The Light of the Midnight Stars

by Rena Rossner

  But this fairy tale doesn’t have a happy ending. There are dark forces at work in the shape of the prince’s evil stepmother as she takes the babies away and tries to kill them and their mother.

  How could I not be moved by the idea of children born with golden stars on their foreheads? The six pointed “Magen David” has long been associated with Judaism, long before Jews were made to wear them as badges during the Holocaust. Some say the star first appeared on the shield of King David himself. It was a natural match—the idea that even if you try to hide your Judaism in a closet, our faith has a way of reappearing, perhaps in the shape of a shining golden star on a baby’s forehead.

  This novel is also a retelling of the Romanian poem Luceafărul by Mihai Eminescu—a narrative poem based on Romanian folklore about a princess who falls in love with a star. Eminescu based this story on the Romanian folk-myth of the Zburător—a dragon-like spirit with a wolf-like head and a tail of fire that makes love to maidens in their beds at night and causes them to roam the streets at night and refuse to eat for lack of him; a kind of incubus. I’ve also always wanted to write a Jewish dragon story. And in my research I discovered the teli—a serpent-like holy Jewish dragon, also a constellation, said to be part human, part angel. I knew that these dragons had to find a way into my book.

  Along the way I also discovered another Romanian legend—the story of the Solomonars, red-haired mountain men who could control the weather and who rode cloud dragons in the skies. Sadly, they were also often portrayed as caricatures of Jews and part of the anti-Semitic myth that Jews can control the weather.

  Who were these mountain Jews and was there any truth to these tales? What if Jews could fly cloud dragons? What if we could trace our lineage and a magical heritage back to King Solomon himself who was said to work miracles, speak to animals, control the weather, make things grow and control the heavens—including the stars?

  And that was when I stumbled upon the Hassidic story about Rabbi Isaac Tyrnau (also known as Trnava—a Slovakian town, which, when under Hungarian rule, was called Nagyszombat) and the story of his daughter who fell in love with a prince who converted to Judaism and married her, only to be burnt at the stake as a traitor to the throne, and as a result, all of the Jews were expelled from Trnava. Granted, this story is said to have taken place in the fifteenth century, but this is a fantasy novel, and I’d found the story I wanted to tell.

  Rabbi Isaac Tyrnau lived in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century. He wrote a book called the Sefer HaMinhagim—Book of Customs—in reaction to the deaths of so many community leaders during the Black Death and the need he saw for a unification of local customs. My Book of the Solomonars combines translations of this actual work with snippets of other Kabbalistic concepts and Hassidic texts.

  My “Black Mist” is a combination of the Black Plague/Black Death and biblical leprosy, and a metaphor for anti-Semitism. The Black Plague was often blamed on the Jews throughout Europe and resulted in many pogroms and violent attacks against them.

  I’ve taken liberties with the exact locations of the forests mentioned in the book, and their magical properties—it’s hard to know what the landscape was really like in the mid-1400s, where one forest ended and another began. But there is a haunted forest in Romania called the Hoia Baciu, and a mystical temple cave in the Şinca Veche forest. There is a Jewish Hassidic sect today who call themselves “Satmar” after the city of Satu Mare where their rabbi, Joel Teitelbaum, came from. There is a forest near that town bearing the same name. There is a lake in the mountains not too far from Curtea de Arges that is only open in the summer months. It is called Lake Balea, and in Curtea de Arges itself, you can still see the ruins of Basarab’s castle. The names of the gates of the city of Trnava are all real and taken from ancient maps, along with the names of the Král’ovský and Šenkvický forests. Anything that goes against the historical record is a deliberate choice. This is a fairy tale, but one steeped in the history and geography of a people and a place—as most fairy tales are.

  Along the way, I read many tales about foxes—it is said that the Talmudic Rabbi Meir (who lived in the first century CE) told three hundred fox tales that were known for three generations after his death. There are also many Romanian fox tales. The prayers that Guvriel teaches Sarah are part of the Perek Shirah (literally Chapter of Song) which dates back to the tenth century if not earlier and is a compilation of various Talmudic, Midrashic and biblical texts about creation and the “songs” of all the animals. It is said that if you recite the Perek Shirah for forty days straight, a miracle will happen.

  It wasn’t too far a leap to take it to the place of being a kind of manual for meditation and transformation. The Tikkun Chatzot is a custom that I associate with Rabbi Nachman of Bretslav who came many years after the story I tell in these pages, but the concept of getting up at midnight to recite prayers and psalms to God dates back to the time of King David.

  The story of the master builder Manole and the monastery he commissions (in which he entombs his wife) dates back to the time of Radu Negru, though the story is a myth.

  I didn’t set out to write a historical novel, though much of this book is based on real historical events. I know the dates and places don’t always line up. I haven’t even been able to scratch the surface of all the references, ideas, myths and stories I mention in the book. If you think something in here is a reference to something else, it very well might be. This is a fantasy novel, and much license was taken in order to weave all these various legends, myths, tales and historical events together into the story I wanted to tell. It is a story entirely my own, but based on an incredible history of stories and storytellers that have come before me.

  I never figured out where my grandmother actually came from or why she lit candles in a closet—but perhaps the story I was able to tell as a result is more important than the truth. My grandmother was a great storyteller, and my father is a storyteller too. Perhaps the passing on of that tradition—the way that we tell stories in order to make sense of our past, present, and future—is more important than where and how we light our candles. Only that we must keep lighting them.

  Glossary

  Hebrew

  Adar—Jewish month generally in the spring

  Adon Olam—Master of the Universe

  Adonai—God (the Lord)

  Adonai Echad—God (the Lord) is one

  Adonai Eloheinu—God (the Lord) is our God

  am kshei oref—a stiff-necked people

  Amidah—means “standing” but refers to the silent standing prayer said by Jews three times per day

  ani maamin—I believe

  aravot—willow leaves/branches traditionally used on the fall/harvest holiday of Sukkot.

  aron kodesh—holy ark

  ashmurot—might watch

  avodah—work

  Av—fifth month of the Jewish calendar (summer)

  baruch—blessed

  bat kol—divine echo

  bat mitzvah—a Jewish coming-of-age ritual for girls at age twelve

  beit knesset—synagogue

  betzel knafeikhah tastireini—hide me in the shadow of your wings

  Bnei Yisrael—Children of Israel

  Borei Olam—Creator of the World

  brucha haba’ah—blessed is the one arriving (welcome) (female conjugation)

  challah/challot—braided bread

  cherem—excommunication

  Cheshvan—eighth month of the Jewish calendar (fall)

  Devarim—Deuteronomy

  El Givat Ha’Levonah—to the hill of frankincense

  El na refah na lah—please, God, please heal her

  Elul—sixth month of the Jewish calendar (end of summer)

  Elohim—God

  erev (as in Erev Rosh Hashana)—the eve of/evening

  esh—fire

  etrog—citron traditionally used on the fall/harvest holiday of Sukkot

  etz chaim—tree of life

  ezri
me’im Hashem—my help comes from the Lord

  gabbai—beadle or sexton, someone who helps run synagogue services

  galuy—revealed

  Gehennom—Hell

  goy—non-Jew

  hachnassat orchim—hospitality (literally: the bringing in of guests)

  hadassim—myrtle branches traditionally used on the fall/harvest holiday of Sukkot

  Hanukkah—Jewish winter holiday where an eight-branched candelabra is lit to commemorate the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt

  harei at mekudeshet li kadat Moshe ve’Yisrael—behold, you are sanctified to me, according to the laws of Moses and Israel (traditional Jewish marriage declaration)

  Hassidim—pious Jews (hassid literally means “a kind person”)

  Havdallah—Jewish ceremony marking the end of the Sabbath

  heh—fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet

  huppah—wedding canopy

  ish—man

  isha—woman

  Iyar—second month of the Jewish calendar (in the spring)

  ka’asher avadeti, avadeti—if I perish, I perish

  Kaddish—Jewish prayer said by those mourning for the dead

  kehilla—community

  ketubah—wedding contract

  kiddush levana—the blessing of the new moon

  Kislev—ninth month of the Jewish calendar (dead of winter)

  kivshan ha’esh—fiery furnace

  Kohelet—Ecclesiastes

  kri’ah—rending one’s garment; a mourning practice

  Libavtani, achoti kallah—you have ravished me, my darling bride

  lulav—palm frond traditionally used on the fall/harvest holiday of Sukkot

  maariv—evening prayer

  mazal—luck or constellation

  mazal tov—congratulations! (or: good luck!)

  mazalot—constellations

  mazikim—harmful spirits

  Megillat Eichah—The Book of Lamentations

  me’il—(literally: jacket) in later times known as a mantle; the outer covering of a Torah scroll, often richly embroidered

  menorah—seven-branched candelabra

  mezuzah—parchment attached to the doorpost of a Jewish home

  midrash—a commentary on the Bible

  minyan—prayer quorum of ten men

  mishkan—tabernacle

  Mishna—first written collection of oral Jewish law and tradition

  mitpahat—(literally: scarf) a cloth used to wrap up a Torah scroll

  mitzvot—commandments

  Moed Kattan—a tractate of the Talmud that discusses the laws of the intermediate days of Passover and Sukkot

  nachash omer—the snake says

  nahar di nur—river of fire

  nekevah tesovev gever—and woman/female will encircle man/male

  ner tamid—eternal flame

  niggun—melody

  Nisan—first month of the Jewish calendar (the start of spring)

  nozel—liquid

  ohr eyn sof—infinite light

  oseh shamayim va’aretz—who made heaven and earth

  parochet—curtain that covers the holy ark

  pasuk—verse/sentence in the bible

  Perek Shirah—(literally: a chapter of song) ancient Jewish prayer that contains the prayers/verses of eighty-four elements in nature

  Pirkei Avot—Ethics of the Fathers

  Psachim—tractate of Talmud that deals with Passover

  ptach li sha’arei tzedek—open the gates of justice for me

  Rosh Hashana—Jewish New Year holiday

  Sattan—the evil inclination of Satan

  Seder—(literally: order) the ritual meal at the start of Passover

  sefarim—holy books

  Sefer Torah—handwritten copy of the Bible (the Old Testament) written on parchment

  segulah—a charm or ritual of protection, as an adjective it can mean chosen/select

  selichot—communal prayers for forgiveness said during the Jewish High Holiday season

  Sh’ma—(literally: listen/hear) shorthand for the prayer said twice daily affirming the oneness of God

  Shabbat—the Jewish Sabbath which begins Friday at sundown and ends twenty-five hours later on Saturday night, one hour after sundown

  Shabbat shalom—a sabbath of peace (a sabbath greeting, like saying hello)

  shacharit—morning prayer

  Shechina—(literally: dwelling or settling) the divine presence of God in the world (feminine)

  shehiyah—staying/presence

  Sh’ma Yisrael—Hear O Israel

  Shevat—eleventh month of the Jewish calendar (in the winter)

  shirah—(literally: song, but can also be poem/poetry) prayers of praise

  shiva—seven-day Jewish mourning period

  shofar—ram’s horn, generally blown on Rosh Hashana

  shuckling—technically a Yiddish word, but the concept—movement of the body via prayer—is a Jewish one and a very old one at that

  siddur—prayer book

  Simchat Torah—Jewish holiday that celebrates the end of the cycle of the reading of the bible/Torah each year

  Sivan—third month of the Jewish calendar (end of spring)

  Sukkot—feast of the tabernacles, a Jewish harvest festival, generally celebrated at the start of fall

  tallit—prayer shawl

  talmid/talmidim—student/s

  Talmud—central text of Jewish (rabbinic) law

  tamid—forever/eternal

  Tammuz—fourth month of the Jewish calendar (in the summer)

  tahara—preparation of the body for a Jewish burial

  tehillim—psalms

  teli—constellation/heavenly serpent

  Tevet—tenth month of the Jewish calendar (in the winter)

  tikkun—correction, also a type of prayer

  tikkun chatzot—midnight prayer

  Tisha B’Av—national day of mourning the holy temple

  Tishrei—seventh month of the Jewish calendar (start of fall)

  Torah—the bible (Old Testament)

  treif—not kosher

  Tu B’Av—Jewish holiday of love

  Tu Bishvat—Jewish New Year for the trees

  tzaddikim—righteous men

  tzadik yesod olam—a verse from Proverbs which means that the righteous person is the foundation of the world

  tzedakah—charity

  yeshiva—(literally: seated) house of study

  yichud—(literally: unification) prohibition against a man and a woman being alone in a room together (when a bride and groom get married, in an Orthodox wedding, they often go to a “yichud” room where they get to be alone together after the ceremony for the first time)

  Yom Kippur—the Jewish day of atonement, holiest day of the Jewish year

  yud—tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet

  Hungarian

  Én Istenem—my God

  Judengasse (German origins)—Jewish quarter

  Nagmama—Grandmother

  sziporka—spark/sparkle

  Romanian

  balaur/balauri—dragon/dragons

  draga mea—my darling

  fiica mea—my daughter

  hăita liuliu—lullaby

  hora—traditional Romanian folk dance

  iubirea mea—my love

  lăcrimioare—tear

  mireasa mea—my bride

  moroi—poltergeist/vampire/ghost in Romanian folklore

  striga—a woman cursed and turned into a monster

  zmeu—fantastic creature that appears in the sky and spits fire and seduces young girls

  Bulgarian

  krasota/mi krasota—beauty/my beauty

  tya e krasiva tazi—she is beautiful this one

  Acknowledgments

  Every book has its own path. It’s what I tell people in my other job as a literary agent. This one’s path was long and winding. And I did eventually come out the other end. There were
times that I never thought this book would see the light of day, when, like Levana, I thought there were no stars in the sky to guide me.

  But there were stars. And they were there for me all along. This book owes a lot to a lot of people. You are each part of the stars in my midnight sky.

  To Brent Taylor, agent extraordinaire and friend, one of the brightest lights. Thank you for always believing in me, even when I don’t always believe in myself.

  To Nivia Evans, editor and friend, who guided me on this difficult journey—always keeping a light on in the window and waiting for me to find my way. This book is what it is today because of your direction and patience.

  To Anna Jackson, my UK editor, and Joanna Kramer, copy-editor extraordinaire. Just like no cake is complete without frosting (in my humble opinion!) you helped me put the finishing touches on this book. I didn’t know that the book wasn’t quite done until you read it, but now it’s done because of your sharp insight and advice.

  To Lauren Panepinto and Tran Nguyen—I cannot imagine a more breathtaking cover and interior. Thank you for bringing my book, my words, and my world to life.

  To Angela Mann and Nazia Khatun, star publicists, and Paola Crespo, Laura Fitzgerald, and Madeleine Hall in Marketing, and everyone else at the Orbit US and UK teams who helped bring this book to fruition.

  To the Highlights Foundation (George Brown, Alison Green Myers, Jo Lloyd, Amanda Richards and everyone else on the team!) who provided me with a space to write and rewrite this book (more than once…)—the paths I walked in the forests on your campus, in the snow, showed me and my book how to come out the other side changed for the better. There is no more wonderful place for nurturing words and imagination.

  To my beta readers, friends, and advisors. Some of you read different drafts of this book along the way, others provided research advice and Halachic guidance, others supported me with copious amounts of coffee, alcohol, shoulders to cry on and so much more. I am so lucky to have you shining bright beside me. (In no particular order:) Shira and Yoni Buzelan, Karen Xerri, Karen and Mike Feuer, Rav Gedalia Meyer, Sarah and Doron Spielman, Chana and Josh Even Chen, Rachael Romero, Becca Podos, Amber McBride, Jillian Boehme, and so many more.