Enchantress: A Novel of Rav Hisda's Daughter by Maggie Anton

Author:Maggie Anton [Anton, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-09-01T22:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

For the briefest moment he grinned, but it was long enough for my heart to leap in response. Those perfect teeth, that wonderful smile. I knew when I married Rava that he tended toward the somber, but I didn’t realize his smiles would be so rare.

Salaman and his sons dined with us that evening and the next, and both times my husband was detained at court. The following afternoon, though we hadn’t planned it, I again met Salaman at the cemetery.

“Since you don’t seem too busy these days, I have a favor to ask you,” he said.

“What do you need?” I asked, though I had already decided to do it.

“I need a mosaic template for a baby’s face, but I can’t seem to get the proportions right from memory. . . .” He trailed off.

“You want to use Chanina as a model?”

“Only for a few days, a week at most. And only for a few hours, while he’s asleep.”

I hesitated. What if he was still attracted to me? “I suppose so, but I mustn’t appear secluded with you.”

“Bring Joseph and Sama, then.” Salaman’s voice rose with enthusiasm. “Boys that age tend to find my workshop fascinating.”

• • •

Salaman was right. Joseph and Sama loved playing with the colored tesserae. Jacobus and Gabrilus showed them the codex filled with designs and helped them create some of their own, but Sama preferred to linger with delight over the pages portraying animals.

“The mosaic we’re finishing in Lydda is the biggest I’ve ever worked on,” Salaman told them. “Nearly every panel has animals in it: fish, birds, and large ones like lions, leopards, and antelopes. There are even creatures I’d never seen before, like a giraffe, elephant, and rhinoceros.”

“You’ve seen lions?” Joseph was clearly suspicious.

“Of course.” Salaman grinned. “They always have lions in the circus.”

“I want to see a circus,” Sama announced.

“A big circus always comes to Sepphoris during Hanukah.” Salaman gazed at me and raised his eyebrows questioningly. “If your mother agrees, we could all go together.”

“If you make good progress on your studies”—I looked from one son to the other—“I will consider it.”

“Wait until you see all the Hanukah lamps in the city lit together,” Salaman added.

Joseph turned to me. “But why do we light all these lamps for Hanukah? It’s not in the Torah.”

I smiled at him. Not only did I have the answer, but it was one that might help Salaman appreciate the Rabbis. “Our Sages taught that Hanukah starts on the twenty-fifth of Kislev, and for eight days we do not eulogize or fast. During the time of the Hasmoneans, centuries ago, the Greeks entered the Temple and defiled all the pure oil there. When Israel defeated them, they found only one cruse of oil with the seal of the High Priest, and it contained only enough for one day’s lighting. Yet a miracle occurred and for eight days they kindled with it. The following year, a festival was established on these days, with reciting of Hallel and Thanksgiving.”

Salaman looked at me in surprise.

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