As life sometimes imitates art, I have just gotten to the point in revising Book III [after my editor went through it with a fine-tooth comb] where Joheved, Rachel and Joheved’s daughters discuss whether women are permitted to blow the shofar. Which reminded me that it’s almost Rosh Hashanah and I want to share what I’ve learned about the legendary Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, 11th-century martyr and author of the Unatanah Tokef prayer. You know, the one we say so often over the Days of Awe, that lists an amazing list of ways to die and ends with “Repentance, Prayer and Charity avert the harsh decree.”
For the legend as most of us learned it, see the Orthodox website. Because Book III includes the First Crusade, during which Rabbi Amnon is supposed to have died, I searched diligently to discover the truth behind the legend. While thousand of Jews were murdered by Crusaders in the Rhineland at the end of the 11th century, there is no record of Rabbi Amnon being one of them. In fact, there is no record of a Rabbi Amnon living in Mainz at all, as Professor Eliezer Segal explains in a very thorough discussion and debunking of the legend.
Since the truth about Rabbi Amnon is as elusive as his legend is famous, since I have several scenes in Book III that take place while the Crusaders are in Mainz, and since I’m writing fiction, I couldn’t resist creating a character named Rabbi Amnon and placing him there. Of course he dies a martyr and composes the Unatanah Tokef, but in circumstances that are more in keeping with how the rest of the Jewish community truly died at that time.
I wish my readers a Shana Tova, and may you all be written in the Book of Life.
My editor has worked her way through her first reading of Book III, and started on her second, more thorough, perusal. She can only tell me that she has lots of comments, which I’m afraid will translate into lots of work for me to change/improve things. My daughter, husband, and a very good friend who read early versions of MIRIAM are also diving into RACHEL, and so far they all three agree that a certain flashback is confusing and that the beginning could be made more suspenseful. So I’m working on their fixes while waiting for the editor’s ax to fall.
Meanwhile, searching the web, I discovered a website with a very nice photo of the synagogue in Troyes, and at the bottom, the memorial to Rashi that sits on what was once the medieval Jewish cemetery. Note the architecture, which, according to zoning rules for the old city, must remain at it was in medieval times – at least on the outside. Interesting that the Church of St. Frobert is located at the site of Troyes’ medieval Old Synagogue, while the new synagogue [pictured here] was originally a 16th century abbey.
I had the fascinating, and slightly nerve-wracking, experience of being interviewed on a 30 minute TV show recently for Connie Martinson’s TalksBooks . The good thing was that it was taped near my home, so getting there was convenient. The unfortunately thing was that I was in Memphis on Aug 14, when it was shown in Los Angeles, so not only did I miss seeing myself, but I didn’t get a chance to tell anyone else about it either.
However, TalksBooks is shown on many different cable TV channels, including the Shalom TV, so you may get another chance to see me. Should you be interested, it’s show #151, and the other author on with me was best-selling detective novelist, Robert Crais. Luckily Connie interviewed Robert first, so I was able to see how the show worked and prepare myself. She and the author sat in a living room setting, in two comfy chairs facing each other. It was easier than I thought to ignore the cameras and concentrate on Connie’s questions. All in all, it ended up more fun than scary, and now I can say that I’ve been on a TV show.
Ah, if only I could get a DVD of my interview. But perhaps it’s for the best that I didn’t see myself on TV, and cringe at how my hair looked or things like that. One of my neighbors did see me, and said it was interesting. So I know it actually happened.