Zerubavel

Daniel [Puts his hand on his forehead and thinks for a while]:

The hours of the murderous Babylonian Empire are numbered; Nebuchadnezzar’s wicked family will soon be eradicated. Koresh, the Persian king will come to our help. He will liberate our captives and ease our troubles, but not only that; he will also redeem us from our exile. When he sees how loyal we are to him, he will let us go to our land. But angels will not come to him in the name of God and say to him, “Let my people go, so they can worship me.” We must awaken him to this idea ourselves, with tact and cleverness.

Zerubavel [With amazement]:

Are you really saying this, great man? Or have my ears stopped hearing correctly? Have you forgotten the words of our holy prophet, Jeremiah, who instructed us to be faithful to our country? We are subjects of the Babylonian Empire; we should not be loyal to Koresh—that would harm our King Belshazzar. I can’t believe my ears! Or have I possibly not understood you correctly?

It seems that you have not read my book. In my book I describe the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar as well as my own two dreams, in which I was shown from heaven that Babel will not stand for long, that it will fall into the hands of the Persians, that the Persian king will take the prominent position of the Babylonian king. Now I will reveal to you another secret: it is exactly seventy years since Nebuchadnezzar became the king of Babylonia. These are the seventy years that our prophet Jeremiah said the Babylonian Empire would rule over the world before Babel is destroyed forever. That time has come. Babel must fall now, this is what God wants, and His word will be carried out in front of our eyes. Babel already fell. Our loyalty will not save the empire from God’s hands—it is already lost. Let us at least do ourselves a favor, especially since we don’t have to do anything that would harm the Babylonians.

Let it be so. But what are we going to do with the masses, the simple folk? They are not going to want to go to the Land of Israel unless there is a miracle, unless something supernatural happens. They will wait until angels come and carry them, in mere moments, from Babel to our holy land, build them houses overnight, and so on.

They will go. We will explain to them that there are two kinds of miracles: natural and supernatural miracles. God performs supernatural miracles only when natural ones don’t work. Our parents, for instance, ate manna in the desert, but when they arrived to the Land of Israel, there was no more manna. God no longer gave them manna because there they could already sow the land. In the desert, where sowing was not possible, God performed a supernatural miracle by giving them manna. But in the Land of Israel there was no need for supernatural miracles; a natural miracle was enough—the miracle of crops growing from sown seeds. Everyone knows that without God’s will no sick person will heal. Nevertheless, when we fall ill, we don’t just sit and wait for God’s miracles but seek a cure, too. And when God helps and the person is restored to health—that is a miracle, but a natural one. Why should we wait for supernatural miracles—for angels to carry us to our Land, that is—when a natural miracle is enough; we should just be allowed to go to the Land of Israel. Why should we wish to find already built houses when there are plenty of stones and many healthy hands to build them?

I don’t think that many Jews will want to go to the Land of Israel. Our Jews lack a feeling of nationhood. That’s why Israel was divided after King Solomon’s death; they waged war with themselves. It’s the same now: they can’t feel how bad things are for us here, how low their status is even among all these lowlifes. Not to mention the wealthy among us, people like Pashhur and his whole party—they will certainly not want to abandon their nice big houses and property for the sake of a land of their own. They are happy anywhere, or at least they think they are happy.

Israel is not dead yet. In the first couple of years several tens of thousands of honest patriots will go to our land; for now we don’t need more. They will build a Jewish center, a Temple, a Grand Court, and this will gradually attract more Jews. If we have just half a million Jews in our land we are already saved. The Persians will not rule the world forever, either. This is the nature of all the eastern peoples—aside from the Jews. As soon as they are strong they become lazy, they give themselves over to pleasures until they are weakened, become powerless, and fall. This was the fate of Assyria, this is happening now to Babel, and the same thing will happen to Persia as well. Persia, too, will fall, and its heirs won’t rule the world for long. And then—oh, I can see that great and happy day of God—then it will be our turn; instead of spilling our blood on behalf of others, waging war with the Chaldeans against the Persians, with the Persians against the Chaldeans and so on, we will spill our blood for our own interests, for our own people. This is what will happen, I can foresee it. It might take a while, but sooner or later the time must come. Have you forgotten the words of our holy prophet, Jeremiah:

[Daniel sits down.]

Amen. If only God will make all of his words come true.

Welcome! Peace unto you, great Persian king!