∞
When Jesus rose the following morning it was still dark, he had awoken much earlier than usual. He reviewed the day gone by in his mind. Thoughts came and went. There were moments in which noticed that he was different than the others. In principle that was not so bad, after all no two souls were alike, yet he felt lonesome nonetheless, as he ad to admit to himself. Not even his mother could take this loneliness from him. She did try to cheer him up and explained to him again and again that he, unlike other children, had a special task to fulfil on this earth that he had to learn to accept. Although Jesus understood this he found it hard to accept. He liked many of the children, especially the girls, for their souls were softer and more open, and they simply liked him the way he was. Just like Joshua, although he had noticed that Joshua’s father had been keeping his son away from him lately.
Yes, it was true, since Joshua had been attacked by the dark creatures he had retreated some. Jesus wanted to change this development. He wanted to take care of Joshua better in future. He had realized that. Now it was getting lighter and he heard the first sounds of the new day. He put on his garment and greeted the new day with an inner gratitude for being alive.
Like every other morning Joshua had gone over to the synagogue with Samuel. That is, he had gone over a few minutes before the other children. His father had already announced that they would speak about cleanliness today. That was the favorite topic of Samuel. Joshua and the other boys were however already sick of hearing about it. But the topics were like an iron law from which there was no escape.
Last of all Simeon arrived, who disliked the topic most out of all of them. After the noise level had gone down and an initial prayer had been spoken, Simeon had to demonstrate his knowledge of Hebrew. He stood up and went to the torah scroll.
“Simeon, start reading already.” After only a few minutes Samuel was already enraged.
“Umm, rabbi, where am I supposed to begin?” Unlike in others situations, in the presence of the rabbi Simeon was obviously quite scared .
“Simeon, I just announced that we would be reading in the scriptures of Moses. Namely the exact passage where you learn which animals you are allowed to eat and which animals God forbids us from eating.”
Simeon read – in very poor Hebrew – of the quadrupeds, then of the animals that dwell in water. What followed next was a passage about birds and insects. Joshua enjoyed the moments when Simeon had to endure the strictness of his father.
“Simeon, that is enough.” The rabbi could not believe how badly Simeon still read. After all he was already eight. Although children were not sent to school as early as here in Nazareth in the other villages, it was up to the local rabbi to decide on what age they were to begin at. Why of why couldn’t the children grasp what a grace it was to learn how to read so early on?
Samuel took a deep breath. “So Simeon, please tell me again which quadrupeds we are allowed to eat.? You just read it aloud. It should be easy fro you to repeat it in your won words.”
“Umm. Uh. Rabbi, I, uh, I had to concentrate so much on reading that I unfortunately don’t know the answer.”
“Fine, then the other way around. Are we permitted to eat camel? Simeon?”
He did not reply.
“Amos?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Why don’t you two pay attention?” Samuel was close to giving up on them. There simply was no use.
“Ismael, you surely know the answer. Are we allowed to eat a camel?”
“No, rabbi. We are not allowed to do that. It says in the scriptures that we are allowed to eat quadrupeds that have completely cloven hooves and are ruminants. And while the camel is a ruminant, its hooves are only partially cloven.”
“Very good Ismael. Which quadrupeds are kosher? Jesus? Do you know?”
“Honourable rabbi, we are allowed to eat the cow, the goat, the sheep, mountain goats and the gazelle.” Jesus was visibly annoyed by the topic, for these strict superficial rules were not his thing at all. But since he felt like pricking the rabbi a little he continued. “We are however not allowed to eat the hip of the animals, since in honor of Jacobs fight with the angel those are to be spared.”
Samuel was astonished once again. Where did that obstructionist get his knowledge from? It seemed as if there was no topic on which he would not be able to give an answer. “Good. If you know so much, then please tell me, which birds are kosher and why we are not allowed to touch them?”
“If that is all you ask, I will gladly oblige.” Jesus was in a good mood and in his element. Today he was enjoying his face-off with the rabbi.
“The eagle, vulture, all kinds of ravens and the falcon are forbidden. Since they are birds of prey, people are afraid that their qualities would be transferred upon them. Rabbi, there are many more birds, but I think that would lead to far afield.”
Now Samuel had had enough. “Yes, Jesus, you know a lot, however I hear a certain tone of irony in your voice. What is the meaning of this?”
“Honourable rabbi, I can answer that if you wish.”
“Then speak and stop purring about here.”
“It is obvious that cleanliness and filthiness are a favorite topic of yours.” The expression on Jesus’ face changed and attentive observers could not fail to realize that he was using words from another world.
“Last week we spoke about hands and feet, which according to the law are impure. Yet I ask myself why feet are supposed to be impure, when they touch the holiest thing that there is, namely the earth? Or how could hands be impure, when it is they who help brothers and sisters with their problems and can treat illnesses? We also spoke about impure people last week. Is it possible at all that humans could be impure? I have respect for the writings of our ancestors, of our fathers and forefathers, yet they were written by people and were told in a time that does not match our own. If a person were starving, and the only thing he could eat were an ostrich that offered itself to him, would it not be in line with the spirit of God to do so? Or ought he to starve to death instead, just because the ostrich is not kosher? Do you believe that that would be what our and your God intended? Would you not save your son and give him meat of the ostrich if you could thereby save his life?” Jesus was finished. The silence that followed was both noble and terrible at once.
“Get out of this holy place. I don’t want to see you here again today. Get lost, you false Messiah.” Samuel was angrier than he had rarely been before. The gall of that lout. How dared he expose him in front of all of the children like that? “Go on, get lost already.”
“Nothing rather than that, honorable rabbi.” Jesus stood up and left the synagogue, gazing deeply into Joshua’s eyes on the way out.
The rest of the lesson went by fairly quickly. Joshua barely even dared to breathe. Nor was as much as a sigh heard from any of the other boys. Samuel continued and told them everything else there was to know about cleanliness and impurity. But Joshua did not register even a single word of it. Finally, the lesson was over.
Samuel threateningly approached Joshua. “Joshua, I want you to forget the words of Jesus as quickly as possible. They were spoken by a demon. Jesus was not himself today. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, father.”
“And I also don’t want you playing with him or speaking with him anymore. Is that clear as well?”
Joshua did not answer this time.
“Is that clear, my son?”
Joshua was very afraid and wanted to go to bed in one piece tonight. So he said yes.
Joshua