The Queen of Sheba could answer any questions of her son. And only one remained unanswered for a long time. When the son came of age and again asked: "Who is my father?" - the queen said: "Go to Jerusalem, there you will see your father." "But how will I find him?" - the young man was confused. “Take this package with you, it will help you to recognize your father. But unfold it only in the palace of King Solomon. Not earlier!"
Arriving in Jerusalem and seeing Solomon, the young man unrolled the package. It turned out to be a simple mirror. Looking into it, he saw his own face, but it was also the face of King Solomon.
Queen of a Thousand Legends
The myths about the Queen of Sheba have been compiled for three thousand years. She has many names - Makeda, Almakha, Bilkis, Lilith …, however, she entered the Old Testament without them - the Queen of Sheba and that's all.
This is how she appeared on many paintings, in countless chronicles, on theatrical stages and, finally, in a Hollywood film, where her image was recreated by the brilliant Gina Lollobrigida.
Everything that was said about her earlier - the beauty, the sovereign, the queen - acquired visible features.
Her mother was the queen of the country of Ophir, which is mentioned in the Old Testament as the richest place on earth. This country was part of Ethiopia, which then stretched for many kilometers. The young princess grew up in luxury, but jewelry and clothes did not really excite her.
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From childhood, she was drawn to knowledge. That is why famous philosophers, sages, astrologers and poets constantly came to her palace. She studied several languages, the then theories of the universe, occult sciences, and, no less important, the basics of the art of managing people.
Then, in those places, the era of matriarchy was still preserved, and therefore at the age of fifteen the princess received the country of Saba, which was also part of Ethiopia, under her own control. Very soon Saba turned into an oasis of wealth and prosperity.
During her reign, a dam, unique at that time, was built, allowing to accumulate rainwater and grow vegetables and fruits in excess. She was the initiator of the construction of multi-storey buildings and the founder of the perfumery industry. Saba, located on the site of today's sultry Yemen, basked in the shade of the hanging gardens. The only passion of the queen that was not fully satisfied was knowledge.
Once from the merchants passing through her possessions, she learned that in the distant city of Jerusalem, King Solomon built an amazing Temple, which the Earth had not yet seen. In addition, he possesses incomparable wisdom, which gives him the opportunity to govern the people and administer the most just judgment.
And the queen decided to visit Jerusalem. However, the path was not close - as much as seven hundred kilometers! At that time, such a road took at least six months. And she ordered to equip 797 camels and her personal - a snow-white beauty. And in her retinue were black dwarfs and tall fair-skinned athletes.
The Jerusalem Temple amazed the queen with its architecture, decoration, and golden temple utensils made by the famous master Hiram from Tire. However, the greatest impression was made by the conversations with King Solomon. The Queen of Sheba offered him some difficult riddles.
In any case, none of her entourage could guess them. Solomon smiled and gave an exact answer to the first, and to the second, and to the third … He also answered all the other questions of the queen. And she gave the king of Jerusalem many gems and other jewels, and rare incense, many of which she herself made. And she also presented one hundred and twenty talents of gold, which in terms of current weight measures exceeds three thousand kilograms.
And King Solomon gave generously to the Queen of Sheba. However, most of all she treasured every conversation and, like a sponge, absorbed the wisdom emanating from Solomon. She perceived him not only as a ruler, but above all as the author of the Book of Proverbs, the creator of the wisest Ecclesiastes and the most tender Song of Songs.
And love arose. True, in the Old Testament, which tells about the visit of the Queen of Sheba, nothing is said about this, but other ancient scriptures claim that love was, and it was she who became the crown of the stay of the Queen of Sheba in Jerusalem. One fine day the queen felt that a new life had arisen in her.
And she was happy, however, she immediately began to get ready home, to Saba. The king wanted her to stay, but no persuasion helped. The fact is that Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and such a proud woman, of course, did not want to get lost in this picturesque crowd.
Lost Tablets
Returning to Saba, the queen gave birth to a son and named him Menelik. And when he grew up and once again asked: "Who is my father?", The queen sent him to Jerusalem. There, a young man, looking into the cherished mirror that his mother gave him, saw his own face, but it was also the face of King Solomon. And the Jerusalem courtiers, even without a mirror, immediately understood who the father of the young man from Saba was. And King Solomon himself called the son of the Queen of Sheba his son.
Menelik was a capable student, and therefore communication with the wise king gave excellent shoots. During the time spent near
Solomon, he turned into a real statesman. And when the "internship" time expired, I went home. Together with him, the authoritative experts of the Law of Moses, sent by Solomon to establish faith in one God, went to distant Ethiopia, where Menelik was to take the royal throne.
And then a mysterious event happened, an explanation for which has not yet been found. It was discovered that the greatest shrine, the tablets with the Ten Commandments, had been brought to Ethiopia from Jerusalem. Since not a word is said about this in the canonical sources, many researchers, of course, do not believe in it. And, nevertheless, in Ethiopia there are still many supporters of this version. Moreover, there is an icon depicting the scene of the abduction of the tablets.
The son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon - Menelik the First - became the founder of the Solomon dynasty, which ruled in Ethiopia for three thousand years. He and his Jerusalem advisers established Judaism as the main religion among a large part of the population. With the rise of Christianity and Islam, Ethiopian Jews were forced to make room.
And yet, despite state cataclysms, persecutions and prohibitions, in some regions of Ethiopia, this belief has survived to this day. Interestingly, the last emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, who was deposed in 1975, was a descendant of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon and had 225 number in this hierarchy.
After the formation of the state of Israel, Ethiopian Jews or Falasha, which means aliens, began to gather for their historical homeland. But it wasn't easy. With the removal of the emperor, the country embarked on the path of socialist development. Entry and especially exit from the country were strictly controlled. But there were still gaps in the outer borders, but the African desert stretched before the daredevils who had got out to freedom.
Escape to Jerusalem
Three thousand years later, after the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem, a small youth group was formed in the Ethiopian city of Gondar, ready to repeat the path of their great ancestor. The oldest in the group was sixteen, the youngest was twelve. Prepared, observing all the rules of conspiracy.
Shlomo Ordani led the illegal "mission". In the neighborhoods of the poor, he was the recognized leader of adolescents, and it was among them - always hungry and seeking by any means to earn at least a few coins - that he mastered the basics of economic and political literacy.
For several months barefoot daredevils walked, patiently enduring heat and cold, hunger and thirst. And when, finally, they got to Gedaref - the border city of the state of Sudan - they were ordered by the local authorities to return immediately. And only the fact that the civil war in Sudan then escalated allowed the guys to get lost in the quarters of the poor.
We quickly mastered the new conditions. The outskirts of Sudanese Gedaref, built up with shacks, were no different from their native places. Soon the representatives of Israel were found and told that they had walked a thousand kilometers in the desert. And although none of the guys had documents, they believed them and promised to help.
One night they were put on a small bus and taken somewhere out of town. When the street lights were far behind, we drove up to a strange structure in the middle of a large field. What it was, in the dark it was not visible. Then they took us inside, into a narrow, long room, lit by dim lamps.
They sat down on metal seats along the wall and again said: "Wait." Shlomo Ordani even dozed off, had to run too much in recent days. And suddenly everything shook and rumbled, the house moved and drove across the field, faster, faster, and then took off from the ground and soared into the black African sky. It was the plane of the Israeli company, which the guys saw for the first time and on which they repeated the path of the Queen of Sheba.
At the moment when Shlomo told me his story, he was already over forty. He has long been an aircraft maintenance technician. And to each liner that he examined before the flight, he treated with great respect and love.
Black Jews
Today, the phrase - black Jews - is not so unusual. Over the past twenty years, more than two hundred thousand people have moved from Ethiopia to Israel.
Like all people who moved to developed civilizations, bypassing several socio-economic formations at once, Ethiopian Jews found themselves in a rather difficult situation. However, if the older generation hardly comprehends the basics of the new order of life, young people get used to it without much difficulty - they easily mastered Hebrew, mastered computer literacy, and uses e-mail and Skype.
At the same time, almost everyone - both old and young - sincerely believe in their origin from the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. And no matter what scientists say, looking at Ethiopian girls with a chiseled profile, with a proud head, you involuntarily come to the conclusion that this is how the legendary queen probably looked. But myths are not born out of nowhere …
Author: Yuri POLOGONKIN / Secret Power №17, 2012