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prophets, will you now slay my husband and sons?

J ERUSALEM 70 A.D.

    CHAPTER 2
    “Ethan? What’s the trouble?” Eleazar shouts, rushing to where I stand gazing down upon the body of a lifeless child.
    “I never thought it would come to this,” I say. Near the small crumpled form lies a woman, the child’s mother by the looks of their matching tunics. The woman’s face is caked with blood; so is her seamless garment of dyed purple. Her neck is badly bruised, and amid the bruises are numerous cuts. I’ve seen this before, on other dead bodies of the wealthy, bodies where jewelry had been ripped off necks or arms. What I haven’t seen is this happening in the
Temple
. “Have we sunk so low?”
    Eleazar ben Simon watches as I stoop and close the little girl’s eyelids. “Did you think it would come without cost? Our freedom from Rome?” He stands to the side as though not wanting his garments to touch the dead bodies and make him unclean. It’s out of habit, I think, for neither of us has been ritually clean for a very long time.
    “Is this how we win freedom? By robbing and killing women and children? And in the Court of Women?
The Court of Women!
” I point to the Corinthian brass gate, so glorious in scope and detail, the gate named Beautiful. “There was a time when a worshiper could pass through that and be safe. Have we become barbarians?”
    “Surely the days are evil,” Eleazar says, tugging at his beard. He’s a strange sight in his white priestly robe and battered leather cuirass, and with a sword belted to his waist. “Men’s hearts have turned to stone.Can we neglect the Law of Moses and it be otherwise? It’s not only Romans we must fight, but wickedness among our own people.”
    “I’m weary of this bloodletting.” I brush my fingertips lightly across the child’s cheek. I’ve been fighting at Eleazar’s side for four years. Together, we have driven the corrupt priests from the Temple. Priests who enriched themselves by stealing the tithes. Priests who performed daily sacrifices for the Roman Emperor and allowed Roman soldiers to expose themselves in the Temple courts. And then we replaced those corrupt priests by the casting of lots.
    “We’re all weary, but we must see it through. There’s still much to do. As we have restored holiness to the Temple, so we will restore it to Jerusalem,” Eleazar says.
    “
Holiness
?” My arm sweeps over the two lifeless bodies. “Is this holiness?” Then gesturing beyond the Temple walls, I add, “And how will Jerusalem be restored? The city has been cut into threes with each warring faction surrounding its territory like a girdle around a bloated belly. And in those bellies people are murdered for gain. For filthy lucre, Jews kill Jews. Where is the holiness in that? Surely, this grieves the heart of God.”
    “Not all. Not all are killing for gain. There is still the righteous remnant. Like always,
Hashem
has preserved the faithful.” Eleazar rests his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Many rightly administer His judgment. Those who are called to it, must obey. Didn’t Moses, at God’s command, order the sons of Levi to slay those who repented not their worship of the golden calf? And didn’t three thousand fall in the camp of Israel that day? Slain by the sword? We, too, will cleanse Jerusalem with the sword.”
    I peer again at the pale, wax-like face of the little girl. Was Eleazar right? Was Jerusalem to be purged by the sword? Was Jew to slaughter Jew? Or . . . was Rebekah right? Had God abandoned His Holy City? Was this slaughter just a sign of His curse upon us?
    When I glance up, Eleazar is already walking away. His white robe flaps around him as he shuffles stooped-shouldered. He’s nearlyswallowed by the throng of incoming worshipers now streaming past me.
The faithful remnant
? If they are, they’re a sorry lot, tattered and dirty. Some carry small wicker cages with a pigeon or turtledove inside. Others carry small