THE BOOK FAIR

Review:

Marek Halter loosely based his fictitious novel, “Lilah”, on the biblical event of the Jewish people’s exodus from Persia and the return to Jerusalem.  The story centers on brother and sister, Ezra and Lilah, and Antinoes, their Persian friend.

Ezra, schooled in Torah, is called upon to lead the Jews out of Persia, and is determined to rebuild Jerusalem.  Ezra laments that Nehemiah failed to rebuild the Temple, one hundred years before.  Believing it in the King’s interest to keep the Egyptians and Greeks out of his empire, Ezra successfully pleads the case for the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem.  Ezra is awarded his effort with provisions for the long journey.  Lilah leaves Persia heartbroken as Ezra refuses her request for marriage to Antinoes, a non-Jew. 

Upon arrival to Jerusalem, the people behold the disaster visited upon their city, and wail.  Conflicts arise:   Some demand to immediately rebuild the Temple, others demand sturdy shelters.  The Ammonites pay a visit and threaten the city.  The Jews build sturdy shelters.  Soon after, the city is attacked and burned by savage hoards; the Jews again, rebuild. 

After a period of time, Ezra makes a monumental decision and , Ezra instructs that every man woman and child must be taught to read the Books of Moses, so the laws live within the people, not only in the Temple.  As many pagans assimilate into Jerusalem, and mix-marriage is high, Ezra announces a decree that only Jews may live in Jerusalem, a law offensive to Lilah.

 

Note:

In 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, destroyed Jerusalem, and exiled the Jews of Israel to Babylon.   After a fifty year exile, and the defeat of Babylon, Cyrus, King of Persia, allowed Zerubbabel (the grandson of the last king of Judah, Jehoiachin.) and Jeshua to lead 42,000 Jews out of Babylon to return to Israel.

 

Granted permission by the Persian King Artaxerxes, Ezra, in 458 BCE and Nehemiah, in 444 BCE, returned to Jerusalem, and worked together.  Nehemiah worked to rebuild the city walls to protect the people; Ezra built the spiritual side of the nation.  Ezra, the Priest, reinstated the Sabbath and demanded non-Jews convert or leave because of overwhelming intermarriage. 

The character of Lilah is fictitious.