The First Book of Samuel - SAREJESS (chrysanthemum read aloud TXT) 📗

Jews into the ghettos of all European cities. Count Günter Von Bremen had returned from the holy land to be confronted by a missive from the church in which he was instructed that the holy father had deemed it fit to move all Jews into a single area in each city and it was the Count’s duty to see that these measures were introduced in the city of Bremen. To this end the Count had been instructed to appoint a jew-sniffer a person who would actively seek out those Jews who refused to move to the ghettos or who concealed their Jewish roots.

Now at that time lived in Bremen one William Longmont who had a rather shady past and would do any thing for a little gold. He had himself returned from the war in the holy land a few years earlier. William Longmont had set himself up in a lucrative business of spying for the papal courts of Europe. The holy father knowing of this man’s ability had suggested that Count Günter appoint this man to the post of Jew-sniffer.

“Go find me this man” said the Count with a distasteful look on his face as he handed the letter to his bailiff. The whole business sickened him for had he not enjoyed the freest hospitality under the roof of Samuel Ben Ezra of Jerusalem? Now the Count was being forced to imprison his friends and fellow religionists in a restrictive area where they would live together never to see the open sky in the dark and dank city. They were to be relegated to the poorest quarters of the city of Bremen.

William of Longmont so named for his exceptionally long gait, was a German of the most ancient origin. When confronted with the new duty, Longmont smiled; he had dealt with Jews before and knew how to handle them. “I do not see the wisdom of the Holy Father’s instruction in this case but I am forced to implement it” said the Count, to the tall man. “I suppose the Jews like living together” said William. “Yes I suppose as much as rats like living together” said the bailiff who was a very hard man. Who liked the Jews not at all.

The Jews were gathered together and moved to the poorest section of the city. A wall was erected around the four streets in which the Jews were moved and a guard set at the gate. The whole process took a few months.

In the mean time the Jew-sniffer spent his time making himself familiar with all of the known Jews of the city. Once he had become fully familiar he began to watch them to see who else he might catch in his trap. William of Longmont kept a book of who came to the door of the house of Ezra the money lender, who bought bread from Joel the Jewish baker. He would climb to the highest point in the city on a Friday afternoon and look for the signs of fires been extinguished at a certain hour thus he would work out who was observing Sabbath then he would compare this information with his list of known Jews in the city of Bremen. On finding a Jewish household which was not on his list Longmont would make careful note and continue to watch and investigate. On the 16th day of November in the year of our Lord One thousand one hundred and thirty five the count at the head of a number of men at arms, the bailiff and the Jew-sniffer set out early in the morning to round up a number of suspected Jews. The first house belonged to a merchant of the city. Josef Benjamin was the one chosen for investigation. The group arrived outside the house. A knock at the door brought no response. “I am not surprised” said William “all good Jews would be at prayer at this hour.” “Break the door down” ordered the Count. Quickly three men at arms brought their axes to bear on the door. When the door was broken, the men at arms stood back to allow the Count through the hole. On entering, Günter was confronted by a sight which saddened him much, in later years. There the merchant with his family stood facing the wall praying in the ancient language of the Jews, moving in rhythm to the words he uttered. William Longmont walked past the Count and dragged the old man away from the wall. “You filthy Jew!” he shouted. “How dare you defile our city with your filthy words!” Longmont threw a punch and hit the merchant in the mouth. The men at arms moved through the house, quickly capturing every one who was in the house finding evidence of their complicity in the crime of being Jewish and celebrating the Sabbath.

When all of the occupants had been assembled in the street the Count had them put in irons and marched them off to the ghetto. Turning to the merchant the Count said “There will a fine for disobeying the Popes order. You may gather some of your possessions before you leave for your new home” he said. Hurriedly the merchant ran back into the house and soon emerged with a large bag slung over his shoulder. “Have you got everything?” asked the Count. “Yes sire” said the Jew. “Well then I suggest you join your family in your new home” said the Count, as two of the men at arms marched him off to the ghetto. While the Count and the men marched off to their next victim’s house the good people of Bremen began to gather in the street. Once the Count had left, the people who had been standing whispering began moving in to the house, ransacking it in search of gold and other rich furnishings. In a few minutes the house was completely empty of all goods, then some one dropped a lighted coal on the wooden floor and due to the nature of the building, the old wood had been highly polished over centuries, the bees wax took but a moment to catch fire. Soon the house was engulfed in flames. Word spread that the Jews had set the house on fire in revenge for been turned out. Pretty soon there was a riot in the city. If it had not been for the strong number of men at arms that the Count commanded the Jews of Bremen might very well have died that day.

This course was to be followed for many centuries when the people wanted a scapegoat they would turn and blame the Jews who would bear the brunt of the problems.

1155 AD The Count reflects
There comes a time in every man’s life when he begins to take stock of the sum total of their life, their achievements, their families and what they would be leaving to posterity. Thus on a certain day in the year 1155 AD the now aged Count Gunther Von Bremen had occasion to see for himself the sum total of his life. While his grandson Herbert was been bounced upon his knee, the Count began to think back to the time he had spent on the crusades in the Holy land, of the time he had spent with the Jew Samuel Ben Ezra. One of the most striking things about this period in his life was the way in which he had been teachable and having a deep sense of right and wrong he had been pliable and to this end his friendship with the Jew had stood him in good stead. He had learned many things which he might have over looked if he had not been instrumental in rescuing the Jew from the mob back in the hot summer of the year 1125 AD.

In particular, he had learned that even though there was a vast chasm between the two of them on religious ground, the Jew Samuel was honestly seeking a way to please God. In his friendly way he had taught Gunther the precepts of the Jewish religion. He had shown the young European Count the God of Abraham, Isaac and Moses. In turn Samuel had listened as Gunther had expounded on the beliefs of the church, of the difficulty of the current time, sin, the church when two popes proclaimed their preeminence over each other. Gunther also explained in his simple way that he believed that the blessed savior had come to this earth to redeem all men both Jew and Gentile. Samuel had listened yet had seemed to have his mind on other things. The running of an inn in the old city of Jerusalem took much needed attention even at the best of times. Thus when Gunther had finished explaining the reasons for the beads of the rosary Samuel had excused himself. Begging the young Count’s indulgence for his rudeness but his help was needed with the cooking in the kitchen. "Pilgrims arriving need to be fed" said Samuel, leaving the count. Shortly thereafter Gunther had left Jerusalem to visit the Galilee and had not found time to return for many months. When he did, he found that Samuel was no longer at the inn and thus the conversation, which they might have, had never happened.

Now in old age Count Gunther Von Bremen was confronted with a relative of the man he had met so may years before in Jerusalem. The relative bore the same name as the man he had met in the alleyway that day in 1125 and what was more bore a marked resemblance to Samuel Ben Ezra. This Samuel who was newly arrived in the city of Bremen was a cloth merchant by trade and had on account of the old friendship with his cousin Samuel Ben Ezra, sought out the Count to present him with a gift of great value in remembrance of the old friendship his cousin bore the Count.

Thus Gunther came to reflect on his past. The count remembered the fact that on returning from the Holy land he had to implement in the city one of the ugliest things he had ever done forcing the Jews of the city of Bremen into the ghetto. Of the Jew sniffer which he had appointed, there was much to be said, all of it bad, for this man had taken an inordinate fondness for torturing those whom he caught out in the lie. The priests of the city seemed to take great delight in following his example. Sunday after Sunday the priest would thunder from the pulpit "it was the filthy Jews that were bringing the great states of Europe into disrepute." All the while Gunther held his tongue but certain bitterness against the expounders of his faith began to grow in his heart. One day after three years of this, he had become extremely angry by the latest outrage committed in the name of Christ. An old Jew had been found outside the gate of the Judden strassser after curfew. The mob incited by the priests and the Jew Sniffer had set upon the old man tearing his beard from his face and beating him until he resembled not a man so much as a lump of beaten broken meat. How far had the brave souls of the church fallen to Satan’s bidding? On hearing this, Gunther, Count of Bremen had summoned the priests and the Jew-Sniffer "Enough" he had said to them "Enough I say of this wanton debasement of our fellow humans. Do you not realize that our blessed Savior was also a Jew?” He asked. "But they killed our Lord" ventured one of the most obnoxious of the priests. “Priest you gain say me to your peal” thundered the Count. “These Jews have done nothing to deserve this. They