THE DAY: A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series) by John Price Page B

Shlomo Ben-Yosef who died at the age of 25
in 1938. He was the first Jewish resident of the British mandate area executed
by the British. Ben-Yosef led an attack on an Arab bus in retaliation for the
killing of six Jews by Arab militants. When his death verdict was announced,
two months after the attack, Shlomo Ben-Yosef stood
and shouted, "Long live the Kingdom
of Israel on both banks of the Jordan".
                   The
Rabbi selected the Old Cemetery not only for its notable history, but also
because it was the same cemetery where he had some years before performed a Pulsa Dinura curse. He called
then for a curse on the Prime Minister of Israel who gave away Gaza, leading to
the forced eviction of ten thousand Jewish settlers from 21 communities, many
of whom had lived in Gaza for decades. The Pulsa Dinura curse was performed by twenty bearded, married
Jewish residents over the age of 40 and under a rabbinical order for the curse.
Four months after the Rabbi called in the curse for angels of destruction to
come against the Prime Minister, Israel’s leader lapsed into a vegetative
coma, dying several years later. In the years following the Rabbi’s call
for the curse and the PM’s stroke, the Rabbi frequently referred to the Pulsa Diura curse as the
underlying cause of the Prime Minister’s stroke and eventual death. He
also noted that the hurricane which became America’s costliest natural
disaster slammed into the southern U.S. during the last two days of the forced
evacuation of Jewish residents of Gaza, which started on August 16 th and ended on the 30 th . The Rabbi suggested to anyone who would
listen that when America pushed Israel to force the Jewish residents out of
their Gaza homes that God then allowed a hurricane to push Americans out of
their homes.
                   On
this day of great danger and turmoil in Israel, the Rabbi gathered the same
group of bearded, married Jewish residents who had earlier assembled near the
grave of Shlomo Ben-Yosef for the first Pulsa Diura curse. Each was
dressed in black, with the exception of the Rabbi who was dressed in white.
Prior to their meeting, a question had been raised by one who participated in
the first curse as to whether the second curse which the Rabbi was proposing
was in keeping with rules for the kabbalistic ceremony. The Rabbi had let it be known that the new curse would be upon
America for failing to keep its word to come to Israel’s defense if
Israel were to ever come under attack. Under halacha , traditional Jewish law, the ceremony was to
be against people who are Jewish. The Rabbi, after studying halacha and consulting with other scholars, concluded
that such a curse would be appropriate, given the fact that America had many
Jewish residents, several of prominence being in the U. S. government at high
levels.
                   The
invokers of the curse walked solemnly into the Old Cemetery just before dusk,
the sun just finishing its job for the day as it lit the dust and pollen motes
circulating in the air. They said nothing as they made their way to the sacred
burial site of Ben-Yosef, revered by many in Israel as a young man willing to give
his life for the formation of the State of Israel. They stood around the burial
site, their hands clasped and their eyes either closed or filled with tears.
The Rabbi prayed, then briefly reviewed the
unforgiveable crime of America, that the world’s most powerful nation had
given its solemn, written commitment to Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of
Israel on March 26, 1979. To induce the signing of the Camp David Peace Accord,
America, through its President, gave its promise to come to Israel’s defense
were it to be militarily attacked.
                   The
Rabbi recited the facts of the current invasion of Israel from the north. He
reminded everyone present, though they were all quite well aware of the facts,
that America’s promise was being breached by