The Temple is rebuilt, but something's missing. The sacred texts, the very heart of their identity, are scattered and incomplete. Enter Ezra, a priest and scribe deeply learned in the Torah. He dedicates himself to restoring the Law and revitalizing Jewish life.
But according to tradition, Ezra’s role went far beyond simply collecting existing texts. Legend says that God commanded him to essentially re-dictate the entire Torah! God instructed him to take five experienced scribes—Sarga, Dabria, Seleucia, Ethan, and Aziel—into seclusion. For forty days, they would record everything Ezra dictated.
Now, here’s where it gets really interesting. After just one day spent in isolation, far from the noise of the city and the distractions of daily life, a voice boomed out, "Ezra, open thy mouth, and drink whereof I give thee to drink." Can you imagine the surprise?
Ezra obeyed. He opened his mouth, and a chalice appeared, filled with a liquid that flowed like water, but glowed with the color of fire. He drank, and for forty days, his mouth remained open, as if in a perpetual state of receiving. During that time, the five scribes meticulously wrote down everything Ezra dictated. According to this legend, they wrote "in signs they did not understand," which some interpret as the newly adopted Hebrew characters.
What came out of this forty-day marathon? Ninety-four books! That's a lot of writing! But wait, there's a twist. At the end of this divine dictation, God instructed Ezra to publish only twenty-four books – the ones we recognize as the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. These were for everyone, "for the worthy and the unworthy alike to read." However, the remaining seventy books were to be withheld from the general public, reserved "for the perusal of the wise of thy people."
These seventy hidden books are a tantalizing mystery. What secrets did they contain? What wisdom was deemed too profound, too potentially dangerous for the masses? We can only speculate.
This story, found in Legends of the Jews, a compilation of rabbinic lore by Louis Ginzberg, paints Ezra as more than just a scribe; he’s a conduit, a vessel for divine knowledge. His literary activity earned him the title "the Scribe of the science of the Supreme Being unto all eternity." Pretty impressive, right?
The legend of Ezra and the ninety-four books is a powerful reminder of the mystical dimensions of our tradition. It invites us to contemplate the hidden layers of meaning within the sacred texts we cherish and consider what truths might still be waiting to be revealed. It also makes you wonder, doesn't it? What if those seventy hidden books did surface someday? What would we learn?