Chapter 24
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 024
Chapter Title: The Jews
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The Jews.
People often picture a certain image when they think of Jews.
A usurious moneylender without pity or tears.
A leech sucking the lifeblood from poor Christians.
Cold-blooded killers like Shylock in Shakespeare's plays, demanding a pound of flesh in lieu of repayment.
But that's wrong. Completely mistaken.
"Why are all Jews rich?"
They didn't become wealthy out of innate greed.
The poor ones simply died out.
Living as a Jew in medieval Europe was like paying a daily toll just to stay alive.
Land to farm? Off-limits.
The right to join a guild? Denied.
Eligibility for public office? Naturally, no.
The Bible taught, "Do not charge interest to your brother," so Christians couldn't engage in moneylending.
Thus, the only trade allowed to Jews was the one Christians shunned as filthy sin: finance, namely usury.
If a lord got in a bad mood and issued an expulsion order? Bribes were necessary.
If Crusaders passed by and decided to massacre for sport? Mercenaries had to be hired for protection.
If drought stirred unrest among the masses? Hefty fines had to be paid to dispel accusations of poisoning wells.
History was written in blood.
In 1096, during the First Crusade.
The Jews of the Rhineland were slaughtered in a frenzy of "Let's purge the infidels in our midst before heading off to kill the heathen!"
In 1348, the Black Death.
As a third of Europe's population perished, rumors spread that "Jews poisoned the wells." In Strasbourg alone, two thousand Jews were burned alive.
Money.
Without money, death followed.
Poor Jews died pierced by Crusader swords, burned at the stake during the plague, or simply starved.
Only those with money could extend their lives by the weight of their gold.
This simple, brutal truth had been etched into their genes over centuries.
Thus, it was only natural that the surviving Jews were wealthy. It wasn't the fruit of greed, but the raw outcome of natural selection.
Ghetto.
The term for the Jewish quarter.
It was another prison within the city.
The air in Prague's Jewish Quarter, Josefov, hung heavier and murkier than the outside world.
Narrow alleys reeked of filth, and rickety wooden houses clung together, teetering on the brink of collapse.
The sun blazed overhead, yet the streets lacked any vitality.
Children played in hushed tones, adults hugged the walls like shadows.
No one knew when a stone might fly from nowhere.
Or when an angry mob might charge in with torches blazing.
Every one of them wore a scrap of yellow cloth sewn to their clothes.
The Star of David. A mark of shame.
In 1215, at the Fourth Lateran Council, Pope Innocent III ordered Jews to wear distinguishing badges.
Yellow rags or horned hats. They turned people into walking targets.
Rabbi Abraham sighed as he wiped down the weathered door of the synagogue.
"...Lord, how long will You test us?"
The mood in Prague lately had been ominous.
A new king had ascended the throne. Word was he was the "Heretic King" who had seized church lands and even been excommunicated.
That was when it happened.
"Rabbi!"
The butcher came running, apron dripping with blood, his face drained of color in terror.
"Rabbi! Have you heard? The king has been excommunicated by the Pope!"
"...I know."
Abraham nodded gravely.
"This is bad. With the king excommunicated, they'll need someone to take out their anger on. It's always been that way, hasn't it? Blaming us for famines, plagues... Now even the king's madness will be our fault!"
"Calm down. Nothing has happened yet."
"Soldiers are mustering outside the gates! Who knows how many will die this time... Oh, God!"
To Jews, a change in rulers was always a harbinger of dread.
New kings typically began their reigns by persecuting Jews to win the people's favor.
It unified public sentiment, forgave debts, and filled the treasury with confiscated wealth—a triple win.
Abraham's wrinkled hands trembled.
'How many will die this time? How much bribery will it take to survive?'
He had already consulted the elders and collected emergency funds. But it would hardly sate a king's greed.
That was when it happened.
Dong—dong—dong!
A clamor of drums echoed from the ghetto's entrance.
'They've come!'
Abraham dropped the rag. Jews fled into their homes, faces ashen. Windows slammed shut, bolts clanged.
"Oh, Adonai..."
But Abraham didn't run. He couldn't.
He was the rabbi. The shepherd who had to bare his neck first when the flock faced the slaughter.
The ghetto square was already lined with armed soldiers.
A flag bearing a two-tailed lion and golden star fluttered proudly. Before it stood a herald in splendid attire and a young knight.
The soldiers drew no swords. No torches burned.
But that silence was more terrifying.
"Let the representative of the Jews step forward!"
The herald bellowed. Abraham swallowed dryly and shuffled out like a condemned man to the gallows.
"I... I am the rabbi here."
Abraham prostrated himself on the dirt. Cold earth pressed against his forehead.
"Hear the king's decree. All of you, listen!"
The herald unrolled the parchment.
Jews peeked through window cracks and door slits, eyes wide with fear.
'Expulsion? Confiscation? Or massacre?'
Abraham squeezed his eyes shut, silently begging for the children's lives at least.
But then.
"Thus speaks Ulrich von Sternberg, King of Bohemia and rightful heir of Luxembourg."
The herald read the edict.
"The Lord said, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' This is the law of laws, the commandment of commandments."
Abraham's brow furrowed.
Here it comes again. The routine Christians recited before massacres.
Claims that Jews killed Jesus and thus deserved no love, demands to repent.
"However!"
The herald's voice rose.
"Looking back through our long history, we Christians have failed above all to keep this sacred commandment with the Jewish people. We did not call you neighbors, nor treat you as brothers. We were hypocrites, sinners who broke the commandment."
"...?"
Abraham's eyes widened.
What did he just say?
We're not the sinners... they are?
"Therefore, I declare: As of today, the Prague Ghetto is abolished!"
Abolished.
A woman hiding in the square's corner screamed. We're being driven out. Cast into the wilderness to die.
But the herald's next words shattered their assumptions.
"The walls that confined you shall be torn down. You are no longer sinners of the ghetto, but free citizens of Bohemia."
"...Pardon?"
Abraham blurted out like a fool.
"From this day, restrictions on Jewish residence are lifted. Freedom of occupation is granted. Guild membership is permitted, land ownership allowed, and taxation equal to that of Bohemians applied."
"...!!"
Abraham's eyes bulged.
"Furthermore, the unjust poll taxes and protection fees imposed on you are abolished. You are no longer outsiders, but proud citizens of Bohemia, protected by the king!"
The square fell silent as if doused with ice water.
"The lives and property of Jews shall be under direct royal protection. Any who harm or plunder you on account of your faith shall be deemed traitors to the crown and beheaded!"
The proclamation ended.
No cheers erupted.
No applause sounded.
Shock too profound could numb the sense of reality.
Abraham gaped up at the herald, uncomprehending.
A trap? Lull us into complacency then slaughter us all? Or have I gone mad from fear?
"Um... sir..."
Abraham stammered.
"What... what does this mean...?"
"Didn't you hear? You're free now."
The young knight beside him, Janos, added curtly with an annoyed tilt.
"You can tear down the ghetto gates, trade in the square. Of course, you'll pay taxes like everyone else."
"Free... citizens...?"
Tears streamed down Abraham's cheeks. Not from joy. From the utter terror and confusion of hope too unreal.
Declaring beasts treated as humans for centuries suddenly people.
It was less a miracle than a violent shock.
Jews peering from windows began emerging, faces mirroring Abraham's: doubt, astonishment, and the faintest flicker of impossible hope.
Janos approached the dazed Abraham and tossed him the parchment.
"Take it. The king's promise."
Abraham caught it with trembling hands.
The royal seal gleamed boldly.
"Th-this is..."
"The king doesn't want your money."
Janos added.
"He wants your talents. Work for Bohemia, and the king will be your shield."
Janos clapped Abraham's shoulder.
"What are you waiting for? Shout 'long live the king' or something. This atmosphere is killing me."
Only then did a choked sob escape Abraham.
"Ah... aah...!"
A wail from the depths of his soul, impossible to call either lament or cheer.
The Heretic King's edict.
It was a true bombshell, shaking Europe's order more fiercely than any papal excommunication.
The herald, guards, and young knight departed in a cloud of dust.
Silence returned to the ghetto.
But it was different from the deathly hush before.
"Rabbi..."
A voice crept out.
"Is this... a trap?"
"Has to be! They're sizing up our wealth to confiscate it all at once!"
"But the king's seal..."
Abraham gripped the edict tightly, crumpling it.
He had lived a lifetime of discrimination and scorn. He knew bone-deep how Christians' cries of mercy and love were lies.
Was this real? Or the Lord's trial before greater despair?
Or had the Jews' savior truly come—a second Cyrus the Great?
Abraham wiped his tears.
He couldn't tell if they were from emotion or fear of the upheaval ahead.
One thing was certain.
No one in the ghetto would sleep tonight.
"Everyone."
Abraham spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Call the elders. And... bring out the hidden ledgers."
A chance for the people after centuries.
The old leader's eyes gleamed not like prey, but a hunter's for the first time.