The Fifth Servant (64 page)

           
The priest’s words echoed and died, and all eyes turned toward the bishop, who summoned Brother Zeman and instructed him to read aloud from the Book of Exodus.

           
Zeman approached the rostrum with his chest puffed up like a game-cock’s. He licked his fingers and turned the pages of the massive gold-trimmed Bible until he found the place that the bishop had indicated. Then he took a couple of practice breaths, and launched into a long passage in Latin.

           
When he finished, he looked up from the book, exulting in this moment of glory, and the sound of his heavy breathing could be heard from a great distance off.

           
Zeman looked lost for a moment, then his years of training took over.

           
“
Verbum Domini
,” he chanted.

           
“Amen,” the congregation responded.

           
But before the Mass was ended, upon the bishop’s signal, Popel announced that a great debate was about to occur in which the Jews would be called upon to defend their false interpretations of the Bible. There was much stirring among the Jewish folk while Popel coolly laid out his materials, including books and other documents.

           
After a brief but intense discussion, an el der ly rabbi stepped forward and asked for permission to speak. The bishop graciously granted him this privilege with a nod of his head.

           
“State your name for the
Statschreiber
,” said Popel, indicating the city secretary who was scribbling away at his portable writing table.

           
“Rabbi Yehudah Liwa ben Betzalel,” said the old rabbi, his surprisingly robust voice reverberating through the nave and transept.

           
So this was the famous Rabbi Loew, thought the bishop. That ought to make this whole dreadful affair a bit more interesting.

           
But the name
Betzalel
drew gasps from some of the less-educated Christians, and the bishop heard words like
Beelzebub
and
Azaziel
being whispered up and down the aisles.

           
The bishop carefully adjusted his seat cushion. The area down below was still tender, but his condition had improved slightly since Dr. Lybrmon had begun treating him with salves and sutures. He had also said something ridiculous about laying off the spices. That doctor certainly had an odd manner about him, and the bishop wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised to discover that he was one of those closeted crypto-Jews. They were everywhere, trying to blend in, but he could smell one from twenty feet away.

           
The renowned rabbi bowed slightly and addressed Popel by name: “Father Hermann, you say that we possess the Law, but we misinterpret it, and we need you to tell us its correct meaning. Are you therefore saying that God made a mistake and delivered the Torah to the wrong people?”

           
There was an atmosphere of hushed expectation under the vaulted roof.

           
But Popel didn’t have to think about that one for very long.

           
“The Bible clearly states that the Torah was delivered to Moses at Mount Sinai,” he replied. “But the Jewish people were not chosen because of any special merit on their part. They were merely chosen to serve as caretakers of the Law until the light of Christ could come and illuminate its true meaning.”

           
He nodded once for emphasis, like a field-tennis player scoring a difficult point, but Rabbi Loew lobbed it right back.

           
“If that is truly the case, then it must follow that we remain His chosen people whether we deserve the honor or not, and so the Christian position that God has abandoned us to exile due to our lack of merit must likewise be dismissed.”

           
Popel blinked.

           
“What are you implying?” he said.

           
“I am merely suggesting that there is evidence which supports the proposition that God predetermines some events, but not others,” said Rabbi Loew.

           
“Are you suggesting that the world is governed not by design but by
accident
?”

           
“That would certainly explain a lot.”

           
There was some laughter from the Bohemian side of the nave.

           
“Enough of this clever Jewish talk,” said Popel. “For I have it on the highest authority that one of your own, a certain rabbi’s apprentice named Yankev ben Khayim, has this very day confessed to using the blood of a Christian girl to perform all manner of vile alchemical and Kabbalistic magic.”

           
It was a hard shot up the middle, and a good portion of the crowd reacted with horror, as Popel surely knew they would. Rabbi Loew tried to even the score before it tipped any further against him: “And I cite the authority of your own Pope Innocent IV and King Charles of Bohemia, who prohibited their subjects from bringing ritual murder charges against the Jews.”

           
It was a good point, but the moment didn’t last.

           
Popel said, “My Lord, we also have a written record which shows that this Jew named Yankev also confessed to harboring desires for the flesh of a Christian woman.”

           
The Bohemians shrugged it off, but the Germans were scandalized. The bishop actually felt sorry for Rabbi Loew, who could have held his own in a rational debate with a dozen of the bishop’s best-trained priests, but once the Germans’ emotions were aroused, the rabbi’s logic was useless.

           
Finally, Rabbi Loew said, “A man will confess to anything under torture.”

           
“All we did was put him on the water board for a couple of hours,” Popel said dismissively. “And yet he was ready to confess to the sin of
bestialitas
.”

           
There was confusion on both sides of the nave, and Popel had to explain that having intercourse with a Jew is the same as copulating with a dog, which is why it’s called bestiality.

           
Although a good lawyer could probably get the charges reduced to sodomy, but it didn’t really matter since the punishment was the same: burning at the stake
. The bishop remembered the old days, when sexual transgressors were torn apart by wild beasts, but since so many of them were women these days, the judges had gotten lenient in their sentencing.

           
“If one man sins, will you be angry with the entire community?” asked the rabbi. “For even your Lord Jesus had a thief and a traitor within his most trusted circle of apostles.”

           
“A traitor who was a Jew.”

           
“They were
all
Jews! Christ himself was born a Jew.”

           
“In outward appearance only.”

           
Ah. That was the ace. Rabbi Loew had finally run afoul of the boundary marker of faith, which held that the divinity of Christ filled the heavens before the first day of Creation, and therefore predated the existence of Judaism. The bishop shifted in his seat, waiting to see how the rabbi would get himself out of this trouble spot.

           
The rabbi weighed and tested his words, then said, “In your Gospel it is written that Jesus cried out,
Father forgive them, for they know not what they do
. If Jesus is indeed your Lord and Master, then why don’t you obey his command and forgive us?”

           
Some of the congregation sat there scratching their chins and considering this point, while others leapt to their feet and cursed Rabbi Loew for using the Lord’s name in such a way. Popel responded with a brilliant rhetorical strategy that turned the tables on his adversary. “First tell me how
you
would explain that, Rabbi.”

           
The hall grew hushed, expectant.

           
“I think we can all agree that there are natural differences between the nations of the world,” the rabbi said.

           
Many of the people nodded.

           
“And so it is natural for people to react differently to the same events.”

           
The rabbi paused to see if they were still following him.

           
“Therefore, when someone speaks out against my faith, I do not try to stop him from speaking. I listen in order to understand his position so that we may clarify the matter.”

           
The rabbi went on: “Some believe that one’s faith is strengthened when people are forbidden from speaking against it, but that is not so. What strength does a man show when he forbids his opponent from defending himself?”

           
By God, even some of the Germans were agreeing with him on that. Think of the converts we could make with a man like this rabbi on our side, thought the bishop.

           
Popel rushed in. “You make it sound as if we are talking about the difference between hard-boiled eggs and soft-boiled eggs. What about when the other man speaks
blasphemy
, as in this heretical book which was published in Italy barely ten years ago?”

           
He held up a copy of dei Rossi’s
Meor Enayim
.

           
The rabbi let slip an oath in his Judeo-German dialect that sounded like “
Weh ist mir
.”

           
Popel challenged him directly. “This arrogant and impious author dares to question the traditional chronology of the Bible! What do you have to say to
that
, Rabbi?”

           
“I would advise every pious Jew in the land not to read such a book, or even to hold it in his hands. Such heretical words deserve to be burned in the fire.”

           
“Then you agree that the Inquisitional authorities have the right to prohibit certain books?”

           
“I didn’t say that. I said it
deserves
to be burned. But the rabbis have discussed the matter and have reached a compromise, and have ruled that the book is forbidden to any person under the age of twenty-five. That is our way.”

           
“Most cunningly does Satan mask his magic under the appearance of religion,” said Popel, quoting directly from the unpublished
Compendium Maleficarum
. “For know you all that this selfsame Jew, this Yankev ben Khayim, did confess under torture that the book that you revere above all others, the perversely heretical Talmud, which is written in the infernal alphabet of the Chaldeans that can only be read by magicians and sorcerers—”

           
He brandished the volume like an assault weapon, and the crowd drew back in terror of the strange writing.

           
“—which you Jews are flooding the country with like so much excrement from your filthy printing presses, does state quite clearly that
Jesus practiced magic
, and it compares Christianity to a form of heresy.”

           
The predictable uproar followed, and the city guards had to come between the hordes of outraged Christians and the fearful tribe of Jews huddled together for warmth, their knees trembling beneath their tattered cloaks. The Christians accused the Jews of conspiring with the Turks to take over Germany, like the time they helped the Moors occupy the city of Toulouse (even though the Moors never occupied that city), of splitting the Church in order to strengthen their own position (even though Martin Luther hated the Jews almost as much as he hated the Catholics), of using magic to cause a recent series of bad harvests (even though such magic is prohibited in the Torah), of betraying Jesus to the Romans (even though Jesus had given Himself up freely and voluntarily), and of plotting to exterminate the entire Christian population by poisoning the wells, just like they did in Toulouse (again).

           
Enough with the Jews, already,
thought the bishop, drumming his fingers. I’ve got
real
heretics to pursue. The place is practically crawling with them. Why, in the district of Obermarchtal alone, with a population of fewer than five hundred souls, they had executed
fifty
witches in the past two years.

           
The bishop called for order, which was soon restored with the help of Vilém Rožmberk, who was always preaching moderation in matters of religious differences. The bishop gave Rabbi Loew one final opportunity to defend his position.

           
“I am greatly obliged to you, Your Grace,” the rabbi said. “It is indeed unfortunate that the Rabbis who wrote the Talmud did not always have a complete understanding of the many ways in which Christians view the life of Jesus. But there is still much that can be learned from the ancients, who saw fit to abolish capital punishment, while in many countries today one can still be hanged for stealing a loaf of bread. They also established the principle that any statements made under duress cannot be used to incriminate a person in a court of law. Surely these rulings should be carefully considered, even in expurgated form, rather than be consigned forever to the flames, Your Grace.”