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Synopsis

They say the Devil came to Lublin, Poland once, in the early spring of the year 1797 of the Christian calendar. For the Jews of Lublin, it was the month of Nisan in the year 5557.

There are two calendars because there are two Lublins: the Lublin of the Polish Catholics, who fear only God, the Devil, and their local nobleman, Count Sobieski – and the Lublin of the Jews, who fear everyone and everything, and with good reason. For despite having lived in Poland for hundreds of years, the Jews live every day in Lublin only by the grace of the Count’s uncertain tolerance. The Jewish holiday of Passover nears and with it hangs the threat of violence.

It’s happened before, in Lublin, and all over. Suddenly, in come the soldiers with the orders of eviction, and maybe a gang of angry peasants with torches – a pogrom – to pillage, rape or kill any Jews who don’t get out fast enough. The Jews of Poland have plenty to worry about in 1797.

Graf Sobieski rules all of Lublin, but even within Lublin’s Jewish community, there is a social hierarchy – perhaps successful businessmen like the butcher (and the butcher’s wife) wield the most power, but it is the rabbi who is the community’s spiritual leader. A poor, unmarried woman with barely two groshn to rub together, two unmarried daughters and an orphaned granddaughter to support would barely cling to the bottom rung of the social ladder.

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