“All this has been taken over into Christianity. It is a complete nightmare! To cap it all, two dogmas are constantly confused, the later one about the divinely assisted conception of the Virgin Mary by her parents Joachim and Anne, and the dogma of the sperm-free conception of Jesus.
“I so love the Annunciation. It is a sweet picture. Miriam sitting with a lily, beside her the Archangel Gabriel, and a white dove above the head of the Virgin. How many innocent souls are convinced that Mary conceived from that bird! For me it is no different from Zeus as golden rain or a mighty eagle. The divinity of Jesus is a mystery, and the moment when he assumed that nature is also a mystery. Where did they get that idea of mysterious impregnation? What do we know about that?
“There is an ancient midrash, Vayikra Rabbah, which was written down in the third century, but the oral legend always predates the written version. I believe this midrash was written down after the Gospels, when the topic was beginning to excite everybody’s interest. Be that as it may, there are words in it which touched the depths of my soul, and which seemed to me more true than all the dogmas of the Church. Those words were, ‘For conception three elements are required: a man, a woman, and the Holy Spirit.’ The word ‘ruach’ is right there and there is no way you can translate it other than as ‘the Holy Spirit.’ Accordingly, it participates in every conception and, what is more, it continues to watch over the woman and the fruit of her womb after conception. Animals walk on four legs and the embryo of an animal is more secure than the embryo in the belly of a woman who walks on two legs, whose infant is at risk of abortion. God is obliged to hold every child in place until the very moment of birth, and for the baby not to be afraid in the darkness of its mother’s womb, God puts a light there. This speaks of something Jews knew before the birth of the Virgin Mary or of Jesus, that every woman conceives with the participation of God. I would even say to you that for the Jews, all great people have been born with the participation of God. The clear intervention of God was evident when Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah, who were already too old for childbirth, as the coming to them of angels testifies. That is what the ancient Jewish manuscript says, simpleheartedly and naïvely perhaps, but I feel the truth behind these words. Poetic truth, yes, but truth nevertheless.
“What did the evangelists think about the sperm-free conception? Nothing in particular! That is, nothing fundamentally different from the views to be found in the Jewish tradition, like the midrash I have paraphrased for you. In Matthew the word ‘betrothed’ was applied to Joseph later, after this problem began to be discussed. That is a later insertion when everybody suddenly started taking an interest in the intimate details of Mary and Joseph’s marriage and what really happened. Mark says not a word on this subject, and neither does John. You find it only in Luke. St. Paul makes no mention of any immaculate conception either. He says ‘of the seed of David’ and one who became ‘the Son of God through the Holy Spirit.’ Paul doesn’t even make any mention of Miriam! He speaks of the resurrection. Death and resurrection!
“Do you know, Hilda, what this tells us? To a twisted mind sexual life is inevitably associated with sin. For the Jews, however, conception is not associated with anything of the sort! Sin is associated with people’s bad behavior, while conception is a blessing from God. All these legends about the Immaculate Conception were born in sordid minds which saw the marital union of man and woman as sinful. The Jews never had that attitude toward sexual life. It is sanctified by marriage, and the commandment to be fruitful and multiply confirms that. Personally I cannot accept the dogma of the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception as it is currently presented by the Church. I greatly admire Miriam, quite irrespective of how she conceived. She was a holy woman, and a suffering woman, but we really do not have to turn her into the progenitor of the world. She is not Isis or Astarte, she is not Kali or any of the other fertility goddesses worshipped by the ancient world. Let them read their rosaries, pray to her as the Immaculate Virgin, call her the Mother of God, the Queen of the World if they want to. Miriam is so mild she will put up with the lot of it. She will even put up with those shrines stuffed with golden crowns, rings, crosses, and embroidered cloths which she is offered as a gift by simple hearts.
“I probably should not have kicked that nun out, Hilda, but when she started offering to sell a brown frock which could save you from hellfire, I could take it no longer. If she turns up again and asks for shelter, let her in. Only not when I am here.
“Perhaps now you understand why I did not say in front of everybody what I have said to you. I do not want to intrude upon ideas which have formed deep in the hearts of each of my parishioners. I do not want to entice anybody to follow me. Let each person find their way to God by the path revealed to them. We gather together here to learn to love, to pray together in the presence of the Lord, not to engage in theological disputation. I am telling you all this, Hilda, because it seems to me that you want to know it.”
Mum, I have never felt happier than at that moment. When I am with Daniel I always feel that what is superfluous and unnecessary is being broken off me in lumps, and the more needless stuff falls away, the easier I breathe.
Then we closed the church up. We hurried Brother Elijah on his way because he was still recording with his tape recorder. He is constantly writing down everything Daniel says. He considers that all his sermons must be preserved. Daniel laughs at him and says his focus is on eternity, and making sure all our follies are recorded for posterity.
I realize, Mother, that this cannot impress you as powerfully as it does me. I need to think long now. There are some things I want to argue with him about, only I don’t know how to. What he said was convincing, even inspired, but can it really be the case that millions of people have been in error for so many centuries? If we are to be completely logical, we will have to say that people value their illusions far more than the truth. Daniel seems to be suggesting that truth itself is a complex construct which exists in a minor, simplified form for some and in a far more complex and richer form for others. What do you think? Do let me know soon. I might even telephone you, although calls to Germany are expensive and we have money problems again this month. I’ll write to you another time about how they have arisen.
Lots of love,
Hilda
14. 1973, Haifa
L
ETTER FROM
H
ILDA TO HER MOTHER
Dear Mother,
I have been happy for the whole of this past year because our work has been going very well. We have managed to restore everything, even building a small old people’s home in the grounds of the new community center. We have found the money for a nurse to work there and the doctor comes every week. The children’s program is going well now, and donations have come in from Germany, so we have put in the boiler and replaced the pump with a more powerful one. Suddenly, though, we got a letter from the city council informing us that we are illegally occupying the site of the Church of Elijah by the Spring, which they say belongs to the city. That is, after we have restored it, twice (the second time was after the fire). There was a church here before, however, so either the earlier church had also been erected illegally or someone is playing games. Daniel immediately went to their office and was told that we could only have the land on lease. They want an enormous sum which is completely beyond our means. Daniel is calm, although they said that if we don’t pay the rent within a month they will send in a bulldozer and knock everything down. I cried for two nights, but Daniel seemed unperturbed.