The Cousins

Well! When Zekharyah came out of the Temple, unable to speak, the people were amazed and very fearful. Zekharyah wrote down what had happened for his wife Elisheva, and so the story became known. People wagged their heads knowingly.

"A special child, this one..."

"Truly. HaShem must have a special work for him..."

"Imagine! Those two old people. How will they manage with a tiny baby?"

"Oh, they have family over in Natzeret".

"Yes, Elisheva's cousin Miryam".

"It's just like our mother Sarah, you know? She had Yitzchak when she and Avraham our father were very old, too".

And so it went, with no-one really knowing what to make of it all.

Now, the Rabbi waited, looking from mother to father and back, his eyebrows raised.

"What is his name? Will it be Zekharyah, after his father, as is the custom?"

Zekharyah looked at his wife and shook his head. He had told her what the angel said: "You shall call his name Yochanan".

Elisheva's eyes were wide. She felt nervous; it was not her place to name the baby, but what could she do? She whispered to the Rabbi, "He is to be called Yochanan".

The Rabbi frowned.

Suddenly, Zekharyah left the room and came back with writing materials. He wrote in large letters:

His name is Yochanan.

"What!" exclaimed the Rabbi, "But why? There is no Yochanan in your family, is there?"

He looked at Elisheva again, uncertainly. She smiled. A buzz of surprise went round among the neighbours standing there.

"Yochanan!" "Why?" "Whose name is that?" "No-one in their family...' "How strange..."

And then an amazing thing happened.

Zekharyah opened his mouth and spoke, loudly.

"His name is Yochanan, because that is the will of HaShem".

Everybody jumped. There was a stunned silence for half a minute, then a hubbub broke out; people laughing, exclaiming, those at the back craning their necks to look at the beaming old father. He was hugging his wife, whose tears of joy were dripping onto the baby's head.

"The angel", Zekharyah explained to the Rabbi - and to those who could hear him above the noise- "The angel who told me he was coming, the angel who took my voice away, told me the baby is to be called Yochanan. So", he lifted his shoulders, "what can I do? Never again will I argue with an angel!"

"I think you are very wise, my friend", said the Rabbi, and they laughed together.