Editor’s Note: An excerpt from T/R Ellison’s new novel, a post-October 7, End of Days mystery —David Michael Slater
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, they shall never hold their peace day nor night: Ye that are the LORD'S remembrancers, take ye no rest, And give Him no rest, till He will establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
— Isaiah 62:6-7
Prologue
Dead? Not dead? Twenty-eight-year-old Joshua E. Katz wondered whether there might be a better middle-ground alternative between the absolutes. One minute, he was underground in the bowels of Zedekiah’s Cave trying to wrestle the Deadman’s switch out of the suicide bomber’s hand, and in the next, he found himself standing on the eastern ramparts of Har HaBayit — the Temple Mount.
And he wasn’t alone.
If there was indeed safety in numbers, then Joshua took comfort in the sheer number of “others” with him. Setting aside the obvious question of “What in the hell was going on?” he thought of asking those “standing” with him, but they seemed oblivious to his sudden appearance amongst their ranks. Instead, their attention was focused on the eastern horizon, at the figure standing at the top of the 3,000-year-old Mount of Olives Cemetery.
While a firm believer in empirical data, checking to see if his head was still attached to his body, fell into the TMI category… way Too Much Information. While Joshua had the sensation of a body, it could be a red herring, a phantom limb phenomenon only on a grander scale. If his proprioceptors were fooling him as part of some god-awful cosmic joke with the punchline, “Look ma, no hands!” or anything else, then the shahid had succeeded in blowing himself up and taking Joshua along with him. Not quite ready to confront that particular misery, Joshua cautiously looked around him, to his left, right, and then upward at a row of others manning the Temple Mount’s upper ramparts’ tier. If he perceived them, then logic dictated that he could also perceive himself. But was he the same as them, or different?
Curiosity is the devil’s tool, and apparently, he wasn’t immune. Cautiously, he looked down to where he perceived his body should be, only there wasn’t one. Instead, he was confronted with a shimmer that distorted his former self-space and his ability to discern who or what he was. Joshua thought of asking those around him, but they seemed intent on watching the figure on the horizon.
If you can’t beat them, you might as well join them, he thought, and then turned his attention to the figure who paradoxically seemed to be standing still while simultaneously moving closer. That, or they were moving closer to him in yet another Twilight Zone-type anomaly defying explanation. Interestingly, no one else seemed disturbed by their state of being, or non-being, but were intently focused on the figure making on a straight-line approach through Har HaZei'tim (Mount of Olives) — the final resting place for over 150,000 people.
The Mount of Olives easily ranked among the hottest properties in all of Jerusalem at an average cost of $30,000 for a standard 7' by 2.5' plot of land; a bargain price for securing front-row seats to the Redemption. Jewish tradition held that these souls would be among the first to be resurrected with the coming of the long-awaited Moshiach/Messiah, while the rest of the world would be tunneling through bedrock to join the Techiyat HaMei'tim party, the Resurrection of the Dead sans the Zombie Apocalypse or Walking Dead nightmare scenarios. Joshua’s parents and grandparents were nestled into adjoining plots on the middle tier, near the Path of the Kohanim, with a scenic view of the Old City walls. With his current proximity to his own final resting place, plot number 520, next to his mom Shoshana “Shosh” Katz, maybe, this was a waiting room, an antechamber for souls, before being granted entry through the proverbial pearly gates.
Joshua was fast reconciling himself to being on the dead side of the equation. And if that were the case, shouldn’t he have been given a number or ticket to queue up for an orderly entry into the afterlife?
Cautiously, he ventured another look at those around him. While he couldn’t place his finger, or any other body part, on it, there was something oddly familiar about the others… about all of them. The intangible something defied explanation as their individual, semi-incorporeal markers became confluent with one another, and with him, flowing together, conjoined into a single entity. He was reminded of the uber-large organisms on the planet, an 8 square kilometer grove of Aspen trees in Utah known as Pando; its biomass outranked an 8.9 square kilometer mushroom “patch” in Oregon, earning status in the Guinness Book of World Records. Joshua figured that the energetic convergence of human souls easily outranked the gargantuan fungi and plants, or at least would give them a run for their money for the World Record title.
While there was still an abundance of confounding variables all factoring into his trying to understand his new state of being, Joshua’s anxiety was checkmated by an overwhelming Spidey sense of home. It would seem that these connected souls co-existed with him, in life and death, transcending all boundaries. There, emerging from the shimmer was a familiar pattern, a ball and stick construction arranged in the classic Kabbalistic Tree of Life symbol.
While the hierarchical Tree of Life structure was recognizable, depicting the ten Sefirot — the ethereal emanations through which G-d is revealed — it was nonetheless different. This conformation dynamically pulsed with soul sparks in a vibrational dance across the paired attributes, nodes, and bridges, lighting up the Tree of Life like a Christmas tree.
In completing the thought, understanding dawned as Joshua realized he wasn’t seeing just one Tree of Life, but rather he, and the others, were part of multiple interconnected Trees of Life — plural. The multidimensional confluences of conjoined soul sparks were linked through the various nodes and branches connecting the different Sefirot in a swirling continuum of rainbow-colored hues. Each of the ten Divine Attributes was individually represented within the electromagnetic spectrum of visible light frequencies; the energetic pulses, however, were interwoven, emitting the breath of light and life. Alive, even in this interspace. But while his soul might have survived the shahid’s death wish, apparently, he had not.
He wasn’t surprised that the Tree of Life figured prominently in this otherworldly experience. For as long as Joshua could remember, he’d been fascinated by the Tree of Life. At age six, he’d first seen a colorful version on a needlepoint pillow his Oma Rachel made… her last needlepoint. Even in the two-dimensional design, the arrangement of colorful threads hinted at the structure’s hidden dimensionality. Compelled by a borderline obsessive-compulsive drive, he tried building a two-dimensional replica with marshmallows and spaghetti pasta before moving on to popsicle sticks, then to a 3-D model using Zome® tools to add dimensionality to the structure, before finally graduating at age eleven to wireframes using a Computer-Assisted Design (CAD) program. But none of his representations compared to this multi-dimensional reality, and none had ever captured the shimmering manifestation he now recognized as his own soul root.
In their pure essence, he knew them all, but then why hadn’t the others bothered to acknowledge his presence, or at least say something to welcome the new guy?
The visual display was mesmerizing, enough to occupy his thoughts. Joshua couldn’t recall ever seeing anything like it. In developing HaMikdash3.0, Hazon Labs’ premier virtual reality mecca built around the Third Jewish Temple, the Beit HaMikdash, he’d researched every variation on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life theme, or so he thought. More recently, Joshua had delved into the unity of relationships between the Seed/Flower/Tree of Life, trying to uncover their co-related mysteries. Not surprisingly, this new version of the Tree of Life pulsed with a bouquet of flowers and seeds.
He theorized that if a life’s cycle could be expressed within the context of seed, flower, and tree, then the age-old chicken and egg conundrum could be applied: which came first, the seed, the flower, or the tree? In a transcendent algorithm infused with mystical, spiritual, and religious symbolism, the Flower of Life was seen in elaborated repeating patterns in nature, art, architecture, and science, embedding both the seeds and trees. Or was the elemental structure, the “starting point,” the Tree of Life? Or could the soul’s “life” be described beyond seeds, flowers, and trees?
In his mind’s eye, Joshua could see a different kind of confluence — a composite image where seeds, flowers, and trees coexisted in a single, unified form of being. Each was a self-sustaining entity, an individual part, but also part of a greater whole. The circular form could be joined with others in an ever-expanding array of Flowers of Life. The incomplete flowers at the circle’s periphery hinted at their becoming… of being part of something other than, greater than, the sum of its parts and extending beyond any one circumscribed Flower of Life.
A Tree of Life could be placed along the central axis, with others rotating around the flower’s six-fold symmetry, interweaving the Sefirot of one soul’s journey with, and into, another… a continuum of interconnected Sefirot. The pattern could be repeated indefinitely, connecting seeds, flowers, and trees, and where there was no sum to its completion except, if possible, wherever Infinity might be found.
The Gestalt of each Flower of Life could be considered complete, in and of itself, but the construct was also incomplete as the parts of one belonged to, and with, another. Within the infinitely connected circles, there was a continuum of interlocking Flowers of Life — a lattice of multiplexed, multi-dimensional Trees of Life, resplendent in plurality, reflecting the ultimate G-d reference: unity. Ein Sof. Without end. Unfathomable.
But was he limiting his thinking, overlooking the obvious? All were composed of geometric forms — lines, circles, triangles, squares, pentagons — compounded into complex, interwoven structures. Could mathematics be at the root of spirituality, hidden in plain sight within these sacred geometries? At least he wasn’t getting a migraine thinking about what was, clearly, a multiple lifetime digression.
Despite the unknowns surrounding his present condition and his “if alive” status, Joshua couldn’t help but wonder if he had time to update the Tree of Life depictions in HaMikdash3.0 to reflect this new multi-dimensional vision. If he had time, the phrase made him smile. What was he thinking?
Only one question remained: Was he still alive or dead? He tried to recall the last moments when he fought with the shahid devil. The suicide bomber, who had been dressed in the Border Police uniform, spewed venomous, oxymoronic, antithetical All-ahu Akbars enough times to wake the proverbial dead, and apparently he had, at least on some level. The diatribe left little doubt about the shahid’s intentions or his affiliation. But what role the shahid played in this particular drama remained a critical unknown; or, for that matter, his role in this, whatever this was. Ironically, the question of his role in the so-called bigger picture, the “why” of his being had consumed him, driving Joshua to create, manifest, the third Beit HaMikdash as HaMikdash3.0, albeit a virtual Holy Temple.
He believed HaMikdash3.0 would be heralded for its novel, peaceful resolution to the ongoing Temple Mount rights and ownership disputes. In Joshua’s mind, by virtually incarnating the Third Temple, the current Temple Mount fixtures, namely the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, could remain intact. HaMikdash3.0 could achieve a means-to-an-end solution without needing to invoke any non-compete clauses. Joshua, or rather HaMikdasah3.0, found champions among religious and secular leaders from the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities — leaders who not only believed that the Abrahamic religions could coexist but that to truly fulfill G-d’s purpose in creating mankind, they must coexist. He found initial support among those driven by a shared belief in one G-d; a belief that triumphed over the hate-filled rhetoric of the extremists desperate to keep the long-prophesized union mired in war and politics. Rabbi Dr. Yakov Nagen of the Ohr Torah Interfaith Center, saw the opportunity to develop a clear narrative founded on the Oneness of G-d, freed from self-interest and the distortions of identity-centered politics, and which would serve as the springboard for a “renewed paradigm for a shared future,” a shared narrative that even made space for an actual Beit HaMikdash to be built on the Temple Mount. But it would take a miracle to challenge the bedrock of hate and mistrust nurtured by fundamentalists and which, by their rhetoric, denied a key fundamental, a foundational principle of the Abrahamic religions… a belief in one G-d.
While heralded on one hand, Joshua also found himself reviled by an odd-bedfellow mix of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim clerics from across extremist camps, united in labeling 3.0 an abomination, blasphemous, the work of the Devil, with a capital D. Ironically, in being the object of their contempt and Hellfire damnations, he also became a great unifier. Maybe one day, they, too, would gratefully acknowledge his contributions even if they were offered in epitaphs written about him.
At times, though, even he wondered whether they were justified in challenging his motives and driving ambition… his need to bring HaMikdash3.0 to the world. Was it only a self-centered, self-serving mission that cast G-d into a secondary role, relegating Him to the back seat of a semi-autonomous vehicle fueled by Joshua’s own hubris and arrogance? Had he ever sought guidance, even permission? Had he lost sight of the One?
When asked about the genesis and mission of HaMikdash3.0, Joshua offered only well-rehearsed responses, ones suitable for public consumption but in reality far from the truth. Real estate disputes aside, he cited the popularity of vegetarianism and veganism. As such, he highly doubted that actual animal sacrifices would ever be part of any rebuilt Jewish Temple, giving his detractors another accusing finger-pointing opportunity, citing his unmitigated arrogance. Throughout the millennia, countless questions and opinions had been proffered about the Third Temple… who would build it; how would it be built; would it start tangibly but be finished miraculously? Or would the Temple drop down from the Heavens onto the Temple Mount, landing a direct hit on the Dome of the Rock, reclaiming the Foundation Stone’s place within the Holy of Holies, the Kadosh HaKadoshim? Or would it rise from a hidden warren beneath the Temple Mount, restored intact and ready for use? What role would the Moshiach/Messiah, the Anointed One, play in the drama of the day?
But any infringement of a Temple on the Temple Mount would spark an all-out war. Muslims considered al-Aqsa to include the entire 35-acre Temple Mount area and not just the mosque at the southern end. With the ongoing questions on the “how” of the Beit HaMikdash, Joshua was free to consider his virtual version of the Third Temple without constraints. But now that the moment seemed closer than ever, he realized there was yet another scenario of how the Third Temple could come into being… one which he hadn’t previously considered.
Joshua perceived a smile spreading across his face as he recognized the now-obvious presentation of a magnificent, explanation-defying hovering structure that would enthrall the world. He imagined the close encounters of the fifth-kind folks would abandon Area 51 and instead sign up for special pilgrimage packages to Jerusalem offered by the folks from MUFON (Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network). The Third Temple would engage a new audience of alien lovers, eagerly waiting for the hovering Temple to transform into a spaceship like the shape-shifting pyramid on the fictitious planet of Abydos in the original Stargate film.
Logically, the Temple’s appearance could never only be a one-time event, amazing and spectacular as that might be. In an era of deepfakes, no matter how many videos and images of the event were posted across social media, a one-time event was too easy for fact-checking skeptics to dismiss as hokum and a far cry from a miracle. An actual miracle would be buried under an avalanche of criticism and claims of AI-generated fakery before canceling the offender, be it a country, company, or individual, and generating a new conspiracy legend nearly impossible to delete. More importantly, a one-time event would be too easily displaced by the next “big thing” ready to captivate the collective’s ever-shortening attention span. But a hovering Third Temple would meet all the criteria needed to compel a disbelieving world into believing… a tiny step for some, but a giant leap of faith for others. With a hovering Third Temple, the question of animal sacrifices would also be moot, unless, or perhaps until, Kohanim and Levi'im learned to fly, or were willing to strap on a jetpack. There would be no sacrifices, except maybe the token kind bought and brought digitally to the Temple just as Joshua had envisioned for HaMikdash3.0. Ironically, or fortuitously, Joshua could easily incorporate this new/not-so-new vision version into HaMikdash3.0 almost as if it was always meant to be that way.
Strange, he wondered, why hadn’t he previously considered a hovering structure, framing the Beit HaMikdash in the purest of possibilities, beyond the limitations of 21st-century technology or human engineering? But even within that suspended scenario, the Dome of the Rock would, nonetheless, also meet its end as the Foundation Stone would need to be raised or revealed beyond the confines of the gold-domed structure and gone in either case. At least no one, save for G-d, could be blamed or attacked. The ongoing miracle of a suspended Third Temple would be proof enough for all to see with their own eyes, refuting any deepfake claims, silencing the conspiracists, and extolling with non-stop Ameins, Hallelujahs, Praise Be, and redefining Allu-ah Akbar without the blood-curdling scream.
WOW, in all caps, Joshua thought. THE actual Beit HaMikdash would be a “seeing is believing” ongoing, first-person experience. Joshua was reminded of the song Ve'Haviotim, the Hebrew verse of Isaiah 56:7 put to music. “Even them will I bring to My Holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable upon Mine altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
While Judaism didn’t proselytize for new converts, the song proclaimed G-d’s universality and a time when all would be welcome. The inspirational song kept him going during the long nights working on HaMikdash3.0, especially after his grandfather, his Opa Jacob, was no longer there to cheer him on. The version from the husband-and-wife duo of Yoni and Nina, known simply as YONINA, could always bring him to tears in an instantaneous rewind in time to Yom Kippur 2021 when his Opa passed away.
Their group of thirty-six ascended the Temple Mount, singing Ve'Haviotim in full voice. It surprised Joshua at first, since he’d been warned that praying, let alone singing, might be “challenging,” disallowed by the Wakf, the Islamic Authority, and enforced by Magav, Israel’s Border Police. A Temple Mount regular from Beyadenu, an organization dedicated to restoring Jewish sovereignty and open prayer on the Temple Mount, explained that for the first time in recent memory, Har HaBayit had been closed to Muslims to honor the Jewish holiday. Generally, hours for all non-Muslims were restricted to two shifts, four hours in the morning and then one hour in the afternoon; a total of five hours per day, Sunday through Thursday, with access often denied entirely on Fridays, other Muslim Holy days and the afternoon times denied during Ramadan, for all thirty days.
But in a rare moment of parity and clarity, the Temple Mount was closed to Muslims on Yom Kippur 2021, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Their group, along with hundreds of other groups, ascended throughout the day as Jews, openly prayed and praised the Almighty without offending anyone in the process. The follow-up reports of the events of the day, however, claimed the SETTLER JEWS, a double pejorative, had once again stormed al-Aqsa in an oft-repeated libelous claim designed to incite violence. It was no accident that Hamas used the Temple Mount as a flashpoint, calling the October 7, 2023, rampage: Operation al-Aqsa Flood.
While hushed, the sudden murmuring among the souls drew Joshua’s attention back to the moment and to the silhouetted figure now standing at the Ha'Masuot Lookout, at the top of the Mount of Olives. He appeared closer, but still distant. Joshua couldn’t help but wonder what he was waiting for, and how much longer they, he, would have to wait. The answer to his unspoken question was given voice… a deep rumble that began slowly, building in force until the entire Temple Mount began to tremble. Yet, he and the other watchers on the wall remained steady, unshaken by the happenings in the physical world. That dimensional separation came with another realization as Joshua understood that the Western Wall, the Kotel HaMa'aravi, would also likely fall victim to a Third Temple reality.
All of the “old” symbols that had fortified the faithful throughout the generations would be relegated to History to make way for the new, and invoking an airtight, non-compete clause that yielded supremacy and service only to the Third Temple. Then, as if the realization somehow raised his soul’s status, Joshua and his soul group saw the thousands of thousands — 599,999 other soul groups — gathered in the Kidron Valley at the base of Har HaZei'tim. Whatever sense of self he’d managed to build while being a watcher on the rampart walls disappeared in a flash as the scene was laid bare before him. But then another question entered his thoughts: Why was his soul group still on the Eastern ramparts? Why hadn’t they been joined with and to the others in the Kidron Valley? Once again, he tried to figure out the “why” of it all, or how in this liminal space he could still be consciously aware, formulating questions … all of which were beyond his genius-level IQ to comprehend. What he did understand was that these other soul groups had been granted front-row seats, or at least a primo vantage point, to witness the Final Redemption and the actualization of Joshua’s Truth… the real reason behind his obsession with the Beit HaMikdash.
How could G-d deny them… deny him still?
On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a wide valley, so that one-half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.
– Zechariah 14:4
The deep rumbling continued. Only this time it wasn’t coming from the ground, but from a powerful, angel-summoning shofar blast echoing from the Heavens. The air trembled, a quivering, shimmering mirage rearranging and reforming parts of itself like an Impressionistic water scene, and where he became part of the “Redemption” canvas.
Unfettered by human breath, each phrasing of the shofar’s mighty sounds, the tekiah, teruah, and shevarim-teruah heard on the Jewish New Year, were punctuated by an angelic choir, voicing the refrain, “Today, the world stands as it once was at its birth.” But the second Hebrew word, haras, in the phrase HaYom Haras HaOlam, could be re-framed to mean, “Today the world stands as it was conceived to be,” with all its potential and birthed anew.
The rebirth would wipe the slate clean of poor judgments, misuse of the Earth’s bounty, and a lack of appreciation for her precious gifts, which had been squandered casually and callously for nearly 6,000 years. A new beginning that would usher in an ethical, faithful, contemplative era of gratitude, at peace, and thankful for the bounty of G-d’s gifts and justice.
Instinctively, Joshua knew the shofar blasts would continue until all one hundred sounds (kolot) were voiced. In his ambiguous awareness of Space and Time, he couldn’t help but wonder what would come next. Was this how death felt, or was he still alive, perhaps awake for the first time? Or was this quasi-state between life and death an antechamber for the World to Come, or, at least in his case, a waiting room to Hell to give his soul another round of fire and brimstone rectification? Or was it possible that he would finally be reunited with his family?
He had so many questions about the next steps, the next world, but then once again the past intruded on the present and his first thoughts became his last… And with that thought, Joshua E. Katz found himself back in Zedekiah’s Cave, back in Time, with only seconds left before the countdown clock of his life reached zero.
Tami “T/R” Ellison is a visual storyteller, a scientist/inventor with six image-based technology patents, and a photographer with an extensive fine art photography portfolio with numerous solo and group exhibitions. Her writing reflects these diverse interests and skills, conveying rich visual textures and an easy confidence when exploring bold concepts. A dominant theme in her work is the examination of ethical and philosophical issues while exploring the Human experience – a narrative Gestalt where the story transcends the sum of its parts. Her debut novel, "The Chladni Progression-The Power to Heal" (Roundfire Books, June 2025) is an East-meets-West exploration of mind, body, and spiritual healing through sound and vibration. The Power to Heal explores themes of transformation and consciousness, focusing on the unknown and hidden forces shaping our understanding of science, medicine, and the world around us. With roots in Chicago, she moved to Colorado after 9/11 to be closer to family, and in 2014, she fulfilled a lifelong dream, moving to Israel, where her heart, soul, and mindful pursuits became confluent. Tami began writing her initials as T/R long before it became fashionable, signing her photography work using her Hebrew middle name, Rishona. She holds a thesis research Master of Science degree from UIC, with extensive research in developmental model systems, expression patterns, and systems-level regulatory control mechanisms.
What five tiny delights lift your spirits and make you happy?
Browsing the free library for that special book, a discovery
The smell of fresh-baked bread/challah erev Shabbat
Re-reading a scene that continues to move me to tears
Appreciating the smell of Jasmine flowers in bloom
Discovering new places to explore
What five tiny JEWISH delights lift your spirits and make you happy?
The Chag Sameach wishes scrolling on public buses
People walking down the street and singing in Hebrew to themselves
Wine & Wisdom Tuesday - enjoying a glass of wine with a friend while exploring Torah & Jewish thought
Saying Modeh Ani in the morning, welcoming my soul back
Hearing Hebrew spoken everywhere!
Fascinating story! I had the honor of reading an early draft of this book, and it's intriguing on many levels.
I will think about this for a long time. Brave, ambitious writing.