Pinchas will be sent with his brother-in-law to Jerusalem, under the Ottoman rule, in 1906. He will chafe at being a Yeshivah student and, instead, will become the apprentice to Itamar Ben-Yehuda, the first native-speaking Hebrew child in 2,000 years. When he meets Itamar, the latter will be a dashing 26-year-old editor of the first daily Hebrew newspaper in history. Itamar’s father will literally have taken what was a dead language and, in less than two decades, re-created it into a modern language with poets, Nobel Prize-winning authors, pickpockets, streetwalkers, fishmongers… And one of the most incredible love stories in the history of Jerusalem. Pinchas will be the go-between between 26-year-old Itamar Ben-Yehuda and the sixteen-year-old beauty, Leah Abusheddid. In those days, the Sephardic Jews of Jerusalem – those from Morocco, Yemen, Babylon and Turkey – were the wealthy upper and educated classes. The Ashkenazim, the poor Jews from Eastern Europe, were looked down upon by the Sepharadim. The city of Jerusalem at that time was, contrary to popular opinion, a primarily Jewish city, where Jews and Arabs coexisted in relative harmony. In the Jerusalem of the turn of the century, it was the Christian factions who were at war with each other, though war is too harsh of a word. The conflict manifested itself in fistfights and insults. Itamar Ben-Yehuda was not only in love with the sixteen-year-old beauty, but wanted to marry her. The girl’s mother adamantly refuses. Pinchas urges Itamar to use the weapon at his disposal, to win his lady love; namely, his newspaper. With Pinchas’ encouragement, Itamar will publish a love poem, with banner headlines, every day, as well as editorials about the cruel family keeping the young lovers apart. Jerusalem will be divided not between Arab and Jew, but between those supporting the young lovers and those supporting the mother. Riots will literally break out in the markets of the Old City, as this modern-day Romeo and Juliet plays out. Finally, the six great religious leaders of Jerusalem - the Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchs, the Anglican Bishop, the Muslim Imam and the Sephardic and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbis, will come to the mother and tell her she must end her refusal and accept the betrothal, for the peace of the city. On the day when Itamar Ben-Yehuda and Leah Abusheddid are married, all the church bells in Jerusalem will ring in triumph.
