Kiriat Shemona had no ruins like Hatsor and no holy tombs like Meyron, but it had the fort of Tel Hi. In the late forties and early 50’s, Kiriat Shemona was one of the hundreds of villages and towns, which sprung across the Land of Israel like Spring weeds, growing in most unlikely places. Its main street, Tel Hi Boulevard, came down from the fort of Tel Hi, about one thousand meters above, and ended another thousand meters below, a short walk past the Jewish National Fund nursery.

Our apartment perched on the Eastern side of the Mountain of Naftali, below Tel Hi, sat about fifty meters above the Hula Valley, which some time before I was born, was a swamp.

I lived with my mother, who, before I came into being, became known as Miriam the librarian. My mother came to Palestine from Morocco, before the independence of Israel. The year was 1948. She was barely three years old.

My grandmother, Esther, lived in the Moshava, North East below Tel Hi Boulevard. Her small semi-detached dwelling sat in a small plot among black round stones, vestiges of an age, when the earth shook and the land spit fire. Her plot was intended for farming, but the Labor government, which controlled every move in town, had changed its plans.

Grandma Esther walked the fifteen minutes that separated our houses, at least twice a day. In the morning, her walk was brisk and her route hardly deviated from the imaginary straight line that linked her house to ours. She came to take charge of me while mother went to work. But in the evening, her life wore a different pace, for she strolled away, leisurely, taking much more than the time required for such a walk. Along the way, people greeted her with a touch of reverence, to which she responded with demonstrations of affection known only in a world that exists no more. It was a ritual during which love was exchanged between friends in public, without any shame at all.

My grandfather, Jose, one of the many mayors who ruled the town, quit his coveted post suddenly, as if to adopt a strange habit, that is, disappearing for months without any satisfactory explanation, at least to me, when I was a child. When he resurrected in town, his appearance changed and he no longer spent his time taking care of other people’s business but devoted most of it among us, caring for my grandmother, my mother and me.

While growing up, I knew that ‘in the spring of the year 1948, grandpa was one of the early birds who deserted his old home in the Maghreb to build a new one in the Land of Israel!’ Much later, when I grew up, I discovered that he was involved with immigration. He, I was told, brought perhaps 18,000 Olim from Morocco in 1948 and 1949, and more than 300,000 in the 30 years thereafter, but I did not hear him take credit for it.

Upon grandpa Jose’s disappearance, we received his letters via an address in France, reassuring us, that the sun shone on the Land of Maghreb and that its climate remained benign.

Around that time, the postman brought also letters from Canada, from Michael Levy, an old friend who left Israel, also suddenly, although a promising career was ahead of him. His letters were addressed to Miriam Kesus, my mother. Kesus was my mother’s maiden name, before she became Ben Moshe.

My mother, Michael Levy and I had one thing in common, we spent a good portion of our childhood at ‘Yeshiva Ha Levy,’ a school which did not require head cover and where scholastic demands were light enough not to spoil our day dreaming, the secret of our happy childhood.

In my dreams, I tried to imagine what my father was like and sometimes, an image of him appeared before me, making me think that he was Michael Levy. But, in one room in our home, old pictures told another story, my father was real, he had a Brith Milah, a Bar Mitzvah and a Hupa. But, my father was absent and his absence made him legendary, especially because of the void he left in our life.

I heard many tales about my father and there were several versions to each, my mother’s and my grandma’s. And when men resurrected in our midst, my grandpa’s Jose and my surrogate father’s Michael, added their own accounts.

Ladders to Heaven
Marc Eliany © All Rights Reserved

“Thousands of years passed. The time of hunting had passed and farmers began tilling the land. Artisans were born and merchants exchanged the bounty produced on the face of the earth. And earth, after many years of darkness, became a pleasant place to live again.

Most cannot remember what really happened, for every one knows only that which they experienced. And the sages who remembered said:

‘The spirit of a legend is not in a story
But in the freedom to see
The essence of nature in eternity!’

Ever since, all that was born claimed no longer that it came first or that it created all, only that it is a tiny portion of the whole. And the sages multiplied to hold ladders for people to climb the heavens. And ever since, pilgrims sing:

Bless the brave
Who climb to heaven,
Insight is their garland.
Bliss – their realm.

And all that was created roam the world. And people eat from the fruit of knowledge everywhere.

The tale of Lilith and the Jnun
Marc Eliany © All Rights Reserved

“In the beginning,” my mother told me, “Creation came into being and everything was born within It. And Creation said, ‘It’ and no other, created all. And those who were born after ‘It’, rebelled and said: they were the beginning of everything!

And ever since, many sages have come and gone. And each has said:

‘Come with me
To heaven,
To the place
Where
The Creator of all
Resides.’

But all that was created was afraid to fly. And Creation became the king of all and everybody else became Its slaves. And Justice deserted the world. And Creation fell from heaven to earth. And eternity existed no more.

And ever since, a sage was born in every generation. And the sage lived a perfect life, showing others the way to complete creation. But, Lilith, summoned a serpent and turned it into an object of great desire. But the sages did not sway from their path.
And the serpent called upon darkness to hide its shame. And the darkness lasted many days. And a ferocious wind came thereafter, sweeping every tree, every hill and every shelter where mankind hid its desire. And the wind blew away the best of soils. And sand covered much of the land. And rain, rather than feed earth, turned into ice in far seas!

And when the sages ached for the desolation, they summoned Mercy to reign on earth. And ever since, rainfalls refresh the land for the livings to rejoice. And children grow tall and their beauty surpasses all that was created before.

Ever since, Lilith and the jnun live in the underworld. And when light shines upon the earth, darkness retreats into its depth. And everyone remembers that the reward of peaceful life is in good deeds.”

Solomon’s Lesson in Humility
Marc Eliany © All Rights Reserved.

During David’s reign, a man sent his son on business to Ifrikia. The son took the road each day with dawn while resting always upon sundown, until his arrival to Aghamat, on the outskirts of Marrakech.

When the young man concluded his affairs and took the road back to Jerusalem, any river he came to cross swelled. The youngster delayed his crossing each time until the water subsided. One day, a caravan crossed a powerful stream he would not negotiate and drowned. The young man crossed the river when the torrent subsided, gathering maggots of gold and strings of pearls he found along his path.

It was a time when a trip from Jerusalem to Ifrikia took a long time and much happened in between and when the young man arrived home, he found that his father had died and that one of his slaves appropriated his wealth as if he was the sole heir. The young man mourned his father, making no attempt to re-appropriate his inheritance.

One day, Solomon, King David’s son, heard the tale of the young man and decided to render justice and unravel the truth. Solomon exhumed the old man’s corpse and dyed one of the bones with the blood of the alleged heirs. The blood of the true heir permeated the bone and thus he secured his inheritance. This is to teach us that wisdom was widespread in ancient times, way before the invention of modern sciences and before the knowledge of the DNA spread.

When Solomon became king, his possessions grew beyond the prescribed in heaven and earth. And the wise in the land pleaded with him to reduce the burden he placed on the Israelites and angels warned him of a pending lesson in humility if he did not mend his ways. But Solomon remained unmindful of all injunctions and an edict came down from Heaven to banish him to live a life of a beggar in far away lands.

Hungry and deprived, Solomon wandered from land to land until he arrived to Aghamat, which was the edge of the world in ancient times. Solomon told anyone who cared that he was the son of David, the mighty king of the Israelites but even the priests of Aghamat who knew his countenance in Jerusalem, could not recognize him, causing him much despair.

One day the heir to whom Solomon restored the inheritance returned to Aghamat on business and as usual, he held a banquet for rich and poor alike before returning to Jerusalem. Solomon, who stood among the poor, was called to pronounce the blessing on the bread and as soon as he opened his mouth, the heir recognized the king and kneeled before his grace to the bewilderment of every one present.

Solomon journeyed about three years before this incident but once he was recognized, the gates of Heaven opened and in a twinkling of an eye, the Merciful transported him back to Jerusalem. And when Solomon vowed to rid himself of his possessions and live in humility, befitting a monarch in Israel, he was anointed king again. Ever since, it has been a tradition in the Maghreb for the wise to live in great modesty.

Adam and Eve and Creation
Marc Eliany © All Rights Reserved

‘By design’ grandpa Yacov told me ‘when Adam and Eve were born, they found the world as we know it already made and the Temple was the first image that appeared in the pupil of their eyes, for Jerusalem was destined from the start to be the center of the world, like an iris in a land surrounded by oceans.

Adam and Eve and their descendents resemble angels in many ways but in one way they differ from them. Adam and Eve were born with the ability to complete Creation. Ever since, when the children of Adam and Eve do good, the seraphim sing their praise but when they deviate from the path of creation, the angel of death descends to earth and collects their souls so they cannot be born again. And so in death, angels who envy Adam and Eve are appeased.

Of all the angels in heaven, only Raphael favored the creation of Adam and Eve. Ever since, when the children of Adam and Eve are busy with the task of creation, angels in the guise of men and women mingle with them, for although they can take any other form to perform duties assigned to them by the Almighty, they prefer our form and appearance. But in the firmament, between earth and heaven, the angels change into wind and in heaven – they turn into fire, surrounding the Throne on all sides.

When great-grandpa Avraham died, archangel Gabriel collected his soul in person and when your father joined him, archangel Michael accompanied him and Raphael led the seraphim in singing their praise in heaven. Raphael is the Angel of Healing. He is the one who delivered you wise and in good health, an offering to your mother after your father’s departure.’

The tale of Big Bird Ziz
Marc Eliany © All Rights reserved

Grandpa Yacov was named after Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. The three were the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel and we were their direct descendents. Jacob the patriarch was grandpa’s best friend and by extension, the greatest of my pals. In Jacob’s tales, grandpa Yacov made trees sing, mountains dance and the hardest of stones soften to be a pillow under Jacob’s head. Those were the days when nature had conscience, knowing exactly how to satisfy our patriarchs’ desires. It was a time when our predecessors were mightier than Greek Gods and Jacob, alone, had the power to tame rebellious angels, causing trouble to our Eternal in heaven.

Rebellious angels were responsible for every ill in grandpa’s tales. When terrorists knocked on our doors on Yehuda Halevi Street in Kiriat Shemona, grandpa Yacov blamed them, ‘because in the beginning, when human beings assisted God in bringing about Creation, devious angels taught men war. And although many years passed, the children of men did not learn how to overcome the angels evil design and till our days we remain subject to spilled blood and violent deeds.’ Grandpa’s tales stimulated my imagination. They recalled a time when even God had to reckon with the evil that threatened the best of Its intentions. God in grandpa’s tales was infinite wisdom and we had to walk in Its footsteps and if we did, Heaven would inhabit earth and we would live in peace forever after.

‘In the beginning,’ grandpa Yacov told me ‘before heaven and earth were created, God wrote the Torah with black on white fire and when the Torah came into being, it said: ‘Oh, Lord, what use is there for me without men and how glorious can the Lord be without Creation?’ And God saw that the Torah was wise and created the world again.

‘God created many worlds before’ grandpa said ‘but all prior creations were destroyed because humans sinned. And God realized that the world could not exist on justice alone, and created mercy to rule at its side and repentance for men to mend their ways and Paradise and Hell for rewards and punishment and a Messiah to bring salvation at the end of days. All this happened on New Year’s Day, which is a time of judgment and absolution.’

‘Ever since, Heaven watches earth from above and from time to time, the Divine shows Its presence on earth, to restrain the appetite of the powerful for the weak escape the strong. And since an ancient time, God appears on earth every fall in the form of the Great Bird Ziz, flapping wings and sounding cries, making birds of prey know that if they annihilate smaller birds, Ziz would bring an end to them. And so goodness rule on earth and the angel of Mercy encircles it and till this day, the river Ziz flows in the Dra’ Valley and Great Bird dips Its ankles in it and Its head reaches high into the heavens.

Magic Cures and National Fame
El Hi Ani © All Rights Reserved

Before French doctors brought us modern medicine, men and women had ancient cures for every ill in Morocco. It was a time when Seha was not a doctor but a very poor man in a very remote village in the Atlas Mountains. Poverty was not a problem because people knew how to live a simple life then. Yet Seha had a major problem. He had many daughters and the village became too small to find them all the right husbands.

Seha invested his savings in fancy cloths, moved to Marrakech and told everyone he met he was a doctor of great fame. Soon people called upon him to cure every ill. He treated all his patients with great respect but gave them all the same medicine: sugar pills and enema. His basic assumption was that if his treatment does not help, it would not cause any harm either.

One day Seha was called upon to cure an aging sheik. But as soon as Seha prescribed sugar pills and enema, the sheik burst laughing. He remembered the formula for success he gave Seha years before and felt better.