Soon the explanation disappears, while the three terms: TORAH, MORIAH and YERUSHALEM remain for a couple of minutes, then they fade away, and only the terms that H aki typed earlier remain.)

JUDITH: Look, all the associations disappeared.

HAKI: They are only clues - suggestions for what is like - already expressed lanes - to the Heavenly Jerusalem. They would stay only - if we selected them. But we have the time - it would be best if we - make our own lane inside - the domain of terms - nearest to our particular concerns.

JUDITH: You typed "TEACHING MACHINES". Why not "MESSIAH MACHINE"?. Wouldn't we then have got associations between the word "Messiah" and the Heavenly Jerusalem?

HAKI: Certainly. Many - and strong associations. But as I said - let us add - our own terms - we already got - suggested clue about Jerusalem. So let us add - something about cities - and their planning. You indicated that - you were interested in them - and so am I.

(Haki keys in more letters, and soon the words CITIES, CITY PLANNING and MAN OF CITIES appear shining in the "sky" of the dome.)

JUDITH: Okay, so much for me. But now we must set you up there too. There must be issues connected with your name, Haki HiFi.

HAKI: I should be able - to find a view of - the city of Haifa. And I should be able - to connect it - to the locus of CITIES.

(Haki searches through some filing cabinets, then puts a fiche in a slot in one of the electronic devices, and a picture of Mount Carmel, as seen from the Bay, appears on the dome. It is a twilight picture, and we see the buildings of Haifa straddling the mountain with lights in them, and along the roads.)

JUDITH: Yes, oh yes. It's just like my childhood City of Lights ascending to heaven. Thank you. This is a lovely place to start. But you seem still to be hiding yourself. Isn't your name, Haki or Yitz hak, that is Isaac, connected with the forbidden book of the Babble?

HAKI: Bible please - not Babble. And as a matter of fact, this Yitzhak - to use his biblical name - is the original model for - whatever your Jesus is - trying to be. But, like countless people - during hundreds of generations - he misses the punch line - of the whole story.

JUDITH: What do you mean? What story?

HAKI: The story of Moriah. It is a story - told briefly in the Bible, about - a father called upon - to sacrifice his son to God - or so he believes. This story has moved people in all generations. But, as I said - most of them have missed - the point of it.

JUDITH: Which is?

HAKI: Almost all readers - read it as a tragic drama - about a father who - is called upon to - sacrifice his son. They were so taken - by the father's point of view - that they missed the others.

JUDITH: What others?

H AKI: There were two companions - and a donkey - whose point of view were - not considered. Also, and more important - the point of view of - Yitz hak himself - and of God himself - have been ignored.

JUDITH: And you claim that only you have discovered them, where everyone else, including Jesus, has completely failed to?

HAKI: Yes - probably because my own name is Yitzhak. This motivated me - to contemplate - the other meanings of the story. In doing so - it finally dawned on me. If it was God who - set the whole stage for the story - He must have had - His own point of view - and He must have given - a sign of it - to what otherwise looks like - a most sordid spectacle. And He did. Yitzhak himself is that sign.

JUDITH: Which means?

HAKI: God set the stage - before the hero was born - by calling him Yitzhak - which means, in Hebrew - the one who will laugh. The point of the story - is that from God's - and eventually Yitzhak's - point of view - the story was to climax - in a hearty laughter. It was to be a - comedy and not a tragedy. But, if people - are not capable of - seeing the hidden laughter - they are bound - to turn just anything - into a tragedy. And that is, I am afraid - what your teacher Jesus - seems intent on doing.

JUDITH: (angrily) You have no idea what his intentions are, or what his powers are, or how he will use them. You sit here hidden from the world in the safety of your underground play-pen, throwing words and pictures on the wall, while Jesus is out there risking his neck, healing and teaching the people, working for liberation and redemption.

HAKI: Well, for someone - who wanted to open - the students minds - he succeeded only in - having their heads smashed. Because of this - we now have some time - on our hands. And we better use it - to try to understand - for ourselves. We have started here - with the issue of - True Knowledge and Torah. This is your basis. Now let us add, as goals - the issues of liberation and of redemption - upon which you seem so intent.

(Haki types on the keyboard, and the word LIBERATION appears on the dome, separated by much dark and empty space from the words CITIES and PLANNING and the associated picture. Then he types the word REDEMPTION, even farther off into the dark space, with just a thin line connecting it to the word LIBERATION .)

HAKI: I think this is - a goal we both desire. The question is the way - to get there - through all that dark and empty space. Let us put up - Jesus' version of the way - on one hand - and mine, on the other. Then we can use - the time we have - to play a game. Let's see who can - make the connection between the cities - we live in, and the - ultimate liberation - and redemption. We'll chart thus our paths - to the actualization of the - Heavenly Jerusalem. What do you say? Do you want to play this game?

(Haki types some more, without looking at Judith. Soon we see the words JESUS appearing on one side of the dome, and THE PARSHANS on the other. Somewhere above them, in the direction of REDEMPTION and LIBERATION appears the word MESSIAH, and nearby, the word MESSIAH MACHINE .)

JUDITH: I don't want games, I want real action. You may aim at mastery, but what you're actually offering is master-bation!

HAKI: No - it is simulation of - the process of actualization. And you caught - its stimulation - you already began - to play word games.

JUDITH: O.K. I'm game. But I also know some Hebrew. Now I'm going to tell you, Isaac, Yitzhak, Haki, who you really are! Hakai means simulator, and that is what you are. You prefer to deal with images and machines and not with real, living human beings and their predicament.

H AKI: (laughs) Touche! Then a simulator - I shall be. There is not much - else to do here - till the Rasans leave. Then you can go - and seek your action. In the meantime you - may gain some understanding - through this simulation-stimulation - that will aid and abet - your action.

JUDITH: Listen, I want action. I don't need simulations. We live too much in a world of artifices and of simulations. To be real, you need to eat real bread, you need to touch the real earth, you need to talk to real people, not just projected images. For me, the really good city, even the Heavenly Jerusalem should have real gardens in its midst where real people will grow real wheat and real vines and make their real bread and wine, at least for sacraments. Get it?

But I'll tell you what. I'll play your game .... if you join my action. Until the Rasans leave, we'll simulate and play, and we'll see what wisdom comes out of your system. But when we can move in the open, then we shall act. We will meet real players, the Great Parshan and Jesus. And we'll see to it, they get to meet, so that we may actually accomplish something. Okay? I'll have you meet Jesus, if you'll bring me to meet the Great Parshan.

HAKI: Agreed. I think I will like - working with you. You will play - my game with me - and I shall act with you. So, before our tea - is completely cold - let us begin by simulating - that we are they - Jesus and the Great Parshan - and let us build their - likely joint universe of discourse - as it should be.

(They sip their tea and discuss. More words appear on the dome, more pictures and lines connecting them. The stage grows darker, while more word-lights appear. Soon we no longer see the conversants, only the words sprinkling (?) above like stars. The word-stars are still pretty sparse on the expanse of the dome as the stage goes dark.)

Scene Five - JUDITH AND JESUS

(Twilight. We are in the camp of Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples, in a desert valley. They are on a small elevation with a crude circle of tents, with Jesus' tent in the center of the circle. He is standing in front of it, surrounded by sick people who are streaming in from all sides. Most of them have some visible defects: lameness, hunched backs, or terrible skin boils, which make them look monstrous. A couple of them who "have demons" are caught in seizures and epileptic fits... Some arrive on canes, or with huge bandages around their heads or limbs, looking like stuffed mummies, while others are carried in stretchers. People are lifting their hands to Jesus, imploringly, and those near squeeze toward Jesus, trying to touch him. Jesus is trying to fend them off, as best as he can. The disciples form a circle around him to protect him from being overrun by the begging crowd of cripples and sick people, admitting only one at a time...... We then hear noises of machines, and four moving contraptions appear from the four corners of the stage, spiralling clockwise toward Jesus. The first is a white four-wheel-drive ambulance. The second is a red tractor fitted with a crane at the back and a forklift in front, upon which is a hospital bed with a patient connected to infusions, and whose limbs are hoisted up by lifting gear. The third is a black motorcycle with a side-car, in which there sits another patient whose head is completely bandaged, with a video camera fitted to his breast in place of eyes. The fourth vehicle is a pale green troop-carrier, full to the brim....... The vehicles keep spiralling around, while Jesus and his disciples try to avoid them. People are throwing fits, and the scene is a pandemonium reminiscent of a Hieronimus Bosch painting. The vehicles stop. Stretchers are pulled out of the white vehicle, with oxygen and glucose supplies held overhead. From the pale green troop-carrier many stretchers with corpses are unloaded and arranged in rows. The red tractor lays down the bed and then swivels and pulls the man out of the bed with the crane. The man is hanging puppet-like, lifting one limb after the other, while being hoisted up to Jesus. The motorcycle deposits the man in the sidecar, and he turns on his video.... Meanwhile, Judith arrives. But, with all the confusion around, nobody notices her, and she is left standing by the side, watching the scene.)

JESUS: (to the disciples) That's enough! I can't take any more. I am drained to the core and have no more to give.

JESUS: (to the crowd) Please friends, please go away. I am sorry, but I cannot heal anymore today. I'm sorry, but I must be left alone.

(There is an outcry from the crowd. People point to their deformities. Some crawl on the ground to touch Jesus' feet. Others are afflicted by seizures. The puppet-like man is hoisted nearer and almost touches Jesus, who recoils.)

ONE SICK PERSON: Oh please help me. The pain in my back is unbearable.

A BLIND PERSON: Have mercy. Please help me to see.

ANOTHER SICK PERSON: I'm being eaten up from inside, please stop my pains, please, please.

JESUS: You must go, my healing powers are exhausted. I must go to pray with my disciples for my energy to be renewed. And really, believe me, you are able to heal yourselves. Kind brothers and sisters, go heal yourselves. Go and pray. Now go!

(The people won't go, and just press closer and closer in a frenzy. Jesus retreats indignantly.)

JESUS: (to himself) This is no good. My energy's gone. There's no end to the sick.

JESUS: (to the crowd) You should have taken better care of your­selves. Even if I had all the powers of heaven, how could I pass them on to you, when you've allowed yourselves to be sick and maimed. You must first learn to open, then you'll be able to heal yourselves.

JESUS: (turning to the disciples) Come and take charge. Heal as well as you can, and send them home. I can't take even one more.

JESUS: (to Judith) Judith! Judith dear, let's go. I must be gone from here, and I want to hear what happened since I last saw you.

(As they try to go, the people and the vehicles try to follow them. They have to climb up the hill on a steep slope where the vehicles and invalids cannot follow. At last they find a quiet place to sit.

JESUS: Judith, I sense that you have seen many things since we parted, and have much to tell. You seem excited and confused.

JUDITH: Master, I'm amazed by what I've seen. Also a real opportunity has presented itself.

JESUS: Opportunity for what? Why should a disciple of mine become a seeker of opportunities?

JUDITH: I've seen signs of the secret work of the Parshans, and I am impressed with their means. If their techniques could be added to your powers, we could more quickly liberate ourselves from the Rasans, and be on the way to accomplishing our other goals. I think the Parshans would welcome cooperation, if you could bring them over to our side. Would you confer with the Great Parshan? In fact, I've taken it on myself to set up a secret meeting between you and him.

JESUS: (unimpressed and detached) One thing at a time. First tell me why you're so excited?

JUDITH: I was presented with the image that dominated my childhood dreams about a brighter and better way to live. I was shown developments that could help to build a whole city of understandings. What I saw of their secret work was connected with the Heavenly Jerusalem and with bringing it to Earth. They have a lab equiped to that precise end. It would help to realize our dream.

JESUS: Not so! Theirs has to be the city of the Philistines, no matter how they paint it erudite and urbane. Cities of self-seeking, craftiness and pride are not that New Jerusalem which is my future bride. I see though why their manifestations attract you. After all I taught you, you remain the city-type, the Ishkrayot, what the old reformers condemned as bourgeoisie.

JUDITH: What do you mean, Jerusalem will be your bride? How can a city be one's bride? If you want a bride, then please take me. But don't reject what I bring you without even considering it.

JESUS: I have taken you, and also this hurt and jealousy you show. Pour them out, and I shall make them my own. Express what you feel. This is the way to heal. Whatever you say, I accept it.

JUDITH: But I don't feel for me. I feel for you. There's a limit to how much you can heal. I saw you just now, you were exhausted. I want so much to help you achieve your aim without destroying yourself. Their technics would assist you. That's my only motive.

JESUS: Judith, love, thank you - but you're wront. To regain the Self, one must be able to see infinity. You cannot. I can. I can see it showing all around you, in what you cannot see, and demonstrated in what you say. You would have me marry you. You want the New Jerusalem also, but at bottom you want us both for yourself, while you don't know who or what the real Self is. Or what to do with all its pulsating, living energy.

JUDITH: Okay, so tell me then, what should I be seeing? Where is all this living energy? When you had so much of it back in that Squarewith the students, what did you achieve? But now, when you're surrounded by the sick who need it, where is it?

JESUS: This living energy is all around us, and is infinite. An aspect of it surrounds each person. It is seeking, the hidden source of health, and the answers to all questions. I can both see and be this energy, just as I can see it in all plants, even in mountains. You, as yet, cannot.

JUDITH: You spoke at the Square about "true knowledge", and about making eyes in place of an eye. Is it this special vision? Please tell me how can I see these energies, so that I can help you.

JESUS: The skill is not in the eye, it's in the heart. And the problem is not to see, but to BE; to be-lieve, and only then to see. It is with faith, and the pain of the heart, that one is able to move mountains..

JUDITH: I am trying to understand. An aching heart and blind faith can move mountains? Can you really move mountains with your faith and pain?

JESUS: (singing?) It is the heart, believe me, it is the heart./ I know what I am telling you about./ It is the palpitating, red and perishable heart./ It is not something fancy or romantic./ It is so painful that you could not bear it./ It's so utterly precarious, this beating of the heart. / It must be maintained from this moment to the next,/ not just to sustain one's life,/ but to sustain the whole universe/ even to maintain the mountains./ I know so well this pain, I tell you./ This painit takes to make the mountains stand,/ and then to raise the plants to eat the mountains,/ is much, much more than you could withstand./ I accept more than you could ever understand./ I love the world in spite of its indifference,/ despite ingratitude, disdain and even hate.......

Come, Judith dear, I'll teach you something. Come sit like me, under this olive tree. Lean on its trunk. Immerse yourself in its green. Get lost in the tree, get lost in its greenness, lost to whoever you think you are, and whatever you think you want - just BE

Be the growing tree, and let it be you, replenishing you with living energy. Loosen yourself from your humanity. Just be an olive tree.

(Judith tries to do as Jesus says, as she hangs on his every word.)

JESUS: These energies are everywhere. This tree, the earth, your own body. People want to be strong by eating the animal that ate the plants that sucked the earth. But these subtle energies are gained by sharing, not devouring. For me there are no boundaries, I need no inter­mediaries. I am my own source, as you can be, as all can be, if they but become one with me, if they become one with the pain.

JUDITH: I still don't understand. If you can tap the powers of the earth, why don't you use them? Crush the Rasans who've beaten us so cruelly! Surely God's anger should be brought down on them. Why remain immersed in pain and want only to share it with others? Why not use your powers and show the force behind the pain? You'd win more followers that way, to say nothing of ridding the world of oppression.

JESUS: True power comes only through love and suffering. Unprovoked use of force against the Rasans is not for me. And more followers who have not seen the light and have no knowledge of conscious suffering and faith are not for me.

JUDITH: But the Rasans must be overthrown. Surely you agree?

JESUS: Yes, it must happen. None of the things I've told you about can be accomplished as long as the Rasan yoke is on us. I too want that removed. But no violence would achieve that.

JUDITH: But if you were provoked?

JESUS: No use your trying to provoke me. This is the way it is, and the way it must be.

JUDITH: All right, but then why not agree to meet with the Great Parshan? The Parshans also want the Rasan yoke to be removed in subtle ways. You speak about sharing. You could join with them, share with them your knowledge and your being and your power. We could work in subtle ways to drain the Rasan might, so that they will crumble. Just meet with them. Put them to the test.

JESUS: I cannot and will not meet them. They are the ones who hold captive the Heavenly Jerusalem, my bride, as well as a great store of the scriptures of which I have only a few fragments. I have already gone too far in denouncing them. They are too proud. They should have come to me, like the people seeking cures. Even then, I am not sure that I could have talked with them.

JUDITH: Yes, they seem to have horded knowledge, and if I had followed it, I could have found about the relationship between the Messiah and the Heavenly Jerusalem. I'm sorry, but what you are saying has a hollow ring to it. Maybe you're just not sure that you'd be able to put them to the test?

JESUS: I'm ready to put myself to a much harder test than they would. Even unto death. What I say is true, and I am ready to die for it, because I know I shall rise again.... But I see you need to act. So act if you must. You want to return to them, do so. You are on your own, free to choose. Do what you must do!

JUDITH: But would you meet with them if they promise cooperation, and I find that they really mean it?

JESUS: No. It would serve no purpose other than theirs. Mine is already foretold. But if you want to go - go. Go help prepare what must be done.

JUDITH: Not before I can speak my mind. What I really long for is to be close to you. If not as your wife, which you say is the Heavenly Jerusalem, then as your mistress, or whatever. All that pain? All that love? You don't read my heart. If you did you'd know I want you as a woman wants a man. I want to touch you. I want to love you as no one ever has. I would restore your energies in ways you never dreamed of.

(Judith falls to her knees and wraps her arms around Jesus' legs and presses her face between his legs. Jesus freezes as Judith starts kissing his feet and licking and sucking his toes. Then he pushes her away.

JESUS: Judith, no! Not in this way! Do as I told you, go away!

Judith rises to confront Jesus, who stares down at the ground and cannot meet her gaze.)

JUDITH: You're prepared to die. But you're frightened to live. I hope for your sake you are the Son of God. Because sure as hell you aren't any sort of man. I shall go and do what must be done, even if you will not. If I can serve you in no other way, then in this way, at least, I shall.

(The stage goes dark.)