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Mythic Judaism DivineRevisedInterior.quark 5/31/11 1:44 PM Page 121 Chapter Six Mythic Judaism Thus says YHWH, the God of that does not have a small community. Supported by miraculous powers, Israel, to all whom I have caused Such communities have a rich cultural Moses sought to convince Pharaoh to free to be carried away captive from heritage that they treasure, with folklore the Hebrew slaves, but only after ten Jerusalem to Babylon. Build you and stories, literature, poetry, and magic plagues culminating in the death of every houses, and dwell in them; plant that have been passed through the gener- Egyptian firstborn were God’s people gardens, and eat the fruit of ations. The Jewish people are a resolute released. They wandered for forty years in them. Take wives for yourselves, people, and they find ways to live and the desert under Moses but then, at Sinai, and father sons and daughters; thrive despite the adversity, comforted Moses received the Ten Commandments and take wives for your sons, that they are God’s chosen. and the Torah directly from God. The wan- and give your daughters to men, derings were at an end, and Canaan, now that they may bear sons and conquered by Joshua, became Israel at last. daughters; and multiply you there, and do not be diminished. Story Hook: The craftsman Bezalel Seek the well-being of the city was responsible for the construc- to which I have exiled you, and History of tion of the Ark in which the pray to YHWH on its behalf; stone tablets bearing the Ten for through its well-being will Commandments, Aaron’s rod, you know peace. a People and divine manna were stored. Bezalel was reputed to have such Jeremiah 29:4-7 Abraham became the father of the a profound understanding of the Jewish people when he entered into a forces of creation, as represented The Jewish people are exiles from covenant with God that he and his by Hebrew letters, that he could their ancestral lands, living side-by-side descendents would know no other God build any device that God com- with gentiles and non-believers. While but him and in return would receive the manded. A magus discovers ref- they may be the first “people of the book,” land of Canaan, which eventually became erences to the works of Bezalel worshiping the same God as both the Israel. Abraham’s grandson Jacob had and realizes that they may pro- Christians and the Muslims, their theolo- twelve sons, the eleventh being Joseph. vide insight into any number of gy is treated with disdain, and their lives After falling foul of a plot by his jealous mysterious Arts, not least the use are filled with restriction and persecution. brothers, Joseph was sold into slavery in of Hebrew characters to enhance Often excluded from trade guilds, they Egypt. He used his Divine prophecies to enchanted devices, or even the find their means of support limited, which gain favor with the Pharaoh, and in a turn ability to gain favor when work- has given rise to a class of Jewish money- of fate achieved great wealth and status, ing upon such enchantments lenders, a role within society that does lit- eventually forgiving his brothers and within the Dominion. But is the tle to protect them from greedy nobles or bringing them to Egypt. magus alone in this knowledge? clerics bearing grudges. But the descendants of Abraham did Or are other magi looking for While it is true that many Jewish not fare well and soon found their grow- those same secrets? communities face persecution every day, ing numbers looked upon with suspicion including the requirement to wear marks by the Pharaoh. Moses was born against or badges by which they may be identi- the backdrop of genocide, as the Pharaoh fied, individuals may still rise within ordered all newborn Hebrew children be THE FIRST TEMPLE society. In more tolerant Muslim lands, killed. Moses’ mother hid him and the Jews may be advisers, ambassadors, or child was found and raised by an Egyptian The kingdom of Israel was secure first even physicians and surgeons to the princess. He fled his life of plenty when under Saul, then David, and then finally wealthy and powerful. And regardless of he killed an Egyptian guard in defending a Solomon, a king of great wisdom and their location, their scholars and poets Hebrew slave and spent forty years in the magical power, who built the Temple in have a reach far beyond the confines of desert living as a shepherd. It was then Jerusalem. But Israel was split into two, Jewish society. that God appeared to Moses, speaking to Israel to the north and Judah to the south, It is a society that has spread across him through a bush burning with Divine under the rule of Solomon’s son the known world. While Jews may not be fire. God commanded Moses to return to Rehoboam. By 587 BC, both Israel and numerous, there is hardly a city or town Egypt and to free his people. Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem, had This preview of Realms of Power: The Divine, Revised Edition is ©2011 Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce for personal use. To find out more about Ars Magica or to buy your own copy of this book, visit our website at www.atlas-games.com/arm5 DivineRevisedInterior.quark 3/3/11 5:15 PM Page 122 Realms of Power fallen. It was Nebuchadnezzer who took ological analysis. Over the years of sepa- the Torah, which prohibits metaphorical Jerusalem in 587 BC and it was he who ration from the Jews of the East, the interpretations, and relies upon the sim- destroyed the Temple and forced the Jews Ashkenazim have developed their own plest and most direct interpretation of any into exile in Babylon. Talmudic interpretations, building their law or ruling. This means that their inter- own legal precedents without recourse to pretation of the Torah differs, from impos- the formerly-important scholars of the ing different dietary laws to the refusal of THE SECOND TEMPLE East. Ashkenazi theology is typified by all medical treatment. Despite this, the strengthening the position of women, a Karaites do have their own literary and In 539 BC, in what is termed “The growing folklore based on the Divine, and interpretive tradition and their scholars Restoration”, the Jews were returned to a tendency towards asceticism. are prolific writers. Nevertheless, the Israel by Cyrus the Great of Persia after The void left by the absence of acad- weight given to these works does not his conquest of Babylon. In this period the emic pursuit has resulted in the develop- approach that given to the Talmud in Temple was rebuilt, ushering in the age of ment of a distinctly Jewish mysticism in Rabbinite communities. the Second Temple,but the Jews were not the form of the Kabbalah. Built on divine Many Rabbinite scholars have devot- sovereign in their own land and lived principles and a search for the underlying ed many books to disparaging the Karaite under foreign rulers, including the mechanisms that govern the universe, the tradition. Maimonides concluded that Romans. It was a rebellion against the Kabbalah finds its strongest adherents in Karaitism is a heretical practice, while the Romans that eventually saw the end of the Provence, but the texts are spreading fast Karaites view Rabbinite Judaism the same Temple. In 66 AD the Jews rose up throughout Jewish society, especially into way. Relations are often antagonistic and against the occupying legions. Their suc- northern Iberia. in Constantinople the Jewish and Karaite cess was short-lived and four years later, quarters are separated by a gateless wall. after a protracted siege, Jerusalem fell. The Karaite community is larger in The age of the Second Temple ended SEPHARDIM Muslim lands, including a particularly with its destruction. This act began the large presence in Jerusalem, where they exile of the Jews and the Temple has While the Ashkenazim remain large- are free to practice their religion without never been rebuilt. ly closed to Christian culture, the Rabbinite interference. It is less common Sephardim embrace the more tolerant to find Karaites in Christian lands as they Muslim society in which they live. Their inevitably fall foul of the rulings of their poetry and academic writing tends to more numerous Rabbinite neighbors. The Thirteenth Century adopt Arabic style with works often transliterated, using Arabic characters in With the fall of the Second Temple, place of Hebrew. They have also adopted THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND THE EAST the Jews are exiled from their homeland, the secular learning so prevalent across dispersed across Mythic Europe and the Muslim lands, becoming notable philoso- Though tolerated, Jews in the East in what is termed the diaspora. This dis- phers, mathematicians, and doctors. Their Byzantine Empire suffer a number of persal has given rise to two broad Jewish willingness to embrace study in the ver- restrictions. They may not build new syn- cultures: the Ashkenazim found within nacular languages has opened the doors to agogues, nor may they read the scriptures Christian lands, predominantly France and academic professions closed to the in Hebrew. They are also prohibited from Germany, and the Sephardim of Muslim Ashkenazim, and many Sephardim serving in any position of government. and Mediterranean lands. While these philosophers enjoy fame and influence But beyond these restrictions, the author- communities are united in a common faith, beyond Sephardic and even Muslim com- ity of their courts is respected, such syna- many cultural differences have arisen.
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