[Editor’s Note: The newspaper is presenting excerpts from the new novel by Dr. Rosemary H. Cohen, “The Mother of Jerusalem Is Crying,” inspired, as all of her extensive writings are, by the sudden death of her teenage daughter 19 summers ago.]
Re “Just Trying to Understand Mysteries”
Coda, Part II
God Answers Ruth’s Questions
Saddam Hussein, the former president and absolute dictator of Iraq, who lived in amazing palaces and patterned his rule after that of Hitler, was tried and convicted of multiple crimes by the American-backed Iraqi government and executed in 2006.
Ruth thought that all of these important personalities could have played a positive role in educating children, creating jobs for youths, giving comfort to families who had suffered so much and desired to live their short lives in peace. But many of these men misused their powers, failed to take advantage of opportunities and finally lost their lives to clogged arteries, unseen viruses or fanatical doctrines. Most of these leaders wore bloody gloves, by choice or by force of events.
At the end, they added more to the suffering of the families by deceiving their youths and dragging them into acts of destruction. Many followers believed in them and in their ability to give them a better life. Yet the work stayed unfinished. They all died like ordinary persons. As it is written: “We all come from the same place and go back to the same destination.” Some left behind their good names. Others added more horror stories into the already existing sad pages of the world’s history books.
A New Day
Early one morning as Ruth heard the voice of the spiritual azan, the call to prayer, she looked at the beautiful Temple Mount mosque, the golden dome of Al-Aksa. She knew that the Prophet Mohammed was miraculously transported from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from the Dome of the Rock, he ascended to heaven.
Then she heard the beautiful liturgies, organ music, songs and prayers from inside the various Greek, Armenian, Catholic and other Christian churches crowded into such a small area. Jerusalem was also the place where Jesus lived and preached, suffered, died and was resurrected.
Ruth turned to God and said, “Tell me. You are the only one who is able to answer my questions. You started with Your Prophet Moses. When You gave him the Ten Commandments, didn’t You say that You had worked all six days of creation and rested on the seventh day, Shabbat, to enjoy Your creation? You commanded that we do likewise. It is number four in the tablets. Well, the Jews understood the meaning of Shabbat and kept Saturdays holy. Why, then, did You change Your mind after some centuries and allow Christians to honor Sundays as Shabbat?
Later, why did You allow so much latitude that others could declare an alternate day? Muslims believe that Shabbat is actually Friday.
Did Your computers mix up these dates? Or did someone do it to create chaos among nations?
(To be continued)
Dr. Rosemary Hartounian Cohen, who lives in the Fairfax District, earned her Ph.D in sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris. She lived in two other countries before moving with her husband and children to Los Angeles in 1984. She has published four books in America. Since 1985, Dr. Cohen has operated Atelier de Paris, an international art business, on Robertson Boulevard. She may be contacted at rosemary@atelierdeparis.com
