“This is not mesirut nefesh at all, but foolishness. And the Almighty does not want us to be fools”
They stand at the mouth of the cave: a great, jagged opening where brown soil and ochre grass disappears into chalk white. It is like an axe has come down and opened the skin of the earth, revealing a hidden world of secrets.
Eliyahu, Yannai, and other men climb into the cave, feel the wind fall away and the sound of the leaves rushing in the wind silence. Inside, the air is close and slightly damp, and filled with the ringing noise of pickaxe on stone.
They see no one, but at times there is the flash of a lantern, in a cavern just beyond the entrance. A cold, damp breeze carries the sound of voices up toward them. Yannai looks around.
“Tzidkiyahu’s cave.” He steps inside and places his hands flat on the walls. “The best stone in all the land comes from here. It is the stone Shlomo Hamelech used for the Beis Hamikdash.”
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