Rudran watched with interest and a bit of pride filling his face and body and he playfully strutted behind Dr Otto Hauptmann and watched as the older Mossad agent slowly walked through the two floors filled with priceless art and rare artefacts.
Six of the twelve Mossad agents who had come with their boss remained outside the building while the other six quietly followed him in.
The twelve agents were not officially on the embassy list but sleeper agents who were all born and brought up in the United States and yet retained their links and loyalty to Israel, their homeland.
Dr Otto Hauptmann who had been nodding with approval at the collection of art and antiques suddenly stopped in his tracks and stood frozen and Rudran and the other men heard him gasp in shock and grief and as they watched, Dr Otto sank to the floor to his knees and began to cry like a baby.
The Mossad agents were all taken aback by this show of emotion by their senior and more than them it was Rudran himself who was shocked and moved to see his old friend display his emotions and tears which he had never ever revealed in all the six years that they had known each other.
He slowly sank to his knees along the older friend and threw an arm around him and the older man willingly laid his head and cried even more and Rudran brought his other arm around Otto and held him tightly and both stayed like that for a few minutes.
Slowly, Dr Otto lifted his head and stared at the rather old and beaten up stone slabs that lay open inside a glass housing and pointed it to Rudran and said " Do you know what those slabs of rock are Rudy?" and then looked at his six agents " Do any of you recognize what they are gentlemen?"
Rudran slowly got up saying " Doc, it looks like it is written in Aramaic language. I only have very limited knowledge about it or its ancestry."
Dr Otto Hauptmann gently tugged Rudran's hand, who looked enquiringly down at him and said " On your knees young man" and turning to all his agents " All of you, get on your knees now for you are in the presence of Adonai himself."
Hearing Dr Otto say the word Adonai, the six men reacted as if a thunderbolt had struck them and they fell to their knees frozen and they looked at the glass housing and at their leader confusedly.
Dr Otto Hauptmann took Rudran's hands in his and gently kissed them three times " My child Rudy, there have been many a time over the past six years when I have felt the urge to beat you silly for the trouble you kept getting yourself into and also for involving me in those escapades, killings to be more accurate."
Smiling, he looked into Rudran's eyes " But, something, some voice always kept whispering in my soul that you and I were somehow connected for a significant reason and that is what kept me by your side willingly and unwillingly."
Rudran was moved by the older man's words and replied " Doc, I am touched by your words and confessions but me and the others are lost and clueless as to what you are talking about and what those pieces of rock mean. Adonai, it means God in Hebrew, right doc?"
Dr Otto Hauptmann nodded " Indeed Rudy! Adonai means God." Then with a slight hesitation, he looked first at his men and then at Rudran " My son, will you do the honour of saying our most sacred and the first of all prayers before this sacred and holy relic."
Rudran confusedly " Doc, I am not Jewish by birth and maybe it is not me who should be saying the holiest of prayers before your God himself."
Dr Otto Hauptmann smiled lovingly " Son, there is no such thing as Jewish, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu in the eyes of God. They are divisions and chasms made by humans and fanatics to hold power over others. As far as I am concerned, you are more Jewish than most members of the Jewish faith. So say the prayer and lead us into the light."
Rudran's senses went on high alert and everyone around him felt the surge of energy fill the air around them and then nodding, he closed his eyes and gently opening them faced the glass cube that held the slabs of beaten and weathered rock and chanted
" Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart.
And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them
when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
And it shall come to pass if you surely listen to the commandments
to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul,
That I will give rain to your land, the early and the late rains,
that you may gather in your grain, your wine and your oil.
And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle and you will eat and you will be satisfied.
Beware, lest your heart be deceived
and you turn and serve other gods and worship them.
And anger of the Lord will blaze against you, and he will close the heavens and there will not be rain,
and the earth will not give you its fullness,
and you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord gives you.
So you shall put these, my words, on your heart and on your soul;
and you shall bind them for signs on your hands, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
And you shall teach them to your children, and you shall speak of them
when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
In order to prolong your days and the days of your children on the land
that the Lord promised your fathers that he would give them
as long as the days that the heavens are over the earth.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying...
Speak to the children of Israel and say to them they should make themselves
tzitzit (fringes) on the corners of their clothing throughout their generations,
and give the tzitzit of each corner a thread of blue.
And they shall be tzitzit for you, and when you look at them you will
remember all of the Lord's commandments
and do them and not follow after your heart and after your eyes
In order to remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God.
who lead you from the land of Egypt to be a God to you.
I am the Lord, your God. "
All of them remained in silence and then Dr Otto Hauptmann with tears in his eyes spoke " Rudran, I have never been so moved, touched and have never ever felt such peace until this moment. But, hearing you say the holy words has only increased my belief in my God and in you. Thank you, my child. I am now forever in your debt and so too is the land of Israel."
Rudran confusedly looked at the others and then at the Doctor " I can understand you being in my debt but your nation too. What have I done to deserve such credit and for god's sake, what are those pieces of rock and why have you gone all spiritual on me old man."
Dr Otto Hauptmann burst out in laughter and looked at Rudran " God, you sweet and beautiful soul. I just love you to death for it is only you that is capable of making me laugh, cry and want to kill and sometimes make me feel all of them at the same time."
Wiping his tears, he pointed to the slabs of rock that lay inside their glass housing and announced " My friends, I give you the " Ark of the Covenant" or otherwise called the " Ark of the Testimony"
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