Jerusalem, one of the most famous cities in the world, still seems uninhabited and unfamiliar to us. All of his metaphysics are still concentrated somewhere beyond our reach: in archaeological layers or in the transcendental heights of theology, difficult to translate. In order to see the city, you need to look at it through the pages of your favorite books. Such a book, inseparable from Jerusalem, is David Shahar’s lyrical epic “The Chamber of Broken Vessels,” the second part of which is presented to the Russian reader today. The unique charm of the novel is the tension between the accuracy and reliability of all the details and the ambiguous, fantastic and childish view of everything that happens. Dreams and awakenings constantly replace each other, leaving heroes and readers in that absolutely deceptive space-time conglomerate that is Jerusalem. The leitmotif is the theme of “Jerusalem whim.” The heroes suffering from it, thinking and expressing themselves with direct and hidden quotations from the Holy Scriptures, are busy solving unsolvable problems and carrying out impossible plans. Only by immersing yourself in this element can you get closer to the true feeling of Jerusalem.