[Judaic] Legends tell that when the Temple was destroyed, and the Israelites were taken to Babylon, their captors asked them to play the instruments and sing the songs of Zion. The Israelites wept before God: "We cannot sing the sacred songs in an unclean land!" Some cut their fingers off so they could not play the treasured musical instruments. As they wept, a cloud descended from heaven. It enveloped the Israelites, their cattle, their sheep, even their tents, carried them up into the sky, and traveled with them all day. When night came, the cloud settled the weary travelers gently on the ground in an unknown land. All night they heard a great noise around them, and they were terrified. It sounded like a great storm, perhaps a tempest at sea. Finally the sun rose, and they saw that a mighty army surrounded the area they stood on, but could not reach them. The Israelites and their possessions occupied an island created by a mighty river, which the army could not cross. But this was not...
Read more ...