Letter from Thessaloniki
Nine years ago, on Tuesday, April 16, Sahar Tamam Nabulsi, 22, the first suicide bomber in the modern history of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, ripped through the parking lot of a roadside coffee shop. A good time earlier, millennia ago in fact, during the Hebrew-Philistine conflict, the first ever suicidal act of destruction took place. This was when an Old Testament worthy, a Nazarite named Samson, grasped with all his might the two middle pillars upon which the temple he had been led into stood, and leaned his weight upon them. And Samson said, «Let me die with the Philistines.» And, behold, the festively adorned and thronged temple of the god Dagon (a fish-god, protector of the sea) fell upon the lords and upon all the people – about 3,000 men and women all in all – that were in it. So the dead whom Samson slew at his death were more than those whom he had slain during his life. (There are chilling parallels with today: Since the fighting in Israel began in September 2000, some 1,200 Palestinians have been killed, compared with some 400 Israelis. It is helpful to compare historical and religious facts with the stories we grew up with.) There had been other victims before then. Samson – the Hebrew strongman with a weakness for Philistine women – had already previously destroyed: first of all, 1,000 uncircumcised – says the Old Testament – Philistines, beating them to death with the jaw of a decomposing ass, and secondly, the standing corn, the vineyards and olives of his enemies when he tied together, in pairs, 300 jackals (some say foxes) tail to tail, with a burning torch between them, and sent the maddened animals into the fields of the Philistines, which were just being harvested. Finally, Delilah, the pre-Palestinian temptress of Sorek, betrayed him into Philistine hands. She did so for 5,500 shekels. Here is a tale that illustrates the tragedy of transient things such as adultery, advancement and adversity. Leafing through the Bible is an informative and accessible means of discovering all these Bible stories, as well as why the Bible remains so important today. Only the other day, April 20, a study conducted by the Macedonian University of Thessaloniki boasted that Greek men are more susceptible to extramarital affairs. According to the survey, conducted on a sample of 150 people, the majority of those who saw cheating in marriage in a positive light were men, 65.1 percent, compared to 34.9 percent of women. Thus, the people of Thessaloniki seem to acknowledge that there is a considerable gap between what is recognized as good behavior – through female eyes – and what is the reality on the ground. Just as in Biblical times, more women are considered better than one. For in the days of the Biblical account of the Philistines – a probable conjecture is that they originally came from Crete – a man could marry (literally «become the master of the woman») as often as he desired. In Genesis 4:19, Lamech became the first known polygamist when he took two wives. Subsequent men who took multiple wives included: Esau with 3 wives; Jacob: 2; Ashur: 2; Gideon: many; Elkanah: 2; David: many. Finally, Solomon had 700 wives of royal birth. This, quite understandably, led to his downfall. Obviously public morals have changed since those potent times. Also based on the Macedonian University’s research, 65 percent are in favor of marriage, while one in three, namely 31 percent, do not believe in marriage as an institution. Needless to say, in all cases, one sole wife is intended. And as Samson’s sin finally assumed the form of adulterous love for Delilah, one could also mention that 69 percent take a favorable view of the possibility of a second marriage in case of the failure of the first. But, blessings be to God, neither the story nor its parallel stops here. For «then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.» Now, according to PASOK MP Dr Thanos Askitis, who presents a weekly TV program on sexual problems and is a member of Parliament’s Committee on Equality and Human Rights, one in two married Greek men buys the services of a prostitute at least once a month. (Church and custom both prescribe: «One who keeps company with harlots squanders his substance,» Proverbs 29.3.) Although it is never easy to understand the religious feeling of a foreign civilization, in the case of Samson the Nazarite, or the first human suicide bomber, the blessed one who had been set apart by God before his birth, one can observe how in the period of Judges the history of the Jews reached one of its highest points, while in the case of Samson, the man of carnal lusts, it also sunk to one of its lowest – for «the mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit.» For us Greeks, with our vast and ancient tradition of polytheism, the realm of religion and morals lies in the twilight zone. Gods whose favors to men, parties and football teams might be secured by the correct sacrifices and offerings are an apt comment on modern political morals. Yesterday it was confirmed that Israel, a country willing to avenge crime, had pulled its forces out of the West Bank town of Nablus and parts of Ramallah. Nevertheless, the prophet Zechariah’s – perhaps utopian – images of «Love, Truth and Peace,» and Isaiah’s familiar parables of the wolf lying down with the lamb are, in all probability, not going open the gates «that the Righteous Nation, which keeps the Truth, may enter in.» The wolf and the lamb may lie together but the lamb, it seems, won’t get much sleep.
