The Kabbalistic Murder Code: Mystery & International Conspiracies (Historical Crime Thriller Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the saying: “Lord of the Universe, do not help us, but also do not hinder us.”
                  To aid the Roman forces, Hadrian summoned the heroic Julius Severus from Britain. Severus was wise enough not to confront the Jews face to face. Instead, he cut off their supply lines and captured one after another of their fortifications, and advanced slowly, step by step. Hadrian and Severus amassed a mighty army in Judea, consisting of thirteen legions, a force unparalleled in size at that time. Severus believed that the civilian population, with its women, children, and elderly would be unable to hold out for any length of time against a trained army. And he was right. After three years of fierce battles, the Roman army defeated the army of Bar Kokhba. Betar, the last center of the Jews, was annihilated, and with it most of the Jewish settlements in Judea.
                  Many Roman soldiers were killed in the battles. In fact, the losses were so great that, in writing to the Roman Senate, Hadrian omitted the customary salutation, “If you and your children are well, we are pleased. I and the army are well.” Nevertheless, the losses suffered by the Romans paled into insignificance when compared with the destruction and devastation in Judea. No fewer than a thousand Jewish settlements were destroyed and 600,000 people were killed in the battles and attacks. To this, we may add the numbers - which we will never know - of those who died of starvation, plague, fire, etc. So many Jews were sold into slavery that the price of a slave in the Land of Israel dropped to that of a portion horse fodder.
                  The results of the revolt were felt for many years to come. Jerusalem was wiped out and was replaced by a Roman city, Aelia Capitolina, in honor of Emperor Hadrian (Aelius Hadrianus). Jews were forbidden to enter the city, a law that remained in force almost until the Moslem conquest of the city. Judea was ravaged. Those few Jews who remained either moved to the Galilee in the north, or left the region altogether. There was a mass migration to the land across the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and Babylon ultimately became the spiritual center of the Jews.

              All the way home, Elijah rehearsed, to the minutest detail, what he would say to Orna to explain what had happened to him. Both he and Orna had doctorates, except that Orna was a world-famous ophthalmologist, while his doctorate was in the field of medieval Hebrew lettering. If anyone called and asked for “the doctor”, there was no doubt as to whom the call was for. That night, though, he would demand equality! He would not tell her immediately about what he had accomplished. He would let her stew for a while, allow her to vent her accumulated bile. After all, because he had not picked up the girls, the nursery school teacher had been obliged to summon Orna from her hospital rounds. Indeed, by the time she had brought them home it was no longer worth her while to return to the hospital, so she was effectively stuck at home for the rest of the day. He would let her continue with her standard litany on how much longer would he continue to agree to work for the measly salary they paid him? And how much longer did he intend to fawn on Landau? He would listen to her patiently and after she finished, he would tell her everything that had happened to him that day, ending with the words: “From this day on, a meeting with me costs $750.”
                  However, Orna had not even showered yet, as their daughter Michali had suddenly developed a high fever. And Elijah felt a sudden urge to refresh his knowledge on the Bar Kokhba revolt, which Norman had talked about in such detail as if he were describing the latest suicide bombing. Elijah did not remember all the details regarding Hadrian, against whom the revolt had been waged and felt a special need to investigate the shape of Hebrew letters at