Guardian Press, Distributed by Feldheim, 624 pages
Reviewed by Sheindel Weinbach
It was a case of kinas sofrim. Not the legitimate
kind.
While I am technically Yated's Family editor,
responsible for incorporating book reviews into this section
of the paper, I just couldn't help gazumping this
review for myself. It wasn't all my fault, either. How could
I resist? I present my case for the readers to judge
(favorably...).
The handsome, 624 page book with its intriguing title was
delivered to me, to be passed on to our Book Reviewer, Judith
Weil. The bottom third of the black-and-white slipjacket
presented Jerusalem in photorealism, with two thirds showing
a stormy sky through which a beam of real light was filtering
slantwise through a black cloud with a silver lining. The
size of the book immediately told me that this was no
lightweight literature. It was larger and certainly heftier
than most books. More like a reference work. But it is
more...
Then I opened this treasury of Jerusalem to its Table of
Contents. Was anyone endorsing such a comprehensive work?
Indeed, it had a foreword by R' Nachman Bulman, who testifies
that "to many, who are pained by the `secularization' of the
Holy City and the lack of eloquent voices in English to sing
its real song, Rosoff's work will be a balm..."
Reading the chapter headings alone put history into
chronological perspective and beckoned one to immerse himself
into the text. From Turks to terrorists, from Saladin, the
Crusaders and lehavdil, the Baalei Tosafos, the
Ramban, Rabbenu Ovadya of Bartenura. On to the Ari, R' Yaakov
Berav and the attempt at reinstating semicha
ordination as it had been originally transmitted from Moshe
Rabbenu onward. Then there are the modern day heroes, like
Yossele (Weisberg) the Mohel, who defied flying shells and
performed circumcisions during the Six Day War and many
dozens in between.
The footnote sources for each chapter, for the more serious
reader, precede the "Bygone Days" section with its stories
and folklore, also documented, that give a different
authentic flavor to each period. These are the miracle
stories that have been handed down through the ages and are a
very real part of the heritage of Jerusalem, a city of
miraculous destiny.
"Where Heaven Touches Earth" is a book you can't resist
flipping through before you settle down to real reading,
stopping to savor the flavor, to gaze at its pictures, to
clarify a remembered fact or name. And yet, it is a book you
cannot read consecutively, since there is so much that
appeals and beckons. And so, one thing leads to another, one
picture to another, and you find yourself enthralled by the
photos and reproductions, many familiar, many new, all
fascinating, its informative charts, maps... And, of course,
the stories.
Who can resist Jerusalem, I ask you? Certainly not I, who has
lived here for close to thirty-five years, and who has been
translating works on Jerusalem for almost that long,
including the five volume classic, "The Heavenly City." And
so, I continue to present my case of preemption.
It is an accepted custom that a book reviewer gets to keep
the book. Need I say more? And this, as Judith Weil would
have admitted herself, was a book to have, to keep, to own,
not just to read. It needs absorption. It is a book one would
keep on coming back to, like an old friend, to reread, to
bone up on certain periods, to point out to others, like
family and friends, and use as a reference. As a friend and
companion in the yearly cycle of those special fast days that
highlight Jerusalem.
As a Three Week Reader. And much more. As a possession, to
give the illusion of gaining a griphold on the elusive magic
of Jerusalem.
The book answers many questions that lurk in the back of the
minds of anyone living here. The Ashkenazi-Sefardi balance,
the Jewish presence throughout the centuries, survival,
conditions and the remarkable element of very specific Divine
Providence that has enveloped this vortex of the world, where
all eyes, Divine and mortal, are focused and have been, ever
since Avrohom Ovinu and before! That very Divine Providence
which we undeniably experience ourselves, living here.
This is the first comprehensive work on Jerusalem written by
a chareidi, and as such, presents the proper
perspective on many issues that have been distorted over the
ages by secular historians. We receive an insight on
chaluka, the stipend that enabled the population to
survive, albeit at the bare survival level, and devote itself
to Torah study. We experience Divine intervention, more than
vicariously, as various tyrants attempt to quash the Yishuv,
only to be thwarted time and again in the last moment. We get
the correct view on Zionism and secularism, and their threat
to the Yishuv, and the champions of the faith that fought
against them, tooth and nail, blow by literal blow.
Familiar figures march through the book, only to become
familiar friends or objects of awesome admiration. There is
Sir Moses Montefiore, who, to the age of one hundred remained
fully lucid. "Until the very end, he kept asking Dr. Loewe
[his personal secretary], `Is there something else I need to
do? Perhaps my signature is needed on some charitable
document. Give it to me and I shall sign it...'"
We tremble in awe before the giants of Torah leadership who
never flinched in their duty, those angels who manned the
barricades with the thundrous cry echoing through the ages of
"Who is unto Hashem, rally unto me!" The Maharil Diskin;
Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem, R' Meir Auerbach; R' Yosef Chaim
Sonnenfeld, to name the more familiar ones.
With everything properly documented by source, even the folk
tales, I was surprised at one particular omission. True to my
duty as a reviewer, it is accepted to register some
criticism, especially in a such a rave review as this one.
Mine is directed to the famous story of the Tiferes Yisroel
synagogue, whose completion was stalled for years due to lack
of funds. It was during the visit of Austrian Kaiser Franz
Yosef that its builder, R' Nisson Beck, was said to have
explained to the emperor why the roof was missing. In his
charming manner, he said, "The synagogue doffed its
kipa [dome] in honor of His Majesty." The emperor took
the hint, and himself gave the money to complete the
building. This clever repartee is missing in the book, which
substitutes with a banal remark.
For the feminists in our midst, there is the story of R'
Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld ordering shops closed for the funeral
of a righteous woman.
I have only touched briefly upon its variety and wealth, but
I must rest my case, leaving it up to the public to judge if
I was justified in gazumping this review -- and the book --
for myself...
