BLITZ IN BERLIN
[Prologue]

by Carol W. Berman

How I became a cabalist and created a man made of mud, a golem, who traveled through time and saved millions of people, is a story that must be told. I won't have a chance to tell you everything, but let me begin on the evening of my usual stroll before dinner through the Jewish quarter in Prague.

It was a chilly, rainy night in October, a few weeks after Yom Kippur. This part of town wasn't a ghetto like where I was born in Poland in 1525, but it was dirtier, noisier and more crowded than the Christian quarter. Sweet scents of baked challah bread and roasted chicken aroused my hunger, which I hoped to satisfy soon with Sabbath dinner. I'd had a long day of prayer, study and counseling our people in the Altneuschul where I was chief rabbi. My new glasses hurt my nose, so I took them off and put them in one of the pockets of my long, black overcoat. Before I realized it, I had walked through the gates and out of the Jewish quarter, which was dangerous because we must wear a yellow star of David if we venture outside and I wasn't wearing mine. Another time, I'd been so engrossed in my thoughts that I wandered out and a Christian boy pelted me with a stone on the head, knocking off my hat and revealing my yarmulke. I still have a scar and my wife Pearla and six daughters to remind me of that incident. I searched in my many pockets for my glasses, so I could find my way back. Where were they?

Suddenly a storm stirred strong gusts of wind and a drenching rain fell. I looked for shelter and discerned a lit doorway up a flight of stairs where many people crowded in to escape the storm. I took my chances and followed. The tavern, if that was what it was, was dark, smoky and smelled of cheap red wine. So many people were inside, no one seemed to notice me, but still I hung back in the shadows. A woman called out in a clear, high soprano: "The Queen of Cups and the Devil." Someone in a black cloak moved forward and approached a round table where a fair-skinned lady sat in a light blue gown. A hand emerged from the black cloak, which the lady took and they left together through a heavy velvet curtain in the back. What was going on? I was desperately searching for my glasses, when someone handed me a card and directed me to be seated in a waiting room to one side. "No, no. I'm just here to ..." I began. The person disappeared before I could finish. The palm-sized card in my hand showed an elaborately painted picture of a magician in a golden shirt, holding a goblet in one hand and a tree branch in the other. I was reluctant to speak to anyone and call attention to myself, so I sat down. The soprano called out: "The Magician and the King of Wands." A small man beckoned to me to follow him. I supposed I represented the magician, because I certainly wasn't the king of wands. At the end of the hall, the man opened a door. Inside, I encountered a gentleman in a brocade vest, white silk shirt and purple pantaloons.

"Pleased to meet you, Maharal," the man said breathlessly, rising slightly and nodding.

The people call me this, which means "our teacher, Rabbi Loew." How could someone outside of the Jewish quarter know my name? "What is your name, sir?" I asked.

"I summoned you here. You may call me the king of wands," he replied. Later I learned that he was none other than the Emperor Rudolf II.

He placed his card and I placed mine on a roughly hewn table between us and we pulled up stools. "I've wanted to meet you since I heard of your presence here in the city. Is it true that you are a master of the Kabbalah?" he asked.

Naturally, I was suspicious of him, this place and our meeting. Also I had not yet begun to apply what I knew of the Kabbalah. Since I only had theoretical knowledge, I didn't consider myself a master. What was going on? How did non-Jewish people know of our ways and what should I reveal to them? "I am the chief rabbi of the Altneuschul. As part of our religious services we do study certain books, the Kabbalah included."

"Is it true that you can do magic and understand how God made the universe?"

He seemed to be in his thirties, yet his enthusiasm made him seem almost boyish. I found myself attracted to his energy."First of all, where am I? And why do you wish to know about magic and the Kabbalah?"

"You are in a different world, a different dimension. Here tarot cards are animated and from them we can read the past and the future. Our knowledge is incomplete though. We need your help to connect us to the occult wisdom of your people."

"The Kabbalah and other ancient texts are not intended for frivolous entertainment. These writings are designed to bring us closer to God. After many years of study and moral living, we understand how God manifests in the world. It's not magic."

"Forgive me for speaking so casually, rabbi. We are not trying to entertain ourselves. We want to help you as well. We see that your people are in grave danger. In time you will come to understand everything. I am a bit of a magician." From a thick pack of cards in a black velvet case he plucked out one and placed it on the table.

It depicted a burning tower upside down. As I stared at the card, the picture moved! I blinked my eyes, thinking it was a trick of my poor vision, but as I drew closer, I saw thousands of people trudging down a road, all wearing yellow stars, like the one I'd left at home, only their clothes looked odd. When they walked into the tower, they were pushed into ovens and burnt alive! A horrible pain seared my chest and I felt faint. I recoiled from these visions.

"This is what we've discovered in the future. And worse. We wanted to warn you."

The gentleman wore a troubled expression on his handsome, narrow face. He seemed to feel sincerely sorry that he had to reveal such horrors. "God would not create such a fate for us," I said when I finally found my voice. Was the King of Wands conjuring an illusion to fool me? Then I thought of the pogroms my own family had endured in Poland and all the others I'd heard about in Russia.

"I'd like to extend an invitation for you to join me in the palace in a week."

He handed me a piece of fancy stationery with a seal and an address engraved in gold. I'd heard that the emperor who had just moved to Prague loved magic and gathered alchemists, astrologers and magicians in his court. "The honor would be mine," I said, standing up and bowing.

My first meeting with the emperor inspired me to return to Kabbalah study, which I had abandoned for a while. A week later someone killed a Christian child, threw his body into the Jewish quarter at night and blamed us for his death, claiming we needed his blood to make matzohs. Mobs formed and pounded on the gates of our quarter, demanding our blood. They attacked us when they could. No use explaining to anyone that it wasn't Passover and we wouldn't make matzohs for five more months and of course we would never harm a child and were forbidden to have blood in any food. It was time to visit the emperor in his palace.

It was Rudolf who suggested that I create a golem to help us.