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CITY OF SEVEN SINS. Parables
Parables
Max Jakobs
Have you heard of City of Seven Sins? Do you want me to show you the way?
Borders might be close but there’s one place that still welcomes you. Sweet passions, miseries and joy, dreams and disappointments – all the colors of life are waiting your there. The book composed solely of short works and filled with poetic vision. Discover ancient myths reimagined and sharp ironic take on modern day reality.
Roman Shatrov, Janna Pike Translators
Rebecca Snel Editor
Vitaliy Kovalev Illustrator
© Max Jakobs, 2022
ISBN 978-5-4498-5180-2
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Tower of Babel
New reading
High mountains hid in the deep ocean along with the last hopes of returning home. For several years, the shaking of water and earth turned villages and cities into dust and dirt; billowing waves carried boats, crops and lives to the ocean. Nothing remained of the great empire, only the memories that survivors will pass on to their children and entrust to descendants to tell again.
And they were only a few hundred, and they did not know if there was anyone else besides them in the whole world. The birds led their large ship, which was badly damaged by storms, into fertile land: on each side of the land great rivers flowed, quenching thirst and yielding food.
A year after the flood, when the first crop was harvested and the second was ripening, the eldest survivor of the flood, Hanoch, proclaimed:
“We mourned our great homeland and the departed. But the Almighty Father loves us for he saved our lives and granted us a beautiful land, the sun and a clear sky. We are gathering a rich harvest and building houses for our families. The time has come to give glory to the Almighty and to erect a temple to heaven in His honor and in His name, so that generations to come will see the greatness of the Creator, and the Almighty will continue to be merciful.”
With rejoicing, the words of Hanoch were received. For he did not even learn the opinion of everyone, before the people leapt from their places and cried out:
“Yes! Verily we will build a temple in the name of our Heavenly Father!”
And all as one they elected to begin from tomorrow’s sunrise. And Hanoch, in addition to his venerable status, became the chief architect of the temple.
The first rays of the sun barely reached over the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, before the entire nation, young and old, were standing at the house of Hanoch in readiness, waiting to hear the first orders for construction of the temple to the Most High.
“Listen to me,” Hanoch began, “we must create a great temple, the highest, higher than those we had before the flood, so our Heavenly Father can see our love for Him and reverence and would not send the flood to our nation again! All will have work: someone will have to extract stone and fire bricks, someone will have to carry them to their place, someone will need to lay walls, someone will need to paint them, and someone will graze the livestock and grow wheat, so everyone will be fed.
Hundreds of men and women as one soul welcomed Hanoch’s speech and set to work under his leadership unconditionally fulfilling all his directions, believing in their work as good. Yerachmiel was responsible for the selection and preparation of stone and brick; the most powerful of all – Shimshon, was responsible for the delivery of building material, he could alone lift a huge granite monolith and carry it from the mine to the site of the temple’s construction. Many great men helped Shimshon, including Ephraim, whose wife Gili gave him the great joy of many sons. Hayim and Zeev began the erection of the walls of the temple, and with them ten dozen men. For once before Hayim built a port in a big city and Zeev worked for him. Painting and embellishing the walls of the temple was entrusted to Hillel and Aaron, who had an eye for beauty, but also Hillel remembered the sacred texts of the forefathers well. Responsible for increasing and raising livestock was young Itzhak, whose beautiful wife Yonah weaved carpets for the temple from the wool of the sheep. Talia and Merav became the head bakers, and therefore one of the most respected wives of the whole community. Ilana and Lilach offered to create a garden of trees and flowers around the temple.