The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon
Page 37
For if there is one thing we can say about the European monarchs it is that they have no shortage of dreams about the Jews. We haunt them in their spiritual darkness.
If you don’t admit that there is even a small chance that these speculations are a valid reading of his actions, then I wish you well in your loneliness; it is clear you have never known anyone with my uncle’s spiritual strength, with causeless, unconditional love for you, who would sacrifice himself for your survival.
Or perhaps it would be more appropriate for me to pity my own talents as a writer; my tale has not succeeded in convincing you that Master Abraham Zarco was real. I apologize. But now I tell you, and you must find the courage to believe: there exist men and women with such passionate resolve that they will willingly give up their lives for generations of children whom they will never even meet.
So I was wrong all those years ago when I told my old friend Rana Tijolo that Uncle still believed Jews could speak in the future tense in Portugal. He knew then that there was only the past for us in Iberia and in all the Christian lands of Europe. Can you believe it was mere whimsy that made him plan for us to move to a Moslem land, to Turkey?
No accidents, no coincidences. Is it possible?
So far, I have only dared to tell Farid of my theories, and in reply he signalled, “But don’t you think Uncle could have done more for the Jewish people alive than dead?”
A good question. Events may have moved too quickly for my master to control them. And as I say he may have only understood his purpose in a flash of insight, just as Diego tossed a rosary around his neck.
I believe that he trusted that God could make better use of him dead than alive.
In any event, I have no answer except the faith which burns in my gut. But even if my theory is dreadfully wrong, I still dare not put my pen down or tear up these pages. I cannot bet the survival of the Jews on the righteousness of European Kings who have shown time and again that they bear no sense of justice. Because even if I’m wrong, even if I am reading from left to right, even if my master was so exhausted from his vigil for Reza that he could not lift his hands to fight Diego, can you be sure that the Christians won’t one day come for you, for all of us? That traitors like Diego won’t help them?
And so, we finally come to Diego and to what the true meaning of his betrayal might be. This I have asked myself many times, of course.
The key to my interpretation of his actions resides in the kabbalistic definition of evil—good which has departed from its rightful place.
I believe that Diego was a man who could have flourished amongst his own people. In living with Old Christians, however, in having to struggle against the terror which their Church and Inquisition inspired in him, he turned to evil.
And so I believe that there will be many others like Diego who will conspire against us unless we move from Europe. That, too, is part of the meaning of Uncle’s death.
As for my hesitation to speak of this… Not surprisingly, part of me would like to dismiss my words as rubbish. For if my faith points toward the truth, then I have failed my uncle miserably. Twenty-three years ago, I allowed my cousin, Reza, to remain behind in Portugal. May Uncle forgive me. For if he is right, if my reading of the verses of the past is correct, then her family is doomed.
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 Bisvat 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.
New Fiction
from Arcadia Books
The Angelic Darkness
Richard Zimler
San Francisco, 1986 – a city where Dionysian liberation is beginning to pall beneath the first shadows of a strange new darkness. Bill Ticino’s fruitless and numbing marriage finally breaks up. Plagued by insomnia and spiritually lost, Bill finds a lodger as the solution to his problems: a handsome, charismatic Portuguese man named Peter, whose pet bird is a hoopoe named Maria. Bill finds himself drawn into a world of kabbalistic storytelling, charms and ritual. Peter ignites Bill’s repressed obsessions by telling him emotionally charged tales of hidden meaning.
One night they venture together into the Tenderloin district, a dead-end world of prostitutes and transvestites. Bill begins to see that his new tenant has plans that will force him down a perilous sexual and spiritual path, with the power to both redeem and destroy.
Advance praise for The Angelic Darkness:
‘A heady mixture of the mythical, the mysterious and the earthy. Above all, it affirms the power of fiction and makes the world seem a more complex and wondrous place’ – Michael Arditti, Daily Mail
‘His serene and calm prose probes with a fine scalpel into emotions and sexuality. Zimler is an exciting writer and The Angelic Darkness is an ambitious novel, full of mystery’ – TLS
‘A moving homage to outsider cultures both ancient and modern’ – Scotsman
‘A taut suspense story… compulsively readable’ – Alannah Hopkin, Sunday Tribune
EUROCRIME
from Arcadia Books
Because of the Cats
Nicolas Freeling
Some Day Tomorrow
Nicolas Freeling
One Helluva Mess
Jean-Claude Izzo
Dark Paths
Dominique Manotti
Final Curtain
Kjersti Scheen
The Name of the Bullfighter
Luis Sepulveda
The Writing on the Wall
Gunnar Staalesen
The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon
Richard Zimler
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.
Copyright
First published in 1998
by Arcadia Books Books, 15-16 Nassau Street, London, W1W 7AB
This ebook edition first published in 2011
All rights reserved
© Richard Zimler, 1998
The right of Richard Zimler to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–1–908129–24–6