Three Special Days by Rabbi Yaakov Meir Strauss is a
work of historical fiction set during Second Temple times. It
describes ten-year-old Naftali's pre- Pesach journey to
Jerusalem with his parents, older brother and baby sister and
his experiences once he arrives there. The publication serves
as a vehicle for the teaching of a wealth of different laws,
customs, opinions and social norms and the reader accompanies
the family as it prepares for the yom tov, visits the
Beis Hamikdosh, brings sacrifices, celebrates the
seder and eats the korbon Pesach.
The book includes diagrams showing the design of the Beis
Hamikdosh and illustrations that enable the reader to
envision many details of life during the Second Temple
period. These include the Beis Hamikdosh layout and
furnishings, the architecture of the buildings and the design
of the clothing people wore. References and sources are
provided in footnotes and as such, they aid the serious
student without disturbing the smooth flow of the text.
Three Special Days, the first book in the "Naftali in
the Beis Hamikdosh" series, originally appeared in Hebrew
under the title, HaZechiya Hagodolah. The second book
in the series, Mul Kisei Hakovod, which describes day-
to-day life in the Temple, is not yet available in
English.
The family journeys to Jerusalem by donkey cart and picks up
a fellow traveler whose conversation proves a major source of
knowledge -- to the reader that is. Little is new to the very
knowledgeable characters in the book! Naftali does
erroneously suggest, however, regarding the animals being
brought to Jerusalem for various sacrificial purposes, that
they be hitched to the wagon. He is soon told that the Sages
forbade this in case these animals would help the donkey pull
the burden, something that would constitute a transgression
of the Torah's prohibition of kilayim (mixed
species).
As Naftali nears Jerusalem, we learn that Jerusalem residents
were forbidden to make a profit on the Sholosh Regolim
hospitality. We hear how the residents of Jerusalem
congregated outside the gates in order to invite the visitors
to the city to stay in their homes.
In this book, Reb Asher, an old yeshiva friend of Naftali's
father, met the family and asked them to join him and his
family.
We read how Naftali's family went to the Beis Hamikdosh and
how his mother brought a post-natal sin offering of a
turtledove. We feel the hustle and bustle as he walks through
the streets and encounters merchants drawing loud notice to
their wares -- matzos, pomegranate- wood spits for
roasting the paschal lambs, candles for searching for
chometz and so on. We even accompany him as he visits
the Announcing Stone -- the equivalent of what we today would
call a lost-property depot.
We are conscious that the story is set in springtime and when
we view a hill that is white as snow, we realize that since
there is no snow at this time of the year, the whiteness must
come from the fleece of thousands upon thousands of young
sheep.
We come across a social situation that existed in days gone
by: Naftali's father does not buy sufficient matzos to
last throughout Pesach. He prefers to wait until chol
hamoed, after the Omer sacrifice has been brought and
flour will have gone down in price. This does not occur
nowadays. While the halochos regarding the date of the
Omer still exist, few people bake matzos on chol
hamoed, and fewer still use flour from the new post- Omer
harvest.
It is impossible to list all the many laws and customs we
encounter. Some, like the discussion about whether
matzos can be purchased with maaser sheni
money, do not apply today. Others, like annulling the
chometz and relating the story of the Exodus, will be
familiar to today's generation. Events within the Temple
itself are totally outside our experience.
The publication was clearly a labor of love. It is written in
simple language and is a relaxing read that belies the huge
amount of information packed into its pages. The facts this
book contains cannot be remembered and absorbed after a
single reading and it needs to be read and reread. Its
contents will fall further and further into place as
youngsters learn the relevant Torah verses, mishnayos
and halochos.
The blurb on the back cover of the book states: "Young
readers are invited to join Naftali and his family to
experience `Three Special Days' -- the 12th, 13th and 14th of
Nisan -- in this very special book. Celebrate Pesach with
Naftali at the time of the second Beis Hamikdosh. Find out
what happens when a mouse is seen on the Temple Mount. Meet
the members of Naftali's chabura who will all spend
seder night together. Catch a glimpse of the Sanhedrin
in session and peek into the Chamber of Secrecy with Naftali
and his friend Aharon. Walk through the crowded marketplace
with Naftali and his father as they buy wine, matzos
and new pottery for the holiday and choose maror from
the five different kinds of bitter herbs. Learn the laws of
the offering brought in the Temple and join Naftali as his
brother Yitzchak slaughters the korbon Pesach.
"Author Rabbi Yaakov Meir Strauss brings the days of the
Second Temple to life with his exciting story, extensively
annotated and enhanced with maps and diagrams of each
structure in the Beis Hamikdash, as well as with charming
illustrations."
Certainly, this is a book well worth reading, and well worth
studying, but that said, I nevertheless have two
reservations.
The first is that this book is not for everybody. This is not
a publication for the spiritually immature. We live in a
generation that has transient values of its own and not
everyone appreciates that the Torah message transcends twenty-
first century spiritual correctness. Many people will not be
ready to learn of restrictions as to who can eat the
korbon Pesach, of some of the punishments that could
occur, and so forth. This is a book suitable only for people
who are highly committed to the Jewish way of life.
My second reservation is more personal. I am a Jerusalem
housewife who dreams of the day when she will be able to
welcome family and friends coming to the Holy City for the
Shalosh Regalim. Readers are supposed to identify with
young Naftali. I personally identify more with the hostess
who received the family into her home. We do not learn much
about her, not even her name. But what we do learn is
amazing.
"Mrs. Reb Asher", for want of a better title, has six
children of her own and expects her parents for the yom
tov, but she nevertheless puts up three additional
families, not only during yom tov itself, but starting
already during the busy pre-Pesach period. Her guests try not
to make too much trouble but, as we all know, the nicest
visitors create extra work.
She prepares meals, allows Naftali to tie a lamb to the foot
of his bed and finds her home is the scene of a loud, excited
Torah discourse. She is even faced with a situation whereby
one set of guests who traveled to Eretz Yisroel all the way
from Babylon take the opportunity of their coming to
Jerusalem to bring a thanksgiving offering of eighty loaves
(most of them chometz) and two lambs. Seventy-two of
the loaves and a large proportion of the meat had to be eaten
in Reb Asher's home during the course of a single evening.
And because the family could not manage this alone, even with
the help of the sleep-in guests, they invited the neighbors
to help them eat the bread and mutton. It must have required
a large number of neighbors to get through that amount of
food!
It wouldn't have been easy at Shavuos time or at Succos time,
but just before Pesach!
In spite of all this, she babysits for Naftali's little
sister, apparently willingly and with a smile, so that
Naftali's mother can go to the Beis Hamikdosh.
Personally, I'd like to see a book written from Mrs. Reb
Asher's angle. I'd like to know how she did it. Our Sages say
that it was in the merit of righteous women that our
forefathers were redeemed from Egypt. It appears that the
women who lived during the Temple periods could not have been
far behind!
The reader can identify with the final sentences on the back
cover, "Three Special Days awakens a yearning for our
Holy Temple. May such yearning bring about our Redemption,
speedily in our days."
