Eternal Life

Eternal Life by Dara Horn is one of those books that made me happy I read it. It follows a girl named Rachel through her very, very long life. 2000 years ago, Rachel made a vow to save her child's life in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, a vow that saved her child but stopped her from dying. Now Rachel has lived 2000 years, buried thousands of children and husbands and grandchildren, and is desperate for it to all finally be over.

I was totally swept up in this book. I could barely put it down. As someone who grew up learning about Jewish history, the descriptions of Rachel's life 2000 years were utterly fascinating. Horn's writing is so beautiful but also easy to digest. She doesn't try to outdo herself with the language. It just flows naturally. This is the first Dara Horn book I've read and I can't wait to read more.

The book jumps around in time, mostly between two major events in Rachel's life. You also get really interesting little snippets of other eras in Rachel's life. I kind of wished the book had been longer so Horn could have delved more into these other eras, but I understand Horn's focus. My only one complaint was that I had a hard time understanding the character of Elazar, but that didn't alter my enjoyment of the book at all.

Recommended for everyone!

This latest book by Dara Horn flows from the Priestly era in Jerusalem to modern day America. Its constants are Rachel, daughter of Azaria, a scribe, and Elazar, son of Hanania the high priest. Historically there was a high priest named Ananias son of Nedebeus who officiated from CE 47 to 52 and who had a son named Eliezer, one of the leaders of the Great Revolt of Judea. That puts them at the right time historically. I believe that Rachel is a wholly fictitious character.

Rachel is a woman who has outlived scores of children, grandchildren and husbands. Because the first Rachel had no brothers and was the youngest child born to Azaria, she was entrusted with being his messenger. a “one-girl postal service” who delivered messages and scrolls to his customers. Thus, she had the luxury not given to girls at that time of going unaccompanied where she wanted, including the Temple. These scrolls were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin and as Azaria wrote them he chanted them aloud. Unbeknownst to her father, Rachel picked up these languages as well as reading and writing as she sat by his side. It was in the outer court of the Temple that she met Elazar who asked her about a correction that had been made in a scroll. She had to tell him that she was the one who had removed a line in the story of the binding of Isaac. Her father had been inventive and changed the story. So began a relationship between the two that resulted in the birth of Yochanan. Her love for Elazar made her understand why she would not want to die. But, by the time of the birth, she had been married to Zakkai, an apprentice to her father.

Later when Yochanan grew sickly and about to die, Rachel sought out the high priest, Hanania, father of Elazar. He gave her a choice to either let her son die or to live forever, which, being a young mother she could not contemplate. Rachel made the vow that both she and Elazar would live forever in exchange for the life of Yochanan.

Most of the book happens in the present as Rachel struggles with living with her modern family. Her present son, Rocky, reminds her of Yochanan who is surely based on his namesake, Yochanan ben Zakkai, student of Hillel. It was he who predicted the fall of the Temple and its rituals and had himself smuggled out of Jerusalem to build a school in Yavneh. Her frustrating grown son Rocky lives with Rachel while he mines currency on the Internet. She has always left her families before they turn as old as this one has. But Hannah, Rocky’s daughter who is a medical researcher, is working on how to stop the aging process.

On and off through the over two thousand years she has seen Elazar. Through the centuries Elazar has continued to love Rachel but she has been angry at Elazar from the time of the Jewish revolt against Rome and the destruction of the Second Temple.

Dara Horn’s ability to weave history with pervasive and familiar emotions through an arc or centuries is remarkable.