Mulling The Millennium
The Messiahs Check, In
With the year 2000 fast approaching, Jerusalem is attracting
all types of people who believe they are biblical figures.
Alfonso Botti glieri, from Rome
is a pilgrim in Jerusalem. He
says he dresses in biblical garb
as part of his mission as God
and the spirit lead him. Here
he sits outside the Church
of the Holy Selphcre where
Christians believe that Jesus
was crucified, buried and
resurrected from the dead.
JUDITH SUDILOVSKY
Special to the Jewish News
Jerusalem
T
he other week Elijah the
Prophet was arrested, hos-
pitalized and finally deport-
ed from Israel. He had been
staying at the Petra Hostel just inside
Jaffa Gate, a favorite of backpackers
and would-be messiahs.
"He was basically nice, a big tall
guy with a gray beard. He just started
screaming about sinners and the police
locked him up. They are on edge and
a bit worried because of those
Concerned Christians who were here,"
said Ted Bloomfield, the Jewish man-
ager of the Petra in referring to a cult
group expelled from Israel this winter.
Bloomfield, in the Israel hostel
business for the past 20 years, has seen
his share of prophets and messiahs.
9/10
1999
10 Detroit Jewish News
They are affected by something gener-
ally known as the Jerusalem
Syndrome, which convinces a handful
of people that they are reincarnations
of people of historical — usually bibli-
cal — significance. Most, he added,
have a mental illness but are harmless.
"I've always had them," he said.
"You get people who think they are
John the Baptist, Elijah, a prophet, a
reborn disciple or Mother of Israel."
His usual reaction to their declara-
tions: "Yeah, yeah — next."
But most of these later-day messen-
gers are not disturbed young men.
Rather, they seem to be middle-
aged white men with families and suc-
cessful careers before God spoke to
them.
"We are seeing more cases, but I
don't know if there really are more
now or if we are getting more because
the police are more sensitive to the
issue and bringing them in. Whereas
before they would just leave them
alone," said Ziva Strauss, a social work-
er at Kfat Shaul Psychiatric Hospital.
"Today, anybody who is a little bit
strange is looked at with suspicion."
This comes after a winter run-in
by the Israeli police with the
Concerned Christian cult. Group
members, later deported, were report-
edly planned a violent attack on the
Temple Mount to hasten the Second
Coming of the messiah.
These days, police and other gov-
ernmental authorities decline to give
details about security arrangements.
They say only that every precaution is
being taken to ensure there will be no
violent incidents during the millenni-
um year, when up to one million
additional tourists are expected to
flood into Israel.
Indeed, a special security task force
is being trained to deal with this poss
bility. More than 400 new security
cameras are expected to be hooked ui
throughout the Old City, according t
one police source. Right now, howev-
er, the police are short on manpower
and have not yet received the
promised funds to recruit some 200
new officers. If the money does not
materialize, said National PoliCe Chit
Yehuda Wilk, his forces will not be
able to prepare cadets in time.
But that's of no interest over at th
Petra, where this week at least two
messengers of God sat among the
tanned and pierced, T-shirt and jeans
crowd. They were 68-year-old Girad
Van Eden from Holland and another
older European man, who declined t
reveal his name before delivering a
message of reconciliation and a call
the non-commercialization of the mi
len niu m year.