Today, we decided to remind you of the story of a character who has recently been appearing more and more at the center of events.
Rabbi didn’t notice the three men standing next to the wall of a half-burned building. He was in a hurry, trying to reach the safety of his house before the sundown. His meeting took longer than expected and these days Vienna wasn’t a safe place to be after dark. He knew his guardian could show up and intervene at any time, but sometimes this could bring even more trouble than it was worth. He adjusted his bag full of papers that slipped on his back and only then he realised the peril of the situation. The men were now standing in half circle with cruel smiles on their faces. Rabbi knew that type, from a different place and a different time. It always brought fire and blood, and with them the death to the generations of Yehudim. He tried to repress the memory and return to reality. The bandit leader, the one with a long scar across his left cheek, said:
– What have we here, some Jew skulking through our streets. Pay the toll old man, give me your purse.
Rabbi turned around, looking for a way to escape. Unfortunately, two more bandits showed up behind him, cutting off h is retreat. He sighed, knowing what was going to happen here in next few minutes.
– Hey, Jew, I’m talking to ya! – the leader now had a long dagger in his hand and he came closer. Rabbi didn’t even move, waiting for the inevitable. He just closed his eyes, not wanting to witness the bloodshed.
The ground shook under the weight of the charging guardian. As always there was low humming in the air, something that always reminded the rabbi of a huge nest of angry wasps. Bandits started shouting, initially full of fury and anger, expecting to see a man. But when they realized who attacked them, sheer panic appeared in their voices. Then they started dying, their weapons useless and the guardian merciless in his task. It didn’t take longer than two minutes, when the clash of fighting ceased. One of the bandits had to still be alive, rabbi could hear his crying pleas, voice of a gravely
wounded man calling his mother. Suddenly even this noise was brutally cut off, by the guardian fulfilling his mission.
Rabbi opened his eyes, trying to avoid the scene of the massacre. He started to walk quickly, in his attempt to move away from the scene of the skirmish. The Guardian moved after him, not bothered by blood mixing now with clay.
Nathan ben Moses Hannover
He is in his seventies. Nobody knows where or when exactly he was born. Some say Cracow, others say Germany. Having received proper education, he worked as a teacher at the synagogue in Iziaslav. During the Chmielnicki Uprising the city fell, got halfway burned to the ground, the Polish nobility graves defiled, Catholic churches demolished and the synagogue turned into a stable. Nathan fled along with most of the city population. The remaining 200 Jews who stayed, either because of old age, poor health, or putting to much trust in their neighbors, were killed by the Cossacks. Nathan escaped the turbulent Ukraine and made his way to Venice via Prague. There he studied the kabbalah lore.
A few years ago he went back to Prague, seeing in his prophecies that hard times were coming back for his people. He managed to decipher Rabbi Loew’s notes and find out the secret of creating the golem – a mighty guardian.
Little-known fact
In the 17th century in some areas of Germany Jews had to wear special yellow badges.
