The Taba Convention: Prologue and 1st 17 pages (Book now widely available)

Taba Convention Favourite passage - Jordan Kline and the Rabbi of Eilat

   One of my favourite passages from The Taba Convention. Jordan Kline seeks advice from the Chief Rabbi of Eilat, Israel.

 "Shalom," he said, "I need to go back to Eilat before we go to Nof Ha Arava."

            "You must be fucking crazy, Jordan. Are you out of your mind? We cannot go back now, at least not you," he retorted.

            "They will have figured that I am long gone by now and will be looking for the Punto. The last place they will be looking for me is Eilat. Please, I need to get back just for a few minutes." He looked over at Shalom.

            "Okay, call me an idiot. Here we go," he answered, shaking his head.

            Twenty minutes later Jordan guided Shalom through the industrial park and into Eilat the back way. Jordan told him where to park and Jordan got out of the car, instructing Shalom to wait in the darkness, ready to move.

            This was something that Jordan needed to do before they drove to Nof Ha Arava, someone he needed to see. He had thought a lot about the events as they had unfolded so quickly. They had affected him deeply. Beyond the fact that he had become embroiled once more in violence, it was the first time that a Jew had raised a hand against a fellow Jew in this way—if Shalom was right about Alex’s murder. It looked very much like a professional job, one that could easily be the work of the Mossad. It shook his faith for the first time. He needed reassurance. He could not grasp the reality that the four had died and that Israelis might be behind the events, or at least connected. He was a secular Jew. He respected and loved the traditions of his faith and observed the holidays. He did not attend synagogue except when he accompanied Irit on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. He believed rather that it was important to be a good human being, to respect his fellow humans. He respected all faiths and the right to believe in them. It was fundamentalism that perverted the people, the radicals that preached hatred and death. There were extremists of all religions and nationalities, no faith had a monopoly on that. It had been that way down through the centuries and would probably be for many more.

            He believed fervently in the rule of law. The government was elected democratically to act on behalf of all the citizens. You may not agree with some of their decisions, but they were the government. They decided and you followed. The armed forces acted on their decisions, as did all the branches of intelligence. Could it be that someone in the Mossad had taken the law into their own hands and had decided to act against his own government? It certainly seemed that way, and yet Jordan found it hard to believe and grasp the full meaning of his suspicions. That was why he was here to see the Chief Rabbi of Eilat, Yitzhak Carlebach.

            He was standing in front of the Chief Rabbinate building on The Six Day Street named for the war. The Rabbinate was an ugly two-story grey concrete building. The same design flaw could be seen in many other buildings in the town. The windows faced the town rather than the inviting panorama of the bay of Aqaba spread out below. He wondered who had designed all these drab buildings and not taken advantage of showcasing the view. He focused on his visit and thought about the questions that he needed to ask the rabbi. He got out of the car. A stray cat was licking milk from a dirty bowl on the top step. He circumvented it and entered the Rabbinate.

            Rabbi Carlebach saw him as he entered and came over to him. "Jordan, how very nice to see you on a social visit. It makes a pleasant change from your weekly visits to discuss infringements by your chefs cooking on the Sabbath!"

On many Saturdays the cooks had of necessity broken the Kashruth laws and cooked food on the Sabbath. They had done so because they had run out of the food prepared prior to the Sabbat and because they enjoyed playing a game of cat and mouse with the Rabbinate supervisors. On most occasions they had been caught, resulting in Jordan being called to the Rabbinate on Sunday to apologize and beg that the Kashruth certificate not be revoked. It was a ritual that many managers went through on a weekly basis. Rabbi Carlebach took these infringements good-heartedly.