Gore Vidars 'Julian: Emperor's Pledge to Rebuild
Temple aderusalem, Theological Christian-Jewish
Dialogues, Leading Factors in Importanaiography
been interest in proselytizing outside
longer, one wonders, would he the small world of the Jews. His
have accomplished it, and might troubles with Rome were not re-
his battle against Christianity have ligious (when did Rome ever per-
secute anyone for religious be-
been more effective?
lief?) but political. Jesus thought
It is when Julian quoted from
he
was the messiah. Now the
the Book of Exodus, "Thou shalt
The conflict over the recogni-
messiah is a sort of Jewish
not revile the gods," that Maxi-
tion or rejection of Christianity
hero who, according to legend,
mus cills Julian's attention to
emerges in interesting light. and
will one day es-tablis h a
"the confusion between the book
in a note from Pricus to Libanius,
Jewish empire prior to the end
of the Jews and the book of the
both often quoted in this large
of the world. He is certainly not
Nazarene. The god of the first
work, appears this admonition:
a god. much less the One God's
is supposed to be the god of
"You will note in the memoirs
son. The messiah has been the
the second. Yet in the second
that Julian invaribly refers to the
subject of many Jewish prophecies.
he is the father of the Nazarene.
Christians as `Galileans' and to
and Jesus carefully acted out each
their churches as 'charnel houses,'
It is at this point that Julian prophetic requirement in order to
this last a dig at their somewhat
make himself resemble this hero
necrophile passion for the relics asserts that he is Arian "because tthe messiah would enter Jeru-
of dead men. I think it might be I find it impossible to believe
salem on an ass• so did he, et
a good idea to alter the text. and that God was briefly a man exe- cetera). But the thing went wrong
reconvert those charnel houses cuted for treason. Jesus was a The people did not support him.,
into churches and those Galileans prophet — a son of God in some His god forsook him. He turned
into Christians. Never offend an mysterious way — yet, but not to violence. With a large band of
the One God." A theological dis-
enemy in a small way."
cussion ensues. and Maximus rebels, he seized the temple, an-
It should be noted that Julian's
charges that "the Christians would nouncing that he had come with
opposition to Christianity was
impose one final rigid myth on a sword. What his god would not
not with terror and that he resorted what we know to be various and for him he would do for himself.
to logic, to reasoning out his argu• strange. No. not even myth, for So at the end he was neither a
ments against the faith.
"The Emperor Julian's life is
the Nazarene existed as flesh god nor even the Jewish messiah
lie was friendly to Judaism and while the gods we worship were but a rebel who tried to make him-
remarkably well documented.
there is an interesting note in never men: rather they are quali- self king of the Jews. Quite cor-
Three volumes of his letters and
essays survive, while such ac-
the "Julian" biography which in- ties and powers become poetry rectly, our governor executed him.
that he had promised to for our instruction. With the wor-
dicates
quaintances as Libanius and
"We must never forget that in
rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. ship of the dead Jew, the poetry
Saint Gregory of Nazianzus
his own words, Jesus was a Jew
ceased. . . ."
who believed in the Law of Moses.
A subsequent dialogue with his This means he would not be the
wife, his cousin Helena, com- son of God (the purest sort of
menced with Julian saying to him- blasphemy), much less God him-
self that the Hebrew books were s e 1 f, temporarily earthbound.
By BENNETT CERF
referred to by the Galileans as There is nothing in the book of
an
old testament. Then. the dia- the Jews which prepared us for a
rr IIE WILD WEST, laments Mike Todd Jr., has come to
logue; commencing with Julian
kinship with Jehovah.
this: he saw a rugger cowboy swagger into a rootin' tootin' who speaks in the first person, as messiah's
Only by continual reinterpretation
saloon, push his way boldly through the crowd and demand taken from his memoirs:
and convenient 'revelations' have
of the bartender, "I'm a
"I admire the Jews because
the Galileans been able to change
stranger in 'these yar parts.
of their devotion to a single
this reformer-rabbi's career into
god. I also admire them because
a parody of one of our own gods,
Where can I plug in my elec-
of their self-discipline. But I de-
creating a passion of death and re-
tric gee-tar?"
* • *
plore the way they interpret
birth quite inconceivable to one
their god. He is supposed to be
who kept the Law of Moses. . . ."
An ingenious Binghampton
universal. but he is interested
Much more is offered, in
jeweler has designed earrings that
only in them. . .
monologue by Julian, as well as
are proving particularly popular
"Christ,"
said
my
wife
sud-
in dialogues with his friends, in
with ladies in complaint depart-
denly, "was sent by God to all
the fascinating style of Vidal's
ments and at reception desks of
of
us."
biography, and it one point Jul-
oVercrowded hotels. On one ear-
There
was
an
embarrassed
si-
ian's
memoir asserts in a com-
ring is printed the word "IN," on
lence.
ment on the Edict on Education
the other, "OUT."
• • •
"The issue." I said finally.
and "literary hacks": "The new
with great gentleness, "is just
testament they rewrote as a ser-
A group of sour-visaged econo-
that: would the One God inter-
ies of Socratic dialogues, imitat-
mists met recently in Washington
vene in such a way?"
ing Plato (but in anapests!),
to predict what the world would
"We believe that he did."
while the old book of the Jews
be like 50 years from now. The most optimistic of those present opined
"Yet is it not written in the
was compressed into 24 chapters
that in 50 years most of the population would be reduced to subsisting
so-called gospel of John, that
from Alpha to Omega, rendered
on crabgrass. The pessimists? They predicted there wouldn't be
'out of Galilee arises no
in deadly dactyl."
enough crabgrass to go around!
•
*
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prophet?' "
On the question of the rebuild-
"God is God, not a prophet,"
ing of the Temple in Jerusalem
A foreigner was explaining why he gave up trying to learn
said Helena.
we are treated by Vidal to one
English. "When I found out that if I was quick I was fast," he com-
"But the idea of the Naza- ' of the very interesting factors in
plained "and that if I was tied I was fast: if I spent too much on girls
ene's
mission,
in
his
own
words,
his biography. First the Julian
I was fast. and that not to eat is to fast, I was discouraged. But when
is taken from the old testament,
memoir is alluded to:
they showed me the sentence. "The first one won one one-dollar prize,
which is Jewish, which says that
"The Nazarene predicted that
I quit altogether."
4,
•
*
a prophet — a messiah — will
the temple of the Jews would be
one day come to the Jews, but
forever destroyed; after his death
Noted TV producer Franklin Heller has a rule that he says must
not God himself."
the temple was burned by Titus.
be obeyed implicitly if one hopes to stay successful in his murderously ,
"That is a difficulty," she
If I rebuild it, the Nazarene will
competitive profession: "Never permit an associate to finish a sen-
admitted.
be proved a false prophet. With
tence—since he just possibly might know what he's talking about and
Throughout the historical biog- some pleasure. I have given orders
thereby prove that you do not." Adds Heller, "If you miss your chance
raphy, there are similar theo- that the temple be restored. Also,
to interrupt, change the subject."
•
•
*
logical debates, and the illuminat- what better allies can one have
Don Freeman figured out why there are comparatively few women ing comments, brilliantly record- against the Galileans than the
ed by the master author, Gore Jews, who must contemplate with
skin divers. They can't talk under water.
Vidal, offer the reader one of the daily horror the perversion of
*
*
•
Overheard on a bus: "The way I see it. my job is safe. It doesn't great literary documents of the their holy book by the followers
of the man-god?"
decade.
pay enough, to make it worth while to invent a machine to do it."
There is the piecing together
Then come the following con-
*
•
*
011ie James reports a fellow who got 87 shaves from a single by Julian of the story of Jesus, versations:
"Priscus: Julian does not again
and he is quoted:
razor blade. He's nine years old.
"The actual life story of the refer to this matter, but when he
*
•
Galilean has vanished. But I have gave orders for the Jewish temple
MORE RIDICULOUS RIDDLES:
had an interesting time trying to to be rebuilt, there was consterna-
1. Q.
What's yellow. soft. and goes round and round?
piece it together. Until 30 years tion among the Christians. They
A. A long-playing omelette.
ago, the archives at Rome contain- hate the Jews, partly because they
2. Q. What's black and white and hides in a cave?
ed a number of contemporary re- feel guilty for having stolen their
A. A zebra who owes money.
ports on his life. They have since god from them, but mostly because
3. Q. What's white outside, green inside, and hops?
disappeared, destroyed by order they realize that 'the Jews know
A. A frog sandwich.
of Constantine. It is of course better than anyone what perfect
•
•
•
NAMES .. . The house detective in a shiny new Manhattan hotel an old bitter joke that the Naza- nonsense the whole Christian mish-
is named "Tiptoe Tannenbaum" . . . Groucho Marx' real name is rene himself was not a Christian. mash is. Now if the Jewish temple
Jul. .s. "The only two fellows with a name like that who ever became He was something quite else. I were rebuilt, not only would Jesus
nave talked to antiquarians who be proved a false prophet but the
famous," he boasts, "are Caesar and me" ...
knew about the file in the archives; Christians would again have a
*
*
*
formidable rival at Jerusalem.
A sagacious grocer in Detroit has observed that most people, like several had either read it, or know
Something had to be done. And it
coffee, can be divided into three types: fine. regular, and drip. Pos- people who had. Jesus was, sim-
ply, a reformed Jewish priest, ex- was.
sibly, adds the grocer, because of the daily grind.
"I got the true story from my
clusive as the Jews are, with no
Q 1964, by Bennett Cert. Distributed by King Features Syndicate
Julian Augustus. the emperor
of Rome for the brief period of
361-363, has become known as
Julian the Apostate. Corning to
power after Constantine the Great,
who had proclaimed Christianity
the dominant religion in his land,
Julian sought to restore Hellen-
ism. to undermine the Christian
faith.
He did not and could not have
succeeded in his task because the
Christian religion already had sunk
deep roots. But Christianity has
not forgotten him and branded
him the Apostate.
The history of this brief period
and the life of this remarkable
man are the subject of a great
historical novel, "Julian." by
Gore Vidal. published by Little,'
Brown & Co., Boston.
Vidal's is a most remarkable
work, based on established his-
torical data. and as the author
points out in a prefatory note. in
which he calls attention to the
appended bibliography:
wrote vivid accounts of him.
Though I have written a novel,
not a history, I have tried to
stay with the facts, only occa-
sionally shifting things around.
. . ."
Try and Stop Me
Had his reign as Caesar
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FARRIS BROS.
TE 2-5373
old friend Alypius, who was in
charge of the project. He had been
vice-prefect in Britain when Jul-
ian was Caesar. Looking for a
new assignment, Alypius came to
Antioch and we saw a good deal
of one another. for he was as much
given to the pleasures of the flesh
as am — as was One night
we visited every brothel in Singon
Street. But I shall spare you the
idle boasting of an old man.
"Libanius: For this small favor,
I thank heaven.
"Priscus: Julian sent Alypius to
Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
He had carte blanche. With the
help of the governor, they started
work, to the delight of the local
Jews, who agreed to raise all nec-
essary money. Then the famous
'miracle' happened. One morning
balls of flame flared among the
stones and a sudden fierce north
wind caused them to roll about,
terrifying the corkmen who fled.
Alypius later discovered that the
Galileans had placed buckets of
naphtha in the ruins, so arranged
that if one was lit all the others
would catch fire, too, giving the
impression of fire-demons scurry-
ing about.
"The north wind was not plan-
ned; it is of course possible that
Jesus sent the wind to ensure his
reputation as a prophet, but _I
think coincidence is more likely.
Plans were made to start to re-
building in the spring, but by then
it was too late."
What remarkable legends, and
what an interesting series of com-
ments on Roman attitudes to Chris-
tianity and the Christian - Jewish
differences!
What, indeed, would have been
the effects on subsequent world
history had Julian succeeded in
rebuilding the temple?
Whatever the results and after-
effects, it is clear, from the .Vidal
biography, that the Christian dis-
like for Julian is understandable,
that one can appreciate why he
was called Julian the Apostate.
Vidal has succeeded in gather-
ing valuable historical material.
He has produced a great book. The
Jewish elements, in their relation
to Christian viewpoints, stand out
uniquely. "Julian" is without doubt
one of the very noteworthy his-
torical biographies of our time.
—P. S.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
30—Friday, December 25, 1964