begat Perez, who took to wife Gaba daughter of Adullam the Gilohite. And Judah built the town of Eltekah after the manner of Beit-El, and he begat other sons and daughters.

853 And the servants of Israel who dwelt among them begat sons and daughters of their own, and they were free, and the same intermarried with the children of Israel, and they became one covenant people in the eyes of God.

854 Perez son of Judah took to wife Selomit daughter of begat a daughter, Atorah, and he begat Hezron, who took to wife Naamah daughter of Sheson the Anabite. The same Perez led the force that slew the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and killed of them a hundred men. And Perez begat other sons and daughters.

855 Hezron son of Perez begat a daughter, Huldah, and he begat Jerahmeel, who took to wife Janohah daughter of Ahijah. And Hezron begat other sons and daughters.

856 Jarahmeel son of Hezron begat a daughter, Taphath, and he begat Achar. who took to wife Taralah daughter of Asahel. The same Achar became chieftain of the tribe of Benjamin. And the Benjaminites built the cities of Gibeon and Ai, and seized Jericho and Gilgal, and occupied the high country around Beit-El even as far as the river in the East.

857 Israel's son Levi remained in Beit-El and was taught of his father in all the ways of the Abrahamic Covenant, that he might become priest after the passing of his father.

858 Israel dwelt in Beit-El until the end of his days and he begat more sons and daughters. In the nine and ninetieth year of the Covenant he died and was laid in the cave of Machpelah that housed the bones of his ancestors.

859 Israel's third son Joseph begat a daughter named Jerusha, and he begat a son, Machir, who built the town of Socoh after the manner of Beit-El. And Joseph also begat a son, Becher, who led a company to waylay the men of Juttah, and smote their horses and chariots, and slew the Juttahites with a great slaughter. And Joseph begat other sons and daughters besides.

860 A messenger of the B'nei Elohim who gave the name Gabriel came to Levi in Beit-El, commanding him, "Rehearse in my hearing the Ten Words of the Covenant of your fathers."

861 And Levi said, 'Elyon is God Most High. Serve no other gods. Countenance no injustice. Make no images. Crave nothing of another. Do not consume blood. Eat no swine. Eat no shellfish. Every male of you shall be circumcised. Observe the yearly Day of Atonement.'

862 Gabriel said, "You have spoken well, for the same is carved upon this tablet which was made by the hands of Elyon himself." And he set before Levi a black tablet made as it were of stone, with letters carved upon it and embossed with gold.

863 Gabriel said, "Make a chest of wood for the Table of the Covenant and place it therein that it may be carried about to the towns of the children of Israel. When the Day of Atonement is at hand, at sunset, the tablet will sound a blast like that from a ram's horn. You and all the people of Beit-El shall eat no food until atonement with God Most High has been made.

864 Gabriel continued to say, "At sunset on the following day you choose a young bullock of your flock and kill it before the altar, and you shall of the blood of the bullock and put it upon the chest of the Covenant with your finger as a sin offering, and you shall burn all the fat of the bullock on the altar.

865 "Then Elyon himself shall speak to what man of you is chief priest, and give commandment, and the fast shall be ended, for God Most High shall deem the tenth word of the Covenant to be fulfilled." Then Gabriel departed from Beit-El.

866 Levi son of Israel took to wife Adinah of Harran. And the eldest son of Levi was Kohath. In the one hundred seven and twentieth year of the Covenant Levi slept with his fathers and Kohath became high priest unto God Most High.

--

After Paul von Hindenburg, President of the Wiemar Republic of Germany, died in 1934 his powers were rolled up with the existing powers of the Chancellor, Adolph Hitler, making him the absolute ruler of the country. And since Hitler had always had it out for the Jews, things began to go badly for them in Europe. Jews were systematically stripped of their rights on the Continent. They lost their jobs and homes and were moved into work camps that eventually became great factories of human death.

But nothing similar ever happened in Britain. There were even Jews in Parliament. The Margolies family had been royal subjects for many generations. Benjamin Margolies was a meteorologist with a specialty in ‘numerical methods of mesoscale forecasting’. He lived, unfortunately, just before the proper tool for his work, the computer, had been invented.

But Jews were very rare in the United Kingdom, which might have explained why, during the Great Depression, Benjamin Margolies could only find work as a lighthouse keeper at St. Catherine’s Lighthouse on the Isle of Wight, just a few miles off the southern coast of England. Still, Benjamin faithfully served the crown in what capacity he could, even operating a directional transmitter hidden inside the lighthouse which guided bombers on nighttime raids in Germany.

Ultimately he was compelled, without his fully-informed consent, to become part of the disinformation campaign leading up to the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Just prior to the invasion his wife and daughter were abducted by German commandos as surety he would sabotage the raids. His wife Edith never returned to him.

Judith Margolies was an eighteen-year-old survivor of the Holocaust. She did not sleep nights anymore, not even a full year after the War. Instead she stayed wide awake on the back porch of her beach cottage, watching the coast with her war surplus Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifle for Nazis who would never come. She suffered terribly from something 20th Century doctors called shell shock and 21st Century doctors would call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

One instant Judith was scanning the beach below St. Catherine’s lighthouse on the Isle of Wight. The next instant a giant appeared. The manner of the man’s appearance was entirely out of the ordinary, Judith thought. Then again, so was standing watch all night every night. Judith realized it was possible she wasn’t entirely sane.

In the feeble light of the full moon in the west and the hint of dawn in the east the giant’s face seemed too dark to be a Nazi, but he could have applied camouflage to his skin just like the frogmen who whisked her mother and herself to France. Judith wasn’t taking chances, not after what she had suffered, not after what she had seen her mother suffer. She fired a round into the air from fifty yards to get the giant’s attention before he advanced closer.

The strange man loomed higher than anyone she had ever seen, perhaps a full eight feet tall. The man watched Judith draw near with the rifle. At ten yards hy said, “You have no need of that weapon with me. I will offer no threat to you.”

“Who are you?” Judith demanded. “You don’t sound remotely English.”

“My name is Michael,” hy said. “And you are correct, I am not from your country at all. I am from somewhere very far away.”

Judith’s rifle dropped a bit from its sight-line on Michael’s head. It was now aimed at hyz heart. She said, “So what are you doing here? And how did you get here?”

“I am here to speak to you,” Michael said. “As for how I arrived, I could explain it to you, but you would think me entirely balmy, rather than just yourself.”

Judith lowered the rifle to point at the ground between them, and there was the faintest glimmer of a smile. She said, “And what would you, having come from so far away, have to say to me?”

“I would ask whether you would hunt real enemies of Jews throughout the world, rather than ones you imagine might come here.”

Judith unchambered the round and slung the rifle over her back. It was just before dawn, and in the light that was beginning to gather, Michael could take a better look at Judith. The girl had just reached adulthood, but there was an aged look in her hollow eyes, as though she had already lived four lifetimes, and it haunted hym.

Obviously a kind of Darwinian process in the camps had produced a girl who was able to outwit, bribe, or intimidate anyone to get what she needed to survive. Michael saw the results on Judith’s face. He asked, “Do you live here, at the lighthouse?”

Judith shook her head. “We used to live there, but my father was sacked, for reasons that were entirely unfair. After the war he was allowed to resume work at the weather outstation, but we must live here.”

The work camps had emaciated her body, but when she returned home to the Isle of Wight and was fed by her father, the weight came back in the form of strong, wiry muscles. She was eighteen but looked twice that.

“I should like to meet your father,” Michael said.

Judith spat at the ground. “He has sold his life to the Goy and betrayed the promise of God that our people should rule Eretz Yisrael.”

“When you say your people,” Michael said, “I know you are not speaking of the British, Judith Margolies. You are also a member of a people whose very right to exist is always being questioned.”

Judith’s eyes narrowed at Michael. “How do you know my name?”

“I know many things about you, Judith. I know that your father rendered a service to the Crown that went far beyond the sacrifices that any other Britons were asked to make. I know he was used by the government to help deceive Hitler as to exactly where the invasion was going to take place. They planted false information on him. I know you and your mother were taken to camps on the Continent by German special forces. I know they tattooed the number 271828 on your arm and I know that you have come through such suffering and human degradation and evil that few could ever begin to understand the mere periphery of it, let alone sympathize with the core of your ordeal and your memories of it.”

Judith showed Michael the six numbers tattooed to her arm in Ordruf Nord to affirm her assessment was correct. She said, “The Crown owes a very large marker to my father, but he will not cash it in to obtain a small thing, a concession of such little import it could not possibly disconcert the government in the smallest way. The Foreign Secretary refuses to allow Jews to immigrate to the British Mandate in Palestine. Not even Jews who are already British subjects.”

“Oil,” said Michael.

Judith nodded. One word, but it explained everything. The Middle-East was awash in petroleum, but if the Arabs could not be assured that the Jews would never have an independent state there, they would attack the wells owned and operated by the British. So the Balfour Declaration and the Churchill White Paper of a generation ago were torn up for the worthless pieces of paper they always were, and all bets were off in the Holy Land.

She said, “The admiral who deceived my father is dead. My father has resumed his profession and he is willing to let the whole matter go.”

“What would you do if I said I could take you to Palestine this very day?”

“What would I do? Please give me a moment.”

She went into her cottage, and returned ten minutes later carrying a small tote bag with clothing and her personal effects. She also carried her rifle, but now she also had several boxes of .303 caliber cartridges carried on little straps. But she had not taken the time to wake her father and notify him that she was leaving, and Michael knew that as matters stood the girl could not be persuaded to speak to him. Michael also noted, with some satisfaction, that Judith carried in one hand a quantity of unleavened bread. That was the essence of the feast of Passover, to reaffirm the willingness of the children of Israel to respond without delay to the command of their God to depart their place of captivity. Perhaps Judith had an intuition of who she was really dealing with.

The crack of dawn in England instantly changed to early morning in Israel, for they had moved east toward the rising sun. Judith saw the light had shifted, and the terrain as well. The cool beach was gone, replaced by warm desert.

Astonished, Judith looked into Michael’s eyes and asked, “Who are you, really?”

Hy said, “I will never lie to you, Judith, but at this point I think were I to tell you the entire truth you would hold me to be absolutely barmy, as I said earlier. For now, at the very least, I hope that you consider me a teacher and a friend.”

Listening to Michael’s words had an effect that Judith could never put into words. She was silent for many minutes as her body shook with dry weeping.

Soon they were met in the desert by a number of Jewish farmers who lived a few miles inland from the Mediterranean, at a kibbutz founded by Polish immigrants in 1943 named Yad Mordechai. Lilith could see the kibbutz near at hand.

The settlement lay on the coast highway only eight miles north of the city of Gaza and in later years it was only two and a half miles outside of the border of the Gaza Strip. Judith spoke no Polish, nor at that point had she even learned Hebrew, which had been revived from extinction to become the official tongue of the colony. But all she had to do was brandish the tattoo on her forearm, and it was enough for the pioneers. They were already acquainted with Michael and on good terms with hym, but they refused to reveal anything about hym to Judith when she began to ask many questions.

In the weeks and months that followed, Judith began to suspect she had been taken to her new home by an angel of God, perhaps it was even the real Michael, the holy guardian of the children of Israel. That first morning began to seem like a dream. But much fighting lay ahead, and it was much more like a nightmare.

--

867 Zerah son of Judah took to wife Parah daughter of Avim the Janumite. Zerah begat a daughter, Adah, and he begat Zimri, who took to wife Nahaliel dauighter of Holon the Azemite. The same Zerah built the town of Baalath after the manner of Beit-El. And Zerah begat other sons and daughters.

868 Zimri son of Zerah begat a daughter, Michaiah, and he begat Onam, who took to wife Eglah daughter of Gibrah. The same Zimri smote the Canaanites of Metheg-ammah and subdued them, and took the town out of their hands. And Zimri begat other sons and daughters.

869 Onam son of Zimri begat a daughter, Azubah, and he begat Abinadab, who took to wife Maachah daughter of Shion. The same Abinadab became the first chieftain of the tribe of Judah. And the Judahites built the cities of Eglon and Lachish, and seized the cities of Jarmuth and Jebus, but the five strong cities of the Philistines that lay on the coast they could not possess, namely Ashkelon, Gaza, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron.

870 And God Most High gave perpetual ordinances to Kohath the high priest which he declared were binding upon all the children of Israel. Elyon said,"You shall stand idly by when a human life is in danger. You shall not afflict an orphan or a widow. You shall not to wrong a stranger in speech or in buying or selling. You shall not smite your father nor your mother. You shall not curse a priest."

871 And these are the ordinances God declared governing the yearly festivals. Elyon said, "Do no work on the two days of the festival of First Fruits. Do no work on the head of the year, when the Table of the Covenant makes the sound of the horn. Do work on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, neither shall you eat or drink on Yom Kippur. Do no work on the first day of the festival of Weeks, the harvest festival. All the children of Israel are to dwell in booths during the time of the festival of Weeks."

872 Kohath took to wife Beriah daughter of Libni the Shamirite and his eldest son was Amram. In the one hundred eight and fiftieth year of the Covenant Kohath slept with his fathers and Amram became high priest unto God Most High.

873 Joseph son of Israel took to wife Asenath the daughter of the Egyptian priest Potipherah. Joseph begat a daughter, Jerusha, and he begat Machir, who took to wife Kirjah the daughter of Eshtemah the Heperite. And Joseph begat other sons and daughters.

874 Machir son of Joseph begat a daughter, Abigail, and he begat Gilead, who took to wife Mozah daughter of Jair the Elephite. Machir built the town of Beit-Anoth. And he begat other sons and daughters.

875 Gilead son of Machir begat a daughter, Jerioth, and he begat Jeezer who took to wife Ziklag daughter of Shimron. Gilead and a brigade of men fell upon the Canaanite city of Beit-horon and smote three hundred of the defenders in battle. And Gilead begat other sons and daughters.

876 Jeezer son of Gilead begat a daughter, Keziah, and he begat Izhar who took to wife Bethuel daughter of Ashan. The same Ishar became the first chieftain of the tribe of Manesseh. And the Manessehites took possession of the coastlands at Dor. They held Tirzah and Gileed nigh to Mount Gilboa, and all that land from the river north to Megiddo.

877 Amram son of Kohath took to wife Kohath's sister Yochebed, for such close marriages were not yet forbidden by Elyon. Then God Most High gave commandment to Kohath concerning the law of marriages among the children of Israel.

878 Elyon said, "Do not commit incest with your mother. Do not commit incest with your sister. Do not commit incest with your son's daughter nor with your daughter's daughter. Do not to commit incest with your own daughter. Do not commit incest with your father's sister nor with your mother's sister."

879 And Elyon said, "Do not have intercourse with a woman in her menstrual period. Do not to have intercourse with a beast. Do not have intercourse with a woman without a deed of marriage. A newly married husband shall be free from military service for one year to rejoice with his wife. Do not withhold food, clothing or conjugal rights from your wife."

880 Then in the one hundred five and seventieth year of the Covenent Amram slept with his fathers, and his son Aaron became high priest unto God Most High.

881 Becher son of Joseph took to wife Jashiel daughter of Eran the Bashanite. Becher begat a daughter, Abihah, and he begat Shelah, who took to wife Chephirah the daughter of Arod the Shamirite. The same Becher built the town of Ziph after the manner of Beit-El. And Becher begat other sons and daughters.

882 Shelah son of Becher begat a daughter, Ephrath, and he begat Caleb, who took to wife Azem daughter of Hammon. The same Shelah as captain led a large company against Hannathon, and burnt with fire a third of the houses in the midst of the city, and smote a third of the inhabitants with the edge of the sword, and scattered a third of the inhabitants to the wind. And Shelah begat other sons and daughters.

883 Caleb son of Shelah begat a daughter, Peninnah, and he begat Azubab who took to wife Zorah daughter of Zenan. The same Azubab became the first chieftain of the tribe of Ephraim. And the Ephraimites possessed the hills north of Beit-El even to Mount Ebel and Mount Gerizim, and the Hebrew city of Shiloh waxed strong, but they did not lay seige to Shechem when the inhabitants of that city paid five talents in gold as tribute to Azubab.

884 Aaron son of Armam took to wife Elisheba daughter of Amminadab. And God Most High spoke to him from the Table of the Covenant concerning the food laws that would govern the children of Israel.

885 Elyon said, "Do not eat the things that creep upon the Earth. Do not eat the flesh of a beast that died of itself. Do not eat a limb removed from a beast that yet lives. Do not eat the flesh of a beast that is torn. Set the mother bird free when taking the eggs of a nest."

886 And Elyon said, "Do not boil meat with milk. Do not eat tallow or fat. Do not eat the vermin of the Earth. Do not eat fish that lack scales. Do not eat like a glutton nor drink like a drunkard."

887 Then in the one hundred eight and ninetieth year of the Covenant Aaron slept with his fathers, and his son Eleazar becaome high priest unto God Most High.

--

As a consequence of the victory over the Ottoman Turks in the First World War, Great Britain became the master of the whole Middle-East. In the closing days of the War the British Foreign Secretary. A.J. Balfour, declared that ‘His Majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object.’

In 1922 the Churchill White Paper put forth the premise that Jewish immigration to Palestine could continue until such a time as there was a Jewish majority there.

But by 1939 Britain bowed to threats to British oil extraction infrastructure from Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen and reversed this position. This reversal hit at precisely the same time that Jews were being exterminated throughout the growing Third Reich.

After the War, Polish Jews refused to be repatriated to their homes in Europe. Physical attacks on them continued, and several hundred were murdered in the first three months after hostilities ended. Hundreds of thousands of Jews ended up in Displaced Persons camps throughout Europe, where conditions were only marginally better than they had been in the Reich’s death camps.

For the balance of 1945, only eight small ships carrying a thousand Displaced Persons reached Palestine from ports in Italy and Greece. For the first half of 1946, another 10,500 immigrants arrived on eleven ships. Michael took Judith to the kibbutz at Yad Mordechai during this span of time.

From August 1946 to December 1947, 51,700 Displaced Persons tried to make their way to Palestine on thirty-five ships, but were captured by the British and taken to new camps on the island of Cyprus, where they languished behind barbed wire. Many of the armed guards of these camps in Cyprus had liberated some of the very same prisoners from the extermination camp at Belsen-Belson only eighteen months prior, and they were fully aware of this.

During this period, clandestine immigration to Palestine fell to a trickle. The British proposed a plan to divide Palestine, but it was rejected by both Arabs and Jews, and the question was referred to the United Nations.

On August 31, 1947, the UN proposed the creation of two independent states in Palestine, one Arab and one Jewish, with the city of Jerusalem under separate international control to administer the holy places of the world’s three major monotheistic religions. The Jewish side of the partition was to have 500,000 Jews and 400,000 Arabs. The Arab side was to have 700,000 Arabs and 10,000 Jews. Jerusalem was to have about 100,000 of each ethnicity. The Jews would get the blasted wasteland of the Negev desert, and the Arabs would get the fertile upper Galilee region.

The UN thought all these arrangements were entirely fair.

So fair, in fact, that after Israel declared Statehood and the UN realized the Displaced Persons were being handed rifles as soon as they got off the boat at Haifa, another SC resolution was passed to prevent immigration of males from age 17 to 45.

David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency whose authority had been established by the League of Nations, knew the Jews would have to fight even for the lousy territory they had been assigned. He ordered every Jew in Palestine mobilized for war, both men and women alike.

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly accepted the partition proposals by a vote of thirty-three votes to thirteen, with ten abstentions. The Jewish people, who had been homeless since the days of the Roman Empire, were to have their own state again. There was rejoicing in the streets, but they danced while knowing war lay just ahead.

On the day after Partition, a bus carrying Jewish civilians to Jerusalem was attacked by Arabs with rifles and grenades, killing five people, including a young bride named Shoshona Mizrachi Farhi on the way to her wedding The bus attack came to symbolize the beginning of the war for independence, which would claim the lives of 6,000 Jews, or one percent of the total population.

In this period, after Partition but before the official declaration of the state of Israel, the armed forces were called the Haganah (Defense). Great Britain still occupied Palestine, and considered the Haganah an illegal organization. By the fall of 1947 Haganah had two thousand regulars and a thousand reserves.

Armed Bedoin nomads surrounded a number of isolated settlements in the south, including Judith’s collective farm. The Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion swore that not one single settlement would be evacuated. Armored cars produced in Tel Aviv were used to secure the water pipelines that these settlements depended on, and to send weapons and reinforcements through the Bedoin lines.

After a Jewish convoy was attacked en route to reinforcing the kibbutz at Yad Mordechai, and all forty-six soldiers killed, the Haganah developed a plan to occupy those Arab communities that lay close to or directly between Jewish cities and the far-flung settlements. In most cases, the Arabs fled their communities when they were besieged and occupied.

In the case of the town of Dair Yassin where they did not, the Jewish terrorist groups Irgun and the Stern Gang massacred all the Arabs, men, women, and children, to the shock and horror of most Jews, including the leadership of the Haganah. But the Haganah was not yet willing to cut off all ties to Irgun, because they had needed manpower and rifles, and they had the same enemies. In April they even conducted joint operations along the coast while the British accelerated their complete withdrawal from Palestine.

In reprisal for the Deir Yassin massacre in March, a convoy of armored buses was attacked on April 15, and seventy-seven Jewish doctors, nurses, and patients were killed. Only twenty-eight survived, and only eight of these were not wounded. King Abdullah of Transjordan, who was the only real ally of the Jews in the region, offered Jewish autonomy, but only if it remained under his sovereignty.

A Jewish Agency negotiator named Golda Meir was pained to disappoint her good friend the king, but she had to reject his offer. After everything the Jews had suffered, especially in the Shoah (or Holocaust), it was simply not enough to be represented in a foreign parliament.

This led directly to the declaration of the State of Israel on May 15, 1948. Eleven minutes later, the American President Harry S Truman officially recognized the state by cable, before he even knew what the name of the country would be.

At that time the country’s army boasted nearly 37 thousand troops, but 1,200 had already been killed in combat. Britain opened the detention camps on Cyprus and thousands streamed into Israel by ship, many having already been trained in the camps by the Haganah.

On the first full day after Independence was declared, Iraqi troops crossed over the Jordan River. Simultaneously, Israeli troops raided Lebanon to delay their entrance into the war. Syria came down from the Golan heights with thirty tanks and advanced to the sea of Galilee.

Two 65 mm artillery pieces checked the Syrians at the kibbutz known as Deganya, then the guns were rushed south to attack the Iraqis besieging the old British police fort overlooking Gesher on the Jordan River, causing them to flee.

On the second day, Transjordanian and Egyptian troops joined the assault. Saudi Arabia sent a company of troops who fought with Egypt. And Egypt even landed troops on the beach at Majdal between Gaza and Tel Aviv.

The first Egyptian attack was against the kibbutz of Kfar Darom, seven miles south of Gaza, where thirty settlers held off elements of the Muslim Brotherhood with little more than grenades. When their grenades ran out, they put explosives in bags and hurled them at the attackers.

When Egypt rolled in their tanks, the settlers fired their British-made anti-tank weapons at the lead tanks, destroying them, and causing the other tanks to withdraw.

Then Egypt bypassed Kfar Darom and moved to kibbutz Nirim, five miles away. Twenty defenders were killed but they held on. Not even a brutal air attack the next day broke their will.

In January 1948, the first state-sponsored forces from Syria began to make raids. In this instance, the Jews were aided by counter-attacks from the Royal Air Force, as the British remained the rulers of Palestine, at least on paper.

When the Haganah completely abandoned the coastal highway running south from Tel Aviv, Judith’s kibbutz at Yad Mordechai was completely cut off. Only two private aircraft maintained contact between north and south, carrying newspapers and boxes of medical supplies. The pilots of these aircraft were called Mahal, or foreign volunteers. Judith herself was part of the Gahal, or immigrant soldiers. Most of the children in the kibbutz were called sabra. That is, they had been born in Palestine and knew no other home. Judith was their guardian when their parents worked the fields, both before and during the war.

Judith Margolies’ kibbutz lay just west of the road that linked Gaza to the Egyptian beachhead at Majdal. Egypt hurled two infantry battalions, one armored battalion, and an artillery battalion against them one dawn for an attack that lasted five days. It was Judith’s baptism by fire, the battle that forged her into a fierce warrior. She would fight in every one of her country’s conflicts until orthodox Jews prevailed to remove her from the front lines in 1973.

It was Judith’s unwavering belief that the Yishuv, the People, would never be subject to something like the Holocaust again. Never again.

At Yad Mordechai much enemy armor was taken out with the PIAT (Projectile, Infantry, Anti-Tank) mortar. There was a subtle line about a hundred meters out where the soil of the desert made a sudden transition to the soil of the kibbutz. Perhaps it was an artifact of the water table.

Before the battle the kibbutzim already set the elevation of the PIAT to strike this line by firing dummy rounds. Now it was only a matter of rotating the barrel on its iron pivot sunk into the ground to take aim at approaching tanks. When fired each round contained a shaped charge massing one kilogram, designed to penetrate 100mm of armor.

Those tanks which managed to breach the Yad Mordechai perimeter were set alight at close range with Molotov cocktails or attacked with hand grenades whose fragments would enter the tank through the view slit, wounding the crew and forcing them to retire. Other tanks were taken out with buried mines, and still others simply broke down and were dragged out of range by armored cars.

But there were just too many Egyptians, and the shelling never ceased. After five days the settler’s ammunition was spent. Judith and the other uninjured settlers helped carry the wounded through the Egyptian lines under the cover of darkness. Yad Mordechai lay abandoned, and in the morning the Egyptians occupied the place and burned it to the ground.

But during those five days of resistance Tel Aviv was saved from being overrun. The stubborn defense at Yad Mordechai gave Tel Aviv time to bring in reinforcements and firm up the defensive line on the road between the city and Gaza.

On June 11, a truce called by the United Nations went into effect and lasted until July 9. In nearly one month of war Israel had lost 900 soldiers and 300 civilians. Between the first truce and a second one was ten days of fighting.

The IDF captured Nazareth, the home town of Yeshua, which had grown much bigger than the original five hundred souls. The second truce lasted until October 15, and was followed with one solid week of fighting against Egypt.

On the first day of that week Israeli warplanes bombed the Egyptian air base at El Arish on the Mediterranean coastline of Sinai, and cut the railway from El Arish to Rafa.

After the third cease-fire took effect on October 22, Judith and the Polish settlers who had taken her in moved back into the ruins of Yad Mordechai and began to rebuild the town. There would be a sharp bout of renewed fighting in the winter, followed by a fourth and final cease fire, but Judith judged the continued existence of her new nation was no longer in doubt.

-- 888 Heman son of Machir took to wife Tolah daughter of Achar the Kenahite. He begat a daughter, Zemarah, and he begat Eshean who took to wife Neah daughter of Shimei the Zanoahite. The same Heman built the town of Zior after the manner of Beit-El, and he begat other sons and daughters.

889 Jether son of Heman took to wife Idalah daughter of Maaz. He begat a daughter, Reumah, and he begat Abishur, who took to wife Hadesh daughter of Hupham. The same Abishur became the first chieftain of the tribe of Naphtali. And Jether begat other sons and daughters.

890 The Naphtalites overthrew King Jabin at Hazor and siezed the cities of Madon, Shimron, and Achshaph. They occupied all the lands nigh to Mount Merom and took tribute from all the towns north of Lake Chinnereth as far as Kedesh and Leshem. But they were ever assailed by the Amorites from the east.

891 Eleazar the high priest took to wife Jehud daughter of Putiel. And God Most High gave commandment from the Table of the Covenant. Elyon said, "Do not reap your entire field or orchard, but leave unreaped corners for the poor. Do not gather the crop that has fallen to the ground while reaping. Do not muzzle a beast while it is working in the field, that it may eat a share of the harvest. Do not return to take a forgotten sheaf of grain or a forgotten bushel of fruit. Do not gather the imperfect clusters of the vineyard but leave them for the poor."

892 And Elyon said, "A man shall not wear women's clothing, nor shall a woman wear the raiment of men. Do not remove the entire beard, as do the idolators of the surrounding towns. Do not inquire of the dead. Do not consult a wizard. Do not make cuttings in your flesh for grief."

893 Then in the two hundred seven and tenth year of the Covenant Eleazar slept with his fathers, and his son Phinehas became high priest unto God Most High.

894 Ahlai son of Dara begat a daughter, Zeresh, and he begat Shimma, who took to wife Hizpah daughter of Heber.. The same Shimma became the first chieftain of the tribe of Asher. The same Shimma became first chieftain of the tribe of Asher. The Asherites seized the city of Achshaph, which name means sorcery. Shimma named the city anew as Kisson. But that tribe did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko on the coast, and their men of war were turned away from the fenced city of Sidon.

895 Seled son of Zimri took to wife Keilah daughter of Mushi. He begat a daughter, Adah, and he begat Bezaleel, who took to wife Remeth daughter of Remmon. The same Bezaleel became first chieftain of the tribe of Reuben. The Reubenities contended with the Amorite King Shihon of the city of Hesbon for the lands nigh to the Salt Sea under Mount Peor and seized Jahaz and Dibon to the east. To the south lay Ammon, and the western fence was the lands of the tribe of Benjamin.

896 Phinehas took to wife Shema daughter of Adamah. And God Most High gave commandment to Phinehas from the Table of the Covenant. Elyon said, "Do not set up a pillar for worship nor plant a tree for worship. Do not print marks on your body like the idolators. Do not cast spells over serpents and scorpions. Do not practice magic with herbs and colored stones. Do not interpret signs in the sky to portend favorable or unfavorable seasons."

897 And Elyon said, "Do not wrong your neighbor in speech. Do not idly bear tales. Do not bear a grudge or take revenge. Do not curse another Israelite. Do not leave a beast that has fallen beneath its burden unaided."

898 Then in the two hundred four and fourtieth year of the Covenant Phinehas slept with his fathers, and his son Abishua became high priest unto God Most High.

899 Helek son of Gilead took to wife Abez daughter of Jaleel. He begat a daughter, Mahlah, and he begat Oren, who took to wife Zibiah daughter of Ashnah. The same Oren became the first chieftain of the tribe of Zebulun. And Helek begat other sons and daughters.

900 Oren strengthened himself, and led forth his valiant men with their chariots to the valley of Jezreel and smote a thousand of the city of Shimron, and drove off much cattle. And the Zebulunites dwelt in all that land even unto Mount Carmel.

901 Ozem son of Shelah took to wife Hazah daughter of Shupham. He begat a daughter, Rizpah, and he begat Uri, who took to wife Mahalath daughter of Maralah. The same Uri became the first chieftain of the tribe of Simeon. And the Simeonites grazed their flocks nigh to Beersheba even as Father Abraham and Yishak had once done, and built oasis towns in the wilderness south of the hill country, yet their lands were entirely fenced in by the tribe of Judah, and the Simeonites numbered the smallest among all the tribes of the children of Israel.

902 Abishua took to wife Helah daughter of Eliab. And God Most High gave commandment unto Abishua from the Table of the Covenant concerning the perpetual ordinances of the priesthood. Elyon said, "You shall built for the ark of the Covenant a Sanctuary and kindle therein lights. You shall offer up incense twice daily. You shall not extinguish the fire of the altar. You shall remove the ashes of the altar daily. The High Priest shall not enter the Sanctuary with torn raiment."

903 And Elyon said, "The High Priest shall not enter the Sanctuary outside of the Day of Atonement. The Sanctuary shall never remain unwatched. The High Priest shall not defile himself by contact with the dead. No priest shall marry a divorced woman, a widow, or a harlot. Priests shall wear the holy vestments when they offer sacrifice."

904 Then in the two hundred eight and sixtieth year of the Covenan  t Abishua slept with his fathers, and his son Bukki became high pries  t

905 Dara son of Becher took to wife Tappuah daughter of Hosah the Kanahite. He begat a daughter, Zeruiah, and he begat Ahlai, who took to wife Merah daughter of Achzib. The same Dara built the town of Ajalon after the manner of Beit-El. And Dara begat other sons and daughters.

906 Azariah son of Ethan begat a daughter, Hamutal, and he begat Balah, who took to wife Jedidah daughter of Ishi. The same Balah became first chieftain of the tribe of Dan. And the Danites were not able to dislodge the inhabitants of Joppa on the sea, nor Ekron with its many olive oil presses, and they remained camped in tents amid the hills ranging around the vale of the river Sorek.

907 Bukki took to wife Abital daughter of Ashan. And God Most High gave commandment from the table of the Covenant concerning the courts of law among the children of Israel. Elyon said. "Do not testify falsely. A transgressor shall not testify. Do not decide a case on the evidence of a single witness. Do not favor a great man in court. Do not be moved by the poverty of a man in court."

908 And Elyon said, "Do not curse a judge. Do not accept a bribe. Do not punish anyone who has commited an offense under duress. Do not exceed forty stripes when laying on corporal punishment. You shall inter the executed on the day of execution."

909 Then in the two hundred three and ninetieth year of the Covenant Bukki slept with his fathers, and his son Uzzi became high priest unto God Most High.

--

On her collective farm after the War of Independence Judith Margolies immersed herself in honest toil cultivating the fields and garden crops and poultry. At least once a month she helped defend the settlement from gunmen who infiltrated from the nearby Gaza Strip to kill Jews simply for being Jews.

Several times a year these attacks on Yad Mordechai were followed up by fierce IDF reprisal raids. Throughout1950 Judith was frequently mobilized as a sergeant in the IDF reserves to help carry out these counterattacks. The military pay was more steady than she preferred, but it was small and she turned half of it over to the kibbutz out of gratitude for taking her in.

The children of the settlement ate and slept apart from their parents. Judith helped to educate them, even while she herself was learning from a Polish tutor to speak and read Hebrew.

One day during the following year someone who appeared to be a very tall boy of indeterminate race arrived at Yad Mordechai. Che said, “I am named Elin, a servant of one who is known to the people of this farm. Michael would have me speak with Judith Margolies.”

Judith was relieved of teaching her class and brought to one of the empty houses in the kibbutnikiyot section to meet Elin.

She saw how the short-haired newcomer was at least a foot shorter than Michael, yet che was still loomed like a tree over Judith. And being this close to hem, she was entirely unsure if the visitor was male or female. It was Judith’s first encounter with a nephil.

The ambe said, “Peace be with you, Judith Margolies. I am called Elin. I serve the elyon who once spoke to you on a Channel beach and asked if you would hunt real enemies of Jews throughout the world.”

“And it is proof of your sincerity, Elin, that you know exactly what Michael asked me on that early morning.”

“Hy sent me, first of all, to ask if you were well.”

“Apart from my trusty British-made rifle,” Judith began, “I have very little in the way of personal possessions. I own some clothing, I ‘own’ a radio I share with the others in the Women’s House, and I have other such simple things. There are a few tractors and jeeps, but they belong to the whole community. All the profits of the kibbutz are pooled together for the needs of the laborers. I have a little pocket money from my reserve duty. I have good health. In fine, apart from the occasional firefight with the Arabs of Gaza, you may tell Michael I am living in utopia.”

“That is good to hear,” said Elim, “because it clears the way to my next question. Have you heard of a man named Horst Wagner?”

Judith wanted to spit, but caught herself as she realized she was indoors. She said, “What Jew doesn’t curse the name of the German diplomat who was instrumental in the deportation of hundreds of thousands of European Jews to death camps in Poland? I know he was arrested by the allies and testified at the Nuremberg trials as a witness. But what happened to him after that I know very little.”

“Then Judith, allow me to pick up his trail where it runs cold for you. Late in 1947 Wagner was placed in an internment camp for Nazi war criminals called Nuremberg-Langwasser but it was guarded very weakly. He managed to escape to Austria and made contact with what we call a rat line. That’s a clandestine system set up to smuggle Nazis from Europe to South America. Specifically, he availed himself of the Kloster Line run by elements in the Catholic Church. He was hidden in a network of monasteries until a German bishop named Alois Hudal made arrangements for him to obtain an International Red Cross passport. He then made his way to Genoa, Italy. Using Vatican funds he sailed to Argentina to link up with the likes of Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele. We’re going after those last two, eventually, but for right now we’re beautifully set up to get Horst Wagner, and Michael wants you to be part of the extraction.”

“Who else is part of this?”

“There’s a man of the B’nei Elohim named Jashen. He has been working Wagner undercover for two months. Jashen’s a polyglot. He speaks Spanish and German as though he were born to them. Also, he’s a native North American, but he can pass as a native South American. So can I. So can you, Judith, if I squint my eyes. Wagner prefers a very neat home and Jashen has been coming in to tidy things up for him. Along the way they’ve struck up something of a friendship, much to Jashen’s disgust off the record, but he’s very professional about it.

"Recently he got Wagner to agree it’s time for a major field day so that’s where we come in. We’re going in as extra cleaning girls.”

Elin threw a bundle on the dining table and said, “You should change into these. I can step out if you want me to.”

“That depends on whether you’re a bloke or a bird. I still can’t tell which.”

“I’m both, actually, but I can turn around while you disrobe, if you think that will be sufficient.”

Judith nodded. While she was changing she said, “Where do you come in?”

“My code name in the B’nei Elohim is Arc Flash. I’m going to incapacitate the subject so you can deliver him to your government alive and well.”

“Why does Michael want me to be involved?”

“Someone has to make the actual delivery of the package to Mossad HQ. Michael thinks there are multiple advantages all the way around if it’s you.”

In a few more moments Judith was fully dressed as an Argentine housekeeper. “Go ahead and turn around, Elin.”

Che did, and after a quick glance at Judith, the scenery around hem changed from a home in the kibbutz to a back alley in Buenos Aires. They had gone there so no one could see the transition. Judith marvelled at this once more, but she was not stunned to incapacitation by the transition. Michael once used the same trick to whisk her away from England.

Judith followed Elin out of the alley to one of the better-looking houses on that street. There was no need to knock. The door was opened just as they arrived on the portico. Judith assumed it was opened by Jashen, and she noted that he seemed to be of normal height, for once, although he was still somewhat taller than most men she knew.

They followed him inside. Judith saw Wagner standing in his den and tried to suppress her rage. She had picked up enough German in the camps to know he called he was asking “Diego” if these were the housekeepers he spoke of. Immediately after he spoke a miniature bolt of lightning played between Elin and Horst Wagner. He fell to the floor in a dead faint.

Jashen said, “Sit on the floor right next to him, Judith.”

She did as she was instructed. Elin sat the unconscious man up in front of Judith and propped up his knees so together they both had a small profile. Then che said, “I’m sorry about this next part, it will probably disgust you more than Jashen’s undercover work did him, but Judith, you need to hold his knees so he doesn’t spread back out, at least until you get where you’re going.”

While they were gathering Wagner into an even smaller configuration Jashen went through his desk drawers as though he knew exactly what he was looking for and where they were. He threw a small book down at Judith’s side. “There’s his fucking ill-gotten Red Cross passport.” Then he threw down a thick ream of correspondence right next to that. “And your Mossad agency should find that stuff to be very interesting reading indeed. But now, Judith, off you pop back to Israel. I’m glad we met, and I hope we work together again.”

“Wait! Who is Michael?”

The next thing Lilith knew she was still crouching with Wagner on his kitchen floor, but the floor was now just a circle of wood lying in front of the Red House on Yarkon Street in Tel Aviv.

Mossad took delivery of Horst Wagner with all his supplementary documentation, but there were many pointed questions that Judith found impossible to answer. Fortunately for her, such was her new fame, both nationally and internationally, that the intelligence service was severely constrained. When Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion learned of the details, he told Mossad to back off. In his ancillary role as Defense Minister he brevetted Judith to the rank of Segen in the Israeli Defense Force, equivalent to a junior lieutenant.

For the time being, as a brevet officer, she retained the pay of Samal, or Sergeant, from her service in the reserves. But having fallen officially into the clutches of the IDF officer corps she was compelled to undergo her first physical.

In the main Judith was in excellent condition. The doctors noted the ugly mass of keloid whip scars on her back, which limited her movement to a degree. When they noted the six digit tattoo on her forearm they knew how she got the scars.

-- 910 Gibeah son of Perez took to wife Taanath daughter of Janum the Dumahite. He begat a daughter, Sheerah, and he begat Segub, who took to wife Timna daughter of Amad the Ekronite. And Gibeah begat other sons and daughters.

911 Segub son of Gibeah begat a daughter, Naamah, and he begat Jamin, who took to wife Zillah daughter of Ashur. The same Jamin became the first chieftain of the tribe of Gad. The Gadites dwelt along the river Jordan from the Salt Sea north to Lake Chinnereth, and their chief cites were Jazer and Succoth on the River Jabbok. The city of Ramothgilead lay furthest to the east of any possessed by the children of Israel.

912 Ethan son of Zerah took to wife Azeakah daughter of Nethaneelk the Aphekite. He begat a daughter, Hushim, and he begat Azariah, who took to wife Naarah daughter of Ashnah. And Ethan begat other sons and daughters.

913 Chelubai son of Gibeah took to wife Ophni daughter of Hammath. He begat a daughter, Jael, and he begat Raddai who took to wife Maacah daughter of Eliab. The same Raddai became the first chieftain of the tribe of Issachar. And the Issacharites took possession of the roads and fields of the vale Jezreel nigh to Mt Tabor and the Hill of Moreh, yet the feet and chariots of many armies crossed through, and seldom did they know peace.

914 Uzzi took to wife Shua daughter of Ishi. And God Most High gave commandment to Uzzi from the table of the Covenant. Elyon said, "Do not remove landmarks. Do not steal the property of another man. Return lost property. Do not slay an innocent person. Do not crave that which belongs to another."

915 And Elyon said, "Do not postpone paying a hire his due wages. Do not send away a bonded servant emptyhanded when his time of service is fulfilled. Do not compel a Hebrew servant to do the work of a Canaanite slave. Do not swear falsely or violate an oath. Do not suffer a eunuch to marry a daiughter of Israel."

916 Then in the three hundred two and twentieth year of the Covenant Uzzi slept with his fathers, and his son Zerahiah became high priest unto God Most High. Elyon spoke with the high priest on a single day each year under the covenant he had made with Samael.

917 Elyon told Zerahiah on a certain day the Philistines would be swallowed by the Earth, and when the day arrived, the Philistines fell into a sinkhole that appeared under their feet, letting archers quickly slay them to a man.

918 Zerahiah begat Maraioth, who became the first Judge over all the tribes of the children of Israel.3 And Maraioth, by previous arrangement with Elyon, called down divine fire upon a host of Philistines when they assailed the armies of the children of Israel.

919 Maraioth begat Amariah, who became Judge over all Israel even as his father. Elyon reheased in the ears of Amariah the future movements of enemy commanders, and Amariah parceled this out to the chieftains of the tribes. By degrees all of Canaan fell under the sway of the children of Israel.

920 Amariah begat Ahitub, and Elyon commanded him to build a permanent structure to fulfill his original promise to Abraham of making Canaan the permanent home of his descendants. Elyon chose the city of the Jebusites which was newly occupied by David, the chieftain of the tribe of Judah.

921 Ahitub begat Zadok, who became high priest upon the death of his father. In the sixth year of the high priesthood of Zadok the temple in Jebus, or Jerusalem, was completed by Solomon the son of David, and the ark of the Covenant was moved to the permanent Sanctuary there.

922 When Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, did not became Judge over Israel in his turn, Jeroboam son of Nebat of the Ephraimites claimed that he had taken his place, and he had sufficent men under arms to give this claim the force of a decree.

923 Jeroboam built up his capital first at Shechem in the saddle between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, but them moved his court to Penuel east of the Jordan River where Yakob once fought the seraph Israel to a draw.

924 To prevent the people from going down to the new temple in Jerusalem to worship there, Jeroboam set up a golden calf at Beit-El. He told everyone it was God Most High, and the feast days for the golden calf were carefully timed to coincide with the feast days in Jerusalem. But no descendant of Levi attended Jeroboam’s cult as priest.

925 A prophet of God Most High named Iddo came before Jeroboam. He said the image of the calf was a most grievous sin against Elyon. Iddo gave commandment to have the idol torn down lest the House of Jeroboam come to an end and another be made Judge over the children of Israel.

926 Jeroboam grew angry and he ordered Iddo to depart from his presence. Jeroboam did not remove the golden calf at Beit-El. And his hand withered such that Jeroboam held it under concealment for the rest of his days.

927 Then Jeroboam died and his son Nadab ruled as Judge for two years from the city of Samaria. And Azrael of the B’nei Elohim, a servant of God Most High, came before Nadab and gave commandment to do away with the cult of the golden calf at Beit-El, but Nadab turned Azrael away.

928 In his second year as Judge over Israel Nadab prey to a plot among the officers within his own army. He was slain by Captain Baasha of the tribe of Issachar, who made himself Judge and waged war against Judah continually.

929 Yet Baasha persisted in the sin of Jeroboam, and did not remove the image of the golden calf at Beit-El. And the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, said, “The word of God Most High came to me, saying, ‘I will make an end of the House of Baasha, for he has walked in the ways of Jeroboam and made the children of Israel to sin.’”

930 Baasha was succeeded by his son Elah, but Elah drank to excess and he did not tear down the idol of the golden calf at Beit-El. Then Michael of the B’nei Elohim, a servant of God Most High, came before Elah and gave commandment to pull down the golden calf lest his reign be cut short, but Baasha sent Michae away from his presence and persisted in the sin of Jeroboam.

931 Then in the second year of his reign Elah was slain by General Zimri, who commanded half of his charioteers. Zimri destroyed the whole house of Baasha, leaving no male heir alive, and became Judge in Elah's place. Thus the words of Jehu and Michael came to pass.

932 But when news spread that Zimri had set himself up as Judge in Elah's stead, the army proclaimed General Omri as the first king over all the children of Israel, and they marched from Gibbethon to lay siege to Tirzah for a week. Zimri let the palace burn around himself rather than be captured alive.

933 The new king provoked Elyon to anger, for he walked in the ways of Jeroboam and did not remove the golden calf at Beit-El. And Gabriel of the B’nei Elohim came before the king and said, “Behold, God Most High is wroth over the idolatry at Beit-El and looks not with favor upon the House of Omri. Behold, another shall vie for the throne over the children of Israel.”

934 The Israelites of the northern territories outside of the tribes of Ephraim and Manesseh held forth that Tibni was their king rather than this Omri. Civil war raged four years until Omri pulled down the altar at Beit-El, and caused the golden calf to be melted, according to the words of Ithuriel and the prophets who came before him.

935 Then Tibni was slain, and Omri was secure upon the throne After that was a long peace even with Sidon and the Judahites. But King Omri despised the capital city of Tirzah and purchased a hill from Shemer where he built a new capital city for the kingdom. And Samaria became the name of the city and the kingdom after the name of this hill. Samaria became the greatest power that existed between the Nile and Euphrates rivers.