The Last Exodus
341
oh God, that they may live through this, another ordeal, in a
life of so many such ordeals. Help them, oh God. Preserve our
people, and bless our nation that we may continue to serve
Thee for evermore. Amen."
It was my last visit to the monastery, and the last time I
saw His Beatitude alive, for he succumbed to the ravages of a
chronic disease that was aggravated by the burdens of his
calling.2
Picking up my bag, I trudged to the Petra, one of the leading hotels in the Old City. I found it full of volunteer soldiers.
The clerk carefully inspected my Arab credentials. The inspection seemed endless until I put a heavy tip on the counter.
"Thank you, thank you. Tafaddal, tafaddal. Please, please,"
he said, and candle in hand, led the way to a room that had
the look and the shape of a vaulted sarcophagus. I hesitated
about going in: lone, dark, damp, with a barred window, it
was not only filthy but actually unsafe. The door had no lock.
I had seen enough of the looters to distrust them thoroughly.
"With my own life I guard you," he promised.
I slipped him another tip, and was on the verge of closing
the door when the clerk spoke again.
"I am sorry I have no DDT for you," he apologized.
"Never mind," I said. "I have a box."
I found the room impenetrably dark. Lighting a match I
spied an ancient spring bed that reeked of fleas and bedbugs,
or worse. I hoped there were no rats, I pulled the bed against
the door, after which I doused myself with DDT, threw my
baggage on board and jumped on, shoes and all, atop the
covers, praying that I would have no visitors during the night,
from beneath the bed, or from outside!
2
He died on October 28, 1949. A devoted humanitarian, he was equally
the friend of Moslem, Christian, and Jew. President Chaim Weizmann telegraphed the Armenian Church representative in Jaffa;
GREATLY MOVED TO LEARN OF THE PASSING AWAY OF HIS BEATITUDE
THE PATRIARCH GUREGH ISRAELIAN, BELOVED FATHER OF THE ARMENIAN
COMMUNITY AND SINCERE FRIEND OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE; PLEASE CONVEY MY DEEPEST CONDOLENCES TO THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY.