A sequel to Theodor Herzl’s AltneuLand, and to Gol Kalev’s Man on a Hill

Outline and Preview of first four chapters of the book (full manuscript available upon inquiry)

AltneuStadt

Roman

By Gol Kalev

Chapter 1:

After years of partying in Tel Aviv, Omri goes through an emotional crisis and develops skepticism about civilization. Responding to a mysterious flier in the cafe, he joins Kingscourt, an older wealthy European aristocrat who has been working in the Palestinian territories for years – he himself became frustrated with humanity and decided to abandon it.  He and Omri head to an isolated spot in the desert where they intend to live for the next decades. Kingscourt made advanced arrangements with a Bedouin family to provide for their food, basic needs, and upkeep of his car, and to pledge to never have any communication with neither him nor Omri.   

Chapter 2:

After 20 years of isolation in the desert, detached from civilization, Omri and Kingscourt decide to rejoin civilization and head back to Tel Aviv. On their way back, they decide to make an impromptu stop in Jerusalem

Twenty years before, Kingscourt and Omri had entered Jerusalem by night and from the west. Now they came by day, approaching from the east. 

They came directly from Jericho up to the top of The Mount of Olives with the new highway that connects Maale Adumim with Efrat.  As they approached the height of Mount Olives, they saw Jerusalem – a panoramic view.  They spontaneously stopped the car and just sat speechless. 

After 10 minutes of idleness and complete silence, Kingscourt turned to Omri, “It looks so different than I remember it”.  Omri kept staring, his eyes turning close to each other.  After a few more minutes of silence, Kingscourt said: “Let’s go in”.  They drove down the highway which quickly went into a tunnel that led them directly to an underground car-park, with multiple levels below the ground. They were surprised there were not too many cars.

“Jerusalem is empty,” Kingscourt said. “I guess nobody comes here anymore.  People must have all moved to Tel Aviv.”

“Terrorism, religious oppression, Haredis, and constant tension and stress – who would want to live or visit here,” Omri answered him. “I don’t know why you insisted to stop by here – so what if it was on our way.  I am just so glad we are soon heading to Tel Aviv, to civilization.  Just a quick stop!” Omri pointed his index finger at Kingscourt and then used that same finger to press the elevator button up to the street level.”

After a few seconds, the elevator doors opened to a welcomed chilled breeze. The two stared at the vista in amazement. They found themselves in a square – a street corner of some sort, facing a curved light rail on one side, old-style architecture behind it,  clean and decorated park with meticulously planted trees to the right, and then upfront and to their right, there she stood in her mesmerizing beauty: the Old City of Jerusalem.

“Where are we?“ Kingscourt uttered after a long moment of just wondering, his voice shaking.

They both kept staring at the walls of the Old City, well-groomed grass in front of them, and through them a vista in expanse – more ancient wall, more flowery gardens, sky, horizon – the view from where they stood seemed to stretch in infinity.  There was a lot to take: stones, buildings, parks, ancient structures, mountains, vallies, sidewalk tress, benches, flowers.

“I don’t know,” Omri replied after a few more seconds of silence. “This looks like nothing we saw when we were here 20 years ago. The walls of the Old City are right here, but I’m not sure – we should ask people, but….”

Omri’s look intensified as he saw nobody in the square or anywhere around them – just birds, alongside the sound of the breeze and bird twits breaking the unique quiet.  

But then a minute later, it all changes. Omri and Kingscourt noticed what seemed to be an endless parade of people coming from the direction of the light-rail station towards them. The humans passed them, and walked parallel to the Old-city walls in various speeds and forms. They all marched towards a majestic-looking gate.

Omri and Kingstone stood still, their heads just followed the parade of people toward Jaffa Gate, staring in amazement, as if frozen by wonder.  This was the first time in 20 years, they saw people, and so many of them.

“Omri?” The silence was broken with a voice filled with hesitation, and yet familiarity.

They turned around. Omri’s expression immediately changed: “Wow!! Wow!! What on earth are you doing here?” He asked, but instead of an answer he was encountered by a long hug.

“Kingscourt,” Omri turned to his companion while his hand was on the shoulder of the man next to him. “Leave it to luck, that as soon as we arrive in Jerusalem, the first person we see is my old friend here visiting from Tel Aviv,” Omri slapped his friend’s back.

The friend shook Kingscourt hand.  Hi, I am…”

“Sam!” Omri interrupted.

“You did not see me in over 20 years and the first thing you do is to remind me of a nickname?” The man said.

“Nice to meet you Sam,” Kingscourt shook the man hand back.

“We have been away in the desert for 20 years,” Omri said, “we need simple names to go by.”

Chapter 3:

While chatting in IDF square, Kingstone, Omri and Sam bumped into Sylvia. She also recently moved to Jerusalem in order to be closer to her daughter, an officer in the Central Command near Jerusalem.

Chapter 4:

The four continued their conversation in IDF Square

“This light-rail is just another symbol of the occupation,” Kingstone said. “Last time we were here, twenty years ago, we saw the inspectors, pulling out a Palestinian woman and her children off the train for not validating her ticket properly, and then another inspector pulling an elderly tourist off the train who purchased a ticket, but did not know you are meant to validate it.  I pledged I will never take this train of abusive inspectors.”

“Oh, non of this exists now,” Sam said. “The light-rail became free – it was part of the stress-free commuting initiative instilled by the Governor,”

“Governor? Stress-free? This city is nothing but stress,“ Omri jumped-in, “conflict below every stone….Pff….Stress-free commuting,” he waved his hands in mockery.

“While you were away, Israeli researchers determined that a primary cause of bad health is stress.”

“That’s not news,” Omri said.

“Right, but what was proved was that while a big part of stress is caused by long-term issues, like financial hardship and medical issues, most of the damage-inflicted stress is caused by day-to-day things – like traffic, honking, fear of being late, running to the train, fear of remembering to validate your ticket on the train, fear of getting a fine…..What they call micro-stress.”

“Micro-stress?” Kingscourt asked.

“Things that 20 years ago, we assumed were part of life, in the same way that 3,000 years ago, they assumed infant mortality was part of life.“

“But it is not only preventing the negative, it is also enhancing the positive,” Sylvia interjected.

“Enhancing the positive?” Omri asked.

“Eliminating micro-stress does not only prevent health problems, but also generates a superior vehicle to generate ideas,” Sam answered. “Israeli researchers proved that eliminating micro-stress to the fullest creates a 10 times enhancement factor, and in certain cases as high as 50 times.  In other words, all this time, we were using 2-10% of our capacity, while over 90% of our capacity was eliminated due to micro-stress.”

Sam took a slight pause and then continued: “So the Israeli government designated Jerusalem as the laboratory for eliminating micro-stress.  That is why innovators and scientists here in Jerusalem advance humanity much further and much faster.”

“That much?” Kingscourt asked.

“And more,” Sam answered. “Humanity is now advanced from Jerusalem.  And this is one of reasons that Israel has achieved a 30 to 50 percent market-share in many of those sectors.” 

“You mean high-tech? Quantom? Cyber?” Omri asked.

“Yes,” Sam smiled. “To use your terms.”

“It is not just for business and market share,” Sylvia said, rolling her eyes and her neck in mockery as she said market-share. “You can take the boy out being a snotty investment banker, but you can not take the snotty investment banker out of the boy,” she turned to Omri.  “It is also advancements in art, poetry, literature, music.”

“Which in turns helps the scientists and innovators advance humanity,” Sam interjected.

“I used to smoke wheat to get me to a level of writing I needed.  I could not write creatively in Hebrew – it was too real, too holy.  I would come up with my best writing ideas when smoking pot, and then develop them when in English” …

“I remember that,” Omri said….”Until…”

“Exactly, until…” Sylvia said…“But while you were in your dessert Shanti, there was another until – which is exactly what the investment banker was talking about.”  

“I am not an investment banker,” Sam uttered quietly.

“Right – snotty investment banker,” Sylvia corrected herself and continued. “So imagine a world, where there are no smokers in cafes, no motorcycles riding on sidewalks, nobody that interrupts your thoughts as you drink your coffee asking you for your newspaper, no loud people talking on theirs phone in rugged Hebrew, no running to the train, no standing in line to validate your ticket – this all gets you to a level that is way beyond being high.”

“So High is the new normal,” Omri asked.

“More than that,” Sylvia said. “We operate in a different sphere here in Jerusalem – and this is why I was able to write so powerfully once I moved to Jerusalem – that is why I won more international awards, and that is why I do not consider my past writing of any value, but just….

“Just jail-house writing of a prisoner,” Sam interrupted.

“Exactly – you remember!” Sylvia said. “He heard the speech many times.” She turned to Omri.

“It is not just writing,” Sam said. “Neshamat Zion tells me that in her morning prayers, she emphasizes the prayer asking Gd to prevent her from having any anger today, and nor to anger him.  She said she spends a full minute in intensity and intentionality on that part of the morning prayer, and then as her prayer is answered, she has an anger-free and stress-free day, which enables her to learn the Torah deeply, and to get into levels she would not have before. She claims that the anger-free, stress-free miracle she is living in, puts her Torah in a completely different understanding relative to when she was a younger girl.”

“And her being a young girl was a few years ago during your desert time,” Sylvia explained to Omri.

“No, she is not that young,” Sam said.

“Good, she is over 20,” Sylvia stated. 

“What about these stuff?” Omri pointed at Sam.

“What stuff?” Sam responded.

“The little friendly-adversarial cheap shots – like what you two do.”

“Absolutely,” Sam answered. “That probably reduces the innovative capacity, but humans are humans – not all of us are that level yet.  I am not.”

“But Neshamat Zion is,” Sylvia said in mockery.

“She might be.  There is a hierarchy.  Researcher believe the Haredi world is on top of the innovation hierarchy.  There is no cynicism, and people are structurally more calm.”

Sam stopped as a Haredi man mumbling something passed them as he walked towards Jaffa Gate.  “Haredi people are more calm on two levels,” Sam continued, “Both day-to-day and long-term, knowing everything that happens is good because it is Gd’s will.  That is why companies and the government chose Haredi communities now as place to set up those laboratories for advancements in science and technologies.”

“What? In Haredi communities? Without going to University?” Omri protested. “Without getting advanced degrees, without learning core-subject in schools? While living a life of poverty and stagnation – that is just ridiculous”.

“Others go to schools and Universities,” Sam said. “And there is no need for much of the knowledge acquired there anymore, since we have the….information superhighway to use your term,” Sam could not contain his smile.

“I said internet,” Omri responded.

“Artificial Intelligence algorithm got so sophisticated, and the digital footprint so widespread, that knowledge became so cheap.  Like water off your tap, which once was the scarcest commodity. Now you turn on the tap and you have water – it cost money, but very little –  a long cry from the time you had to go to the well, wait for the group to assemble to remove the rock covering the well, and then draw the water out.”

“This was the reason the Nobel prize for science went to this Haredi man,” Sylvia said. “He wrote one paper, which changed science: Mount Sinai vs Mountain derooters” Sylvia said.

“We can deroot mountains with our brains now?” Kingscourt asked.

“Neshamat Ziosn would correct you to say – Gd gives us the ability to deroot mountains.  But yes – that is one of the reasons why the world’s eyes are all on Jerusalem. This is where innovations come from.  This is where humanity is advanced from.”

“It is like Aniline, to use your term,” Sylvia turned to Omri. “We in Jerusalem know how to make refuge out of waste – gold out of garbage.”

“Aniline was over in 1910,” Kinsgcourt said.

“So was the world-wide-web,” Sylvia replied.

“Not quite,” Sam felt he needed to protect Kingscourt form Sylvia’s residual cynicism, “but the point is that information became abundant, and the question is what you do with it. Just like making coffee is not a function of how much water you can pour out of your kitchen tap, but rather how you turn that water into coffee.”

“Like the girls in Tel Aviv 20 years ago,” Omri face lit-up. “Those girls you used to put in your pot, mix them up, and turn them to Tschunt.”

“If you want to use that analogy, fine, yes. But only until you figure out what to do with all that abundance, with the gift, other than just enjoy the surfing on top of it all.”

“I’ll interpret to human-language what lover-boy emeritus is trying to say here,” Sylvia said. “Say you are looking to get married and to build a family. You can pick up a new girl every night, 7 days per week, 30 days per month and enjoy the experience, but it does not get you any closer to your goal.  If the goal is to enjoy the waves and the play and the fun – that works.  But if the goal is to get married, the key to that is not meeting more girls. It is the ability to leverage this skill of picking up ladies, over 20 years old hopefully, towards the goal – towards being married, or towards having children, or toward both.” She gave Sam a deep star.”

“Hmm, but the human nature is different,” Omri said

“Neshamat Zion says that she will get married sooner than her dating friends.  Her girlfriends at the seminary, all go to single events, Shiduch dates, sometimes every night – like we used to go to bars in Tel Aviv every night and meet new girls every night.” 

“On top of the girls you’d meet in the cafes and gym during the day,” Sylvia added.

“But her friends stay single,” Sam said. “While Neshamat Zion is spending her night in the seminary’s library or on her nightly walks around Jerusalem, her friends are swimming in the singles-swamp, as they call it.”

“Good, so they will get married,” Kingscourt said. 

“On the contrary,” Sam said. “Neshamat Zion thinks she is more likely to get married being in the library than her friends are in the swamp, because she believes the singles-swamp became an alternative track to the getting-married track.”

“I thought that is how religious people get married?” Omri said, “through dating.”

“She actually thinks being in the singles scene is a hurdle to getting married. For example, the swamp provides an alternative model to the Shabbat experience – instead of having Shabbat dinner with your family, you have it with other singles.  And on top of it all, being single became a social class – like a designation – that is how you are defined.”

“Like Ruth was no longer known as Ruth, but as the-bitter-one.” Sylvia said, still showing-off her biblical knowledge.

“Or like widows in the old-days used to wear black to be identified by their new social class once they lost their husbands,” Omri said, showing off his knowledge of European history.

“That is why Neshamat Zion does not go on dates nor to single parties nor lectures nor singles wine tastings or anything singles-related,” Sam explained.

“So how is she going to find her religious husband?” Omri asked.

“She says what other religious people often say: That Gd already has a husband designated for her.  That determination occurred even before she was born, and her task as a single person is merely to find him.”

“Fine, but that is why there is dating – so she can find him,” Omri said.

“Exactly the opposite! This, she says, is exactly the difference between Mount Sinai and a Mountain derooter.”

“The thesis of the Haredi noble prize winner?” Kingsport injected.

“Neshamat Zion says that in order to find her husband that Gd designated for her, she needs to get to a high consciousness level, to be as close as possible to unison with Gd, as opposed to receive more data-points,” Sam explained. “It is futile to go one by one through the 2 million single Jewish men in the world.  Even is she has a date every night, she would only examine 365 men per year, which after 20 years of dating, would amount to less than 1% of the Jewish single male possibilities – there will be a 99% probability that she has not met that husband that was designated for her.”

“Wow!” Omri said.

“Moreover, the less than 1% assumes that the Mount Sinai dating-girl would never err – that she has the tools to determine per date, if he is her designated husband or not.   In reality, because she is not a Mountain derooter, she is prone to err.”

“But how will she meet him?” Omri insisted.

“Through life –  on the light-rail, on the train to Tel Aviv, in the cafe, on the street, in synagogue, in a wedding, walking by the old city walls,” Sam pointed to the path towards Jaffa Gate. “As a Mountain derooter, she has a better ability to know who her husband is.  She does not need to date. And it is exactly the same with respect to the Haredi community and them not needing to get a degree in a University.

Just like Neshamat Zion’s husband will be identified through a higher consciousness level, rather than through more datapoints, so does advancement of humanity, which will be made through Haredi people’s higher consciousness – which is hard to attain – rather than through more information provided in universities – which is a cheap commodity.”