The Coming — Robert Dresner

A war of attrition between Israel and its nuclear armed neighbors heats up. Muslim is fighting Jew for possession of the Holy Land. Jew is fighting Jew in an unprecedented struggle for control of the West Bank. The super-powers are preparing to impose their own maddening solution to these conflicts when the security of the entire world is threatened by The Vengeance of Islam, a radical terrorist group heralding a catastrophic agenda. Through an odd twist of fate, the outcome rests in the hands of Rifka Kliensfeld, an embittered Holocaust survivor, and Shmuael Rabinowitz, an impoverished old rabbi. She measures her life against the number of dead she has known; he survives on the promise of peace in the name of the almighty God who hears his prayers, yet never answers. Together, Rifka and the old rabbi form the heart and soul of Israel, a nation divided against itself and the rest of the world, and they are bound to contemplate the meaning of life. How many must die in an effort to save the faith? How many must live to justify the sacrifice?