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.