Fourth Tale Of a King who Decreed the Conversion of the Jews
Fourth Tale
Of a King who Decreed the Conversion of the Jews
O nce there was a king who ordered an expulsion of those in the land who would not convert to his faith.
All who stayed in the country were forced to be baptized, and those who did not were expelled.
There were those who relinquished all of their wealth and belongings and they left the country in poverty in order to stay true to their faith and remain Jews.
And there were also some who were concerned for their personal wealth and wellbeing who stayed, and they became forced converts, who carried on their religion in secret but never dared to behave as Jews in public.
So he decided to go and inform the king without the others knowing.
He went and revealed the assassination plot to the king.
The king went to investigate the truth of the matter and, to this end, he dispatched guards on the night the attack was due to take place.
All the conspirators were caught, and each was tried and convicted.
The king spoke to the minister who was a forced convert, and asked, What kind of an honour shall I bestow upon you for having saved my life and the lives of my children?
Do I elevate you to the nobility? But you are already a minister of state.
Do I give you money? But you have a fortune of your own.
So, tell me, what kind of honour would you like? Whatever you wish, I will surely grant.
The convert responded, But will you really do as I ask?
The king said, Yes, I will surely grant whatever you wish.
The convert said, Swear on your crown and on your kingdom.
The king so swore.
Then the forced convert spoke, The only honour I seek is the privilege of being a Jew in public and to be able to wear my religious garments—my tallis and tefillin—as before, for all to see.
This vexed the king greatly, since Jews had been forbidden throughout his realm. Yet, he had no choice since he had sworn an oath that he would do whatever he was asked. The next morning the forced convert went and donned his woollen prayer shawl and leather prayer boxes and straps in public.
Later this king died and his son became king.
The son began to rule the country with kindness, because he saw how people wanted a real change from the harsh rule of his father.
He continued to 43 expand the realm and was even more skilful.
The king ordered all the seers of stars to assemble and he asked them, What could cause my royal line to be brought to an end?
For he wished to protect it. The seers of stars told him that his line would not be brought to an end if he could protect himself from a bull and a sheep.
This prophecy was recorded in the royal chronicles.
The king cautioned his children to lead the country as he had, with kindness, and then he died.
Afterwards, his son became king and took to ruling the country with the zeal of his grandfather.
He conquered even more territory and then, by a stroke of brilliance, it occurred to him: he issued a decree that nowhere in his domain should there be any cattle or sheep.
That way the royal line would never be brought to an end.
Thereafter, he had no fear of anything at all.
He led the country with great skill and became a very great sage.
Then this king had another stroke of brilliance: he would conquer the entire world without firing a shot.
For the earth is divided into seven continents.
And there are seven celestial orbs—the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn—each associated with its own day of the week.
Every orb shines its light on each of the continents.
There are also seven types of metal—gold, silver, iron, quicksilver, tin, copper and lead—and each of the seven orbs holds dominion over its own unique metal.
The king set out to collect each of the seven kinds of metal.
Then he ordered that all the gilded portraits of all the kings hanging in their palaces be brought to him.
From all of these he composed the figure of a man.
The man’s head was made of 44 gold, his body of silver, and all of the other limbs were forged from the rest of the seven types of metal.
He set this effigy of a man on a high mountain, and all the seven celestial orbs infused it with their light.
If anyone needed advice or counsel on what to do or what not to do, he could come to the figure and ask the particular limb whose metal came from the continent relating to the subject of his question.
And were one to inquire whether to do a particular thing, if the answer were positive the limb would light up and glow.
If negative, the limb would stay dark. Thus the king did.
As a result, he conquered the entire world and amassed a tremendous fortune.
But the man of seven metals alone could not accomplish all the king wished for.
Only when the king had cast down the arrogant and exalted the lowly would he have, at last, conquered the whole world.
So the king issued edicts to all his generals and ministers, all those who held noble offices and titles, and he demoted them and stripped them of their rank—even those who had been appointed by his forebears and had served loyally.
He deposed them all, and in their place he elevated low-born people, installing them in place of the nobility and ministers he had banished.
When the former forced convert was brought before the king and asked what his royal privilege was, he answered, My only privilege is that I am allowed to be a Jew in public on account of the favour I once did your grandfather.
But the king stripped him of this privilege, and he was once more forced to hide his faith. 45
One night, the king lay down to sleep. In his dream, he saw a crystal-clear sky in which he could make out all the twelve signs of the zodiac, arrayed before him according to their time of year.
And there he saw the stars forming Aries for the early spring month Nissan, which appeared as a wee lamb, and those of the following sign, Taurus, for the month of Iyyar.
And he saw that this bull and this ram were mocking him.
He awoke in great anger and was terribly frightened.
He ordered that the royal chronicles be brought to him, and there he recalled what was recorded: that only by the bull and the sheep would his royal line come to an end.
He was seized with a terrible dread. So he told the queen and his dread spread to her and then to their children, until they could not contain the terrible fear in their hearts.
They summoned a host of oneiromancers to interpret the dream and propose a solution.
Yet he turned a deaf ear to them and was consumed by his terrible fear.
A sage came to him and said that he had received a teaching from his father that the sun emits 365 rays, and the place where all of them converge shines bright.
An iron rod emerges from this spot, and all who are afraid may come there and be relieved of their fear. The king took well to this teaching.
So he headed out with his wife and his children and the entire royal family to this very place.
And the sage came with them. On the road stood an angel of wrath.
They asked the angel the way, for there were many paths that branched off: a smooth path, a path filled with muck, a path full of holes, and other paths as well, including one that was four miles of all-consuming fire.
The angel pointed them towards the path of fire and they 46 all began walking.
The sage kept on guard for the fire that his father had cautioned would be there.
Then he caught sight of the fire and saw how kings and Jews were walking about in the fire, each wearing a wool-fringed tallis and leather tefillin.
The sage said to the king, I received a teaching that the four miles of fire ahead are all-consuming and I shall go no further.
Do as you will, and if you wish to go, go.
The king thought for a moment. He saw how other kings were going about unharmed in the fire so surely he would be able to go through the fire, too. The sage said, My father taught that one cannot do so. But do as you will, and if you wish to go, go.
So the king, along with the entire royal family, headed into the fire, and they were all consumed in great agony.
When the sage returned home, the ministers of state were astonished that the king and the entire royal family had been destroyed. After all, he had protected himself from the bull and the sheep, so how could it be that he and his entire line had been wiped out?
The forced convert then spoke up: It is because of me that he has been extirpated.
The seers of the stars had prophesied it all, but they simply did not understand what they had seen.
For it is from the bull’s hide that the leather boxes and straps of the tefillin are made.
And from the sheep comes the wool that fringes the tallis.
And it is owing to them that the king and his entire line were cut off.
For kings that allow Jews to live freely in their lands, who allow them to wear their tallis and tefillin, such kings may walk the path of fire and come to no harm.
But the 47 king who allows no Jews to wear their garments of prayer or to live freely in his country, he and his entire line will be wiped off the earth.
This is why the zodiacal bull and ram scorned him.
Indeed the seers of the stars saw that the destruction of his reign would be on account of the bull and the ram, but they did not understand what they had seen or how it would truly be the end of the line of the king.
Amen
And so may all your
enemies perish,
O Lord
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