The Return of the Menorah

The Return of the Menorah

  • Author: Oller Riera, Joaquim
  • Publisher: Lantia
  • Serie: Caligrama
  • ISBN: 9788418018053
  • eISBN Epub: 9788417984946
  • Place of publication:  Sevilla , Spain
  • Year of digital publication: 2019
  • Month: December
  • Language: Spanish

The prophecy will be fulfilled and many images of Emperor Vespasian will be destroyed.

In the year 70 A.D., after destroying Jerusalem and its temple, Emperor Vespasian and his Roman army stole the menorah and the rest of the temple's treasures. Immediately after this war, Vespasian started construction of the Colosseum of Rome and issued a series of gold coins, aurei, with his image on the front and the image of a captured woman, representing Palestine, and the inscription Judea Capta on the back.

Recently, a marble plaque was discovered, buried next to the walls of the Colosseum of Rome, with the following words written in Latin: This great building was financed by the spoils of the war with Palestine. With great certainty, this shows us that Emperor Vespasian used the gold of the menorah and the rest of the treasures from the Temple in Jerusalem to mint gold coins, aurei, with his image and the inscription Judea Capta, tocommemorate his victory over Palestine.

In this historical fiction novel, the museum in Jerusalem, with the help of a wise rabbi and the country's authorities, began a worldwide search to purchase these Vespasian coins with the inscription Judea Capta to return the menorah with its gold from Israel's history to Jerusalem.

The recovery of the menorah, with its original gold, and the destruction of Vespasian's images, which were on the coins, would fulfil ancient prophecies about the menorah's return and the destruction of the emperor's images.

  • Prologue
  • Presentation
  • I
    • Raphael’s arrival in Jerusalem
  • II
    • A saturday at the western wall
  • III
    • Raphael’s visit to the Israel museum
  • IV
    • The rabbi explains the history ofthe temple in Jerusalem
  • V
    • The rabbi explained the significance of the temple in the jewish, christian, and islamic religions
    • The museum director explained the importance of the menorah for the people of israel
  • VII
    • Flavius josephus, jewish historianfrom the first century a.D.
  • VIII
    • The rabbi explained the destruction of jerusalem and its temple to raphael
  • IX
    • The rabbi told raphael that there were prophets who announced the destruction of the temple
  • X
    • Raphael then asked the rabbi and the museum director, “currently, where is the menorah that the roman army stole, following emperor vespasian’s orders?”
  • XI
    • Gold coins, aurei, minted by vespasian after his conquer of Jerusalem, inscribed with the words IUDAEA and awoman, seated and crying, in representation of Judea on the back
  • XII
    • The recent discovery of a marble headstone, with the inscription, “work financed with the spoils of the war in palestine” and placed in the walls of the colosseum of Rome, confirms that the roman colosseum was paid, in part, with coins minted from the gold from the menorah and the rest of the treasures from the temple in Jerusalem. The colosseum was built immediately after the destruction and sacking of the temple in Jerusalem.
  • XIII
    • Raphael, who had listened closely to the explanations of the rabbi and the museum director, asked, “why doesn’t the state of Israel make a new menorah to be venerated in the prayers of the jews?”
  • XIV
    • Raphael then asked them, “what if the museum in Jerusalem were to chisel a new Menorah with gold melted from the coins, aurei, of emperor vespasian, which were inscribed with the word IUDAEA ?”The rabbi exclaimed, “that is the gold from the menorah from the temple in Jerusalem, which was the sacred symbol of the history of Israel!”
  • XV
    • Upon arriving at tel aviv’s ben gurion airport on his way back to Barcelona, Raphael, the tourist who had visited Jerusalem, saw an original Menorah designed by catalan painter and sculptor, salvador dalí. This artist, the most complete artist of the twentieth century, was inspired by the trunk and branches of the olive trees, abundant in Israel’s landscape, for this representation of the menorah.
  • XVI
    • The idea of constructing a Menorah with vespasian coins with the Inscription IUDAEA was well accepted by the readers of online jewish publications. Jews immediately began to make donations of these gold coins. Christians and muslims also made donations, as they considered it to be a project for all three religions
  • XVII
    • Word of the project was published in a weekly jewish newspaper in Istanbul, and a few days later, a group of sephardic traders from the grand bazaar in Istanbul contacted the museum in Jerusalem and offered to sell a lot of thirty-two vespasian gold coins, with the inscription Judea capta, that they had purchased from Turkish collectors
  • XVIII
    • From switzerland, the museum was notified that Sotheby’s auction house in Zurich was auctioning two Vespasian coins inscribed with IUDAEA
  • XIX
    • An antique dealer from Cefalu ,in Sicily, contacted the museum in Jerusalem to offer an important treasure, confirming the recent discovery of seventy-seven gold coins with the inscription Judea capta
  • XX
    • The museum director suggested that Solomon take a cruise through the mediterranean’s main cities, departing and arriving from Tel Aviv’s port
  • XXI
    • The cruise ship’s departure day from tel aviv.The first stop was was El Jem , Tunisia.
  • XXII
    • After a night of navigation,the boat arrived at a new destination: Rome
  • XXIII
    • New cruise stop: the beautiful city of Barcelona
  • XXIV
    • The Abraham centre in Barcelona, a common place of worship for all three religions
  • XXV
    • Next cruise destination: Malaga, followed by Cordoba and Seville, by hired car
  • XXVI
    • The Alhambra of Granada
  • XXVII
    • The ruins of Medina Azahara,next to the city of Cordoba
  • XXVIII
    • The statue of Maimonides in Cordoba
  • XXIX
    • The mosque of Cordoba
  • XXX
    • The city of Seville
  • XXXI
    • The cruise ship’s new destination was Tangier, where it would be anchored for two days
  • XXXII
    • The shopkeepers of New York’s diamond district contacted the museum in Jerusalem and offered them fifty-eight coins
  • XXXIII
    • Finally, Jerusalem’s jewish museum had collected enough coins to reconstruct the Menorah, although smaller in size,with the gold from Israel’s history
  • XXXIV
    • After three months, Mr Argenter, the goldsmith, excitedly called the director of the museum in Jerusalem to inform him that he had finished the Menorah
  • XXXV
    • Nearly two thousand years later, the Menorah returned to Jerusalem. In an emotional ceremony, the chief rabbi of Israel announced that its arrival would bring many years of peace for Israel and its neighbouring countries of the middle east

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