That is why I must take the blessed keys dear Lourenço has given me and re-enter Portugal’s gates. This manuscript is the weapon which I will carry with me. May its words string together to form the noose that will hang Haman.
Farid says he will accompany me, that I will need his protection. Perhaps he is right. Together, we will fetch Reza and her family and bring them back to Constantinople.
May all the New Christians and Jews accompany us.
And may my children and wife understand my reasons for leaving.
The first thin light of dawn has just pierced my window shutters, and my wrist aches. It is time for me to reach into my ink well for the last few strokes of my pen. Let the angels behind my words press understanding into my soul and yours.
As I said at the very beginning, this is a story of warning. You who read these words, whether Jew or New Christian, Sephardi or Ashkenazi, if the borders of Europe still enclose you, then you are in grave danger. The Inquisition will spread, and very soon our Bleeding Mirror will run with blood as it never has before. That is why Uncle appeared to me now. The killing is only just beginning. You can be assured, the European kings and their hateful bishops will never stop dreaming of us. They will never allow you and your children to live. Never! Sooner or later, in this century or five centuries hence, they will come for you or your descendents. No village, no matter how remote, will be safe. No aristocrat or foreign army will come to protect you. This is the meaning I make of Uncle’s death. So take off your mask. Face Constantinople and Jerusalem. And start walking.
Cast out Christian Europe from your heart and never look back!
Blessed are all of God’s self-portraits.
Berekiah Zarco, Constantinople
The Seventh of Av, 5290
Glossary
Adar The sixth month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, generally coinciding with part of February and part of March.
Anusim Hebrew word for Jews forced to convert to Christianity.
Asmodeus The king of the Jewish demons.
Av The eleventh month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, generally coinciding with part of July and part of August.
Ba’al Shem In kabbalistic texts, a title applied to mystics who possess secret knowledge of the holy names of God and who can make magical use of such knowledge.
Bahir The Book of Light. An influential kabbalistic text discovered in Provence in the 12th century.
Challah A Jewish egg bread.
Chametz Food which Jews are forbidden to eat during Passover, especially leavened bread.
Chazan The leader of prayers and chief singer of the liturgy in a synagogue.
Ein Sof The hidden God which cannot be perceived, described or in any way approached. The existence and nature of such a God can only be deduced from its emanations or attributes in our world.
Elohim One of the names of God.
Genizah A depository for sacred books.
Golem A creature, usually in human form, created by magical means through the use of holy names, particularly the Tetragrammaton.
Haggadah The text containing both the story of the Exodus and the ritual of the ceremonial meal which is eaten in celebration of Passover. Jewish manuscript illuminators from Iberia and other parts of Europe frequently illustrated Haggadahs with Biblical scenes.
Halizah Biblically prescribed ceremony performed when a man refuses to marry his brother’s childless widow.
Haman A Persian courtier who plotted to massacre the Jews (from the Book of Esther).
Hanukkah A Jewish festival held in the winter which celebrates the victory of the Maccabees, a Jewish tribe, over the Syrians in 165 B.C.
Heshvan The second month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, generally coinciding with part of October and part of November.
Haroset A mixture of chopped fruits, nuts and spices eaten on Passover and representing the mortar used by Hebrew slaves in building for the Egyptian Pharaoh.
Ibbur An evil spirit or wandering soul of a deceased person that enters the body of a living person and controls his or her behavior.
Kaddish The prayer for the dead which is recited by mourners.
Kislev The third month of the Hebrew calendar, generally coinciding with part of November and part of December.
Kosher Fit for human consumption, according to Jewish dietary laws.
Lez A mischievous Jewish demon or poltergeist.
Levite A person belonging to the religious caste of priests descended from Levi, son of Jacob.
Lilith In Jewish legends, a female demon who strangles children and seduces men. She is sometimes regarded as the queen of all that is evil.
Magen David A six-pointed star used as a symbol of Judaism.
Maimon A powerful Jewish demon.
Matzah Unleavened bread baked by the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt and eaten during the holiday of Passover. The only ingredients are flour and water.
Menorah A candelabrum generally having seven or nine branches which is lit during the fesitval of Hanukkah.
Metatron The heavenly angel who records good deeds.
Mezuzah A small case containing a piece of parchment upon which is written the particular Jewish prayer which begins “Hear O Israel.” This case is affixed to the doorpost of a Jew’s home and was sometimes regarded as offering protection against the attacks of demons.
Micvah Ritual bath in which women immerse themselves following menstruation. It is also used by men for purposes of ritual purification.
Mitzvah A divine commandment. There are 613 such commandments in the Torah. It can also mean any good deed.
Mohel A person trained to perform ritual circumcisions. Jewish male children are generally circumcised on the eighth day after birth.
Mordecai Jewish courtier who thwarted Haman’s plan to massacre the Persian Jews (from the Book of Esther).
Neshamah The divine spark of God in man; the soul.
Nezah Divine endurance.
Nisan The seventh month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, generally coinciding with part of March and part of April.
Passover The Jewish festival commemorating the escape of the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt, traditionally celebrated for eight days in the spring.
Purim A Jewish holiday which celebrates the downfall of Haman’s plan to massacre the Persian Jews.
Rahamim Divine compassion.
Rosh Hashanah The Jewish New Year.
Samael The name of Satan in Judaism.
Seder The traditional ceremonial meal eaten on the first and sometimes second nights of Passover. (Christ’s Last Supper was a Jewish seder.)
Sefer Hebrew for “book.”
Sefirot The ten aspects or manifestations of God, sometimes represented as divine lights and often associated with the Cosmic Tree, the names of God and various parts of the human body.
Sitra Ahra The kabbalistic term for the domain of evil emanations and demonic powers (The Other Side).
Shefa A divine influx or moment of divine presence.
Shevat The fifth month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, generally coinciding with part of January and part of February.
Shofar A ram’s horn blown to produce a trumpet sound during certain Jewish rituals.
Shohet A Jewish butcher specially trained in the techniques governing the slaughter of animals.
Tallis A rectangular prayer shawl.
Talmud An ancient compilation of Jewish Oral Law which includes rabbinical commentaries.
Tefillin Phylacteries.
Tishri The first month of the Hebrew calendar, generally coinciding with part of September and part of October.
Torah The Pentateuch or first five books of the Old Testament. In a broader sense, it can refer to the complete Old Testament or even all of Jewish teaching.
Tref Food unfit for human consumption and which must be discarded according to Jewish dietary laws.
Tzitzit The fringes which dangle from the four corners of a Jewish prayer shawl.
Tu B
isvat A Jewish holiday connected with the Tree of Life and the eating of fruit associated with the land of Israel.
Yom Kippur The holiest Jewish holiday, on which Jews fast to atone for their sins.
Zedek Divine Justice.
Zohar The Book of Splendor. The most influential book of kabbalistic mysticism, written in Guadalajara, Spain, between 1280 CE and 1286 CE, by the Jewish mystic Moses de Leon.
About the Author
Richard Zimler, born in 1956 in New York, has lived since 1990 in Portugal, where he is a professor of journalism at the University of Porto. His short fiction, which has appeared in Britain in London Magazine and in America in The James White Review, won the 1994 Panurge Prize and has since been anthologized in the Book of Eros and Men on Men: 6. He has also won a fellowship in fiction from the US National Endowment for the Arts. Unholy Ghosts, his second novel, was recently published. His most recent novel, The Angelic Darkness, is also published by Arcadia.
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The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon sc-1 Page 37
