Week 3 Storytelling: The Journey of Sleeping Onias

Many years ago there was a Rabbi named Onias. The Rabbi hadn’t been home in years and missed his temple and family dearly, so he decided to make the long journey back to his home city of Jerusalem. It took many days and many nights of traveling through the desolate dessert until Onias finally made it back home. He was so exhausted, but he knew that just over this last sand dune was the beautiful city of Jerusalem. He used what little strength he had to get to the top of the hill and when he gazed out at the land before him he was completely shocked. The city was in complete ruin… He knew that there had been a war there but he didn’t think the entire city would be gone! Immediately Onias fell to his knees and cried until he fell into a deep sleep on top of the sand dune.

Onias slept for hours, days, and even months. The seasons started to change and a thin layer of snow covered him in the winter. Then when spring came around the snow melted and flowers and vines grew around him and covered him completely, but nothing woke him up.

Onias slept for hundreds of years until finally, one day something hit him quickly startling him awake! He stretched his arms and legs breaking free of all the vines and greenery that had grown on top of him while he was sleeping. He thought to himself “Wow I haven’t felt this rested in years!” Then he looked to see what had woken him from his deep slumber and saw a little boy holding a strange orange round ball.

The child looked at him in such a confused way and then ran away. Onias watched the little boy run onto a piece of concrete with other children who dressed so strangely and it seemed as if they were playing a game with that strange orange ball. The boy would bounce the ball down the court, pass it to another kid and then they would try to throw it into this hoop like basket high up into the air!

He then looked on past the children playing and saw these huge metal buildings so high up in the air that you couldn’t even see the top because the clouds covered them! It was then when he heard the sounds of honking and sirens when he discovered that he must have been sleeping for quite a long time.

(Illustration of Onias. Source: UnTextbook)

Onias got up and walked over to an adult who was watching the children play. Her eyes grew big and she immediately looked him up and down because he clearly didn’t belong. “Can I help you?” she asked. He cleared his throat and said, “Um Miss can you please tell me what year it is?” The woman replied saying, “It’s 2016 sir… you’re scaring the children can you please leave?” She then proceeded to get a call from her cell phone and answered it as she was walking away. Onias was so curious but scared at the same time! “How could I have slept for so long? And how exciting that I’m in the future!” he thought.

So, he took this opportunity to go on an adventure and see everything that was going on in this new time. He walked towards the skyscrapers and the honking and siren noises got louder and louder until he could finally see what they were. The vehicles were moving on their own! There weren’t any camels on the streets and everyone seemed as if they were in a hurry talking on their phones walking swiftly. Onias tried to get peoples attention to ask them where he was, but they looked at him in disgust and kept walking and talking on their cell phones.

He then decided to take matters into his own hands and saw what looked like a place to eat across the street. He was so hungry since he hadn’t had anything to eat in years! Onias put one foot into the street and kept his eye on the restaurant ahead… now he was halfway across the street when all of the sudden a loud honk and screeching noise startled him. He looked up and saw that one of the cars had almost hit him! The man behind the wheel yelled at him and shook his fist in outrage! Onias didn’t know he was supposed to use the crosswalk up ahead so he had decided to just walk in the middle of the street!

When he got to the restaurant people kept staring like they did before. Onias patiently waited in line until it was his turn and tried ordering but nothing looked familiar on the menu. He tried paying with the little gold piece that he had but the cashier looked at him as if he was crazy and demanded cash! So, Onias left the restaurant still hungry and exhausted from the day. He sat down on the bench outside and thought about how much he missed his old home, Jerusalem. Everything was shiny and new here in the future. People could communicate with each other from miles away just with phones, but they also were so entrapped in them that they didn’t even realize everything that was going on around them! Yeah, this time period seemed great, but he missed the simplicity of the old times.

Onias knew that this new life was not for him. He was so old and this new world was way too fast for him! So, he lay down on the bench, thought of simpler times, and closed his eyes for one last time.

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Authors Note: The Sleeping of One Hundred Years is about a Rabbi who travels to Jerusalem and finds that it is completely destroyed. He is exhausted and wants to give up so he lays down on top of the hill above the city to take a nap. When he finally opens his eyes, to his surprise it's been 100 years! The city is completely rebuilt and is so beautiful. He runs to the city and is shown his old temple that has been rebuilt, but when he looks inside everything seems so foreign to him and different. He quickly learns that this new time is not for him and he asks his grandson to lead him to a place of rest where he again falls asleep to never wake up again. My story is very similar to the original, but I thought it would be fun to write it as if Onias had slept until our time period! I had him travel all the way to 2016 so he could see all of the technology and things we have today. I kept it similar to the other stories plot, so eventually he notices that this isn't the life for him and like the original he goes back into a deep sleep. 

Bibliography: "The Sleeping of One Hundred Years" by Gertrude Landa. Website: UnTextbook