“What? What?” she repeats in a mocking tone. “The Mayorkowiczes had a child with an ailment of the ears who was healed by wearing a little hat like this. The socks are for aching feet and bones. The kerchiefs can be used for anything.”
Freyna is standing against the wall, wrapping the socks in clean pieces of linen, which she finishes with a ribbon. Tomorrow these items will be sold to the pilgrims.
Ever since she heard about the curse, Sobla has known that this will all end badly. Does the curse also apply to the family of the condemned? It must, of course. Her breasts have been sore for some time now. She has urged Israel not to get involved in these religious disputes anymore. To get rid of Yente. Sometimes she stands by the window that looks out onto the cemetery and the hills that slope clear down to the river, and she wonders what direction they will go in when they have to run away.
What frightened her the most was the story of Joseph of Rohatyn, whom she knew—he was here, with Jacob, in the winter. That man went to synagogue and divulged his error, admitting to each and every one of his sins. He told them about breaking the Shabbat, not keeping the fast, forbidden corporeal relations, and the fact that he prayed to Sabbatai Tzvi and Baruchiah, that he carried out kabbalist rituals, that he ate forbidden foods—everything that happened in Korolówka while Jacob was around. Thinking about it makes Sobla’s head spin—she almost vomits out of fear. Israel, her husband, might well admit to all the same things. Joseph was sentenced to thirty-nine lashes—and that was nothing, compared with the rest of his sentence. He was forced to divorce his wife and to declare his children bastards. He was banished from the Rohatyn kahal and forbidden further contact with any Jews. He is to rove the earth until his death.
Sobla rushes to Yente’s bier and furiously removes the socks and hats and throws them to the ground. Pesel looks at her in shock and anger.
“Oh, Mama,” she says. “You really just don’t get it.”
The Bishop of Kamieniec Miko?aj Dembowski writes a letter to the papal nuncio Serra, while his secretary adds a little something from himself
The letter is from the bishop, but it was written from start to finish by Father Pikulski. He is now reading it to the bishop, who is more interested in the renovations to his summer residence in Czarnokozińce, eager to go and check on their progress himself.
The nuncio, meanwhile, would like to know what’s going on in the strange matter of the Jewish heretics. It has already come to light, thanks to the Jews themselves and their rabbinical court, that the network of Sabbatian kahalim—the heretics—extends far and wide. It exists in Galicia, in Bukovina, in Hungary, Moravia, and Podolia. All of these kahalim are secret; the heretics feign traditional Jewish beliefs; at home, however, they engage in diabolical rituals, committing among other sins that of the Adamites. The rabbis are shocked and frightened by this. They have sent a respectful letter about it to the nuncio.
The bishop’s letter, in Pikulski’s hand, relates before the rabbinical court in Satanów the details of the trial of the Jewish heretics who were captured:
The hearings took place in the chambers of the kahal. The estate’s guards, and, on the Jewish side, the guard of the mikvah, a certain Naftali, led in the accused with tethers around their necks and their hands tied, so that they had no way to shield themselves from the blows they received from the crowd, which also spat on them. Some of them were so frightened that they confessed to everything before they were even questioned, immediately begging to be pardoned, swearing that they would never again resort to similar misdeeds. Such was the case of one Joseph of Rohatyn. Others denied everything, insisting that their presence at the trial must have been the result of some mistake, as they had nothing to do with the heretics.
After just one day of hearings, it was possible to paint a picture on the basis of the testimonies that would strike fear into the heart of any onlooker. Not only did they profane their Shabbat and other holy days, and eat foods forbidden to the Jews, but also they lay with persons unwedded to them, the men and the women committing such adulteries with the full knowledge and blessing of their spouses. The epicenter of this heresy is thought to be the Shorr family and its head, Elisha Shorr, who was furthermore accused of maintaining intimate relations with his daughter-in-law. It seems accusations such as these provoked a great deal of tumult, so much so that the wives of the accused left their husbands en masse, initiating divorce proceedings.
The rabbis realize that they must put a stop to this sect and its disgusting practices, which could paint God-fearing Jews such as themselves in a very bad light, which is why they decided on a very severe next step, namely, to curse Jacob Frank, condemning him with herem. The sect is to be systematically persecuted, and studying the Zohar and Kabbalah, so dangerous to malleable minds, has been forbidden to persons younger than forty years of age. Anyone who believes in Sabbatai Tzvi and his successors, Baruchiah or Nathan of Gaza, is now cursed. These will never be permitted any public role or function; their wives and daughters are to be regarded as concubines, and their sons as bastards. They will not be admitted into their own homes, nor will their horses be given fodder. And all Jews must immediately report such cursed persons upon sight.
The Council of Four Lands in Konstantynów has confirmed the above.
The determination to curse these people spread quickly through the country, and we have now had reports that these Shabbitarians, as they are popularly known, are indeed being persecuted. They are being attacked in their homes, beaten, their sacred books taken from them and destroyed.
It is said that the men who have been apprehended are half shaved, their partial beards a sign that they are neither Jews nor Christians, but rather straddling the two religions. This universal persecution, however, is such a blow to the Jewish apostasy that it will undoubtedly prove fatal to it. Besides, the leader of these renegades has traveled to Turkey, and, fearing for his life, will likely not return again.
“What a shame,” the bishop exclaims. “There might have been a chance for us to actually convert them.”