Blood Moon Redemption

by Judy DuCharme

  “Yes, but she’d know I’d have an ulterior motive . . . that I wasn’t going because I love and understand her.”

  “Do you think she has an ulterior motive?”

  “Uh, what? I . . . ” Mr. Goldman shrugged. His brow furrowed. “I don’t know. What possible—”

  “Somebody else in Grandfather’s company?”

  “Sally, unfaithful? I don’t think so. I mean . . . ” Mr. Goldman blew air out of his mouth causing the hair on his forehead to flutter. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Have I ever considered that, no? Of course not, no.” He was visibly shaken. “It doesn’t compute.”

  “Well, it does seem there is some family tradition or secret that has a strong pull on her. Did they want her to move away with you?”

  “They gave her their blessing and she seemed happy to go with me. I just don’t get it. Can you help me?”

  “The firm can. And will. Not me personally. I’m the background investigator.”

  “So now what?”

  Tassie covered the official filing procedure and set up an appointment for Mr. Goldman with one of the senior partners. She shook hands with the man and turned back to her desk as he opened the door to leave.

  “Ummm.”

  Tassie looked up.

  Mr. Goldman closed the door. “Do you think I should tell her I saw the email?”

  “I can’t tell you that. It was inadvertent, and it seems to have a lot of weight on the case. It would probably come out in court.”

  “You would tell her?” His eyes were big, and Tassie saw moisture forming over his eyebrows.

  “Your attorney would not tell her, but court has a way of exposing all the secrets. You should know that.”

  “Oh my. Thank you.”

  Tassie felt sorry for him as she watched him walk slowly down the hall. Tough position. She went over her notes, filling in some details, his body language, and a few of her conclusions.

  What a dilemma for me. If he only knew. If the firm only knew. If my mother knew. Tassie propped her elbows on the desk and cradled her chin with her hands.

  My mother told me about the bottle. And I couldn’t care less. I hated that she named me after the thing. And now it’s been found. I wonder what the exact date of discovery was. I should have asked.

  CHAPTER 4

  SPRING, 1494

  The first blood moon Lydia and her father saw occurred in 1493 on Passover. Several months later, in the fall, as they established temple worship, places to live, community, and the desire to continue traveling north, they beheld a blood moon on the first of Sukkoth. It was the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Jews remembered their time of wandering in the wilderness.

  The small congregation laughed that they did not need to set up little tabernacles to remember the time in the wilderness as they were now in the wilderness living in very humble homes. They sensed, though, that the time would come when they would prosper and multiply and continue to see God’s hand do wonderful things for them.

  When another blood moon occurred on Passover, 1494, they watched in awe. Rabbi again taught God’s forgiveness of the world as Lydia perceived it the year previous.

  A few weeks after Passover, Mr. Goldman sat down with Rabbi Liebermann. “Reuben, I think the tassel needs to be preserved. It has held up so well, but it won’t last forever, and we have nothing else from our synagogue to keep and remember. I feel we must remember this way that God has provided.”

  “I believe you are right, my friend. The tassel should be protected. But it is not the only thing we brought.” He reached down and removed his shoe. Tucked into the toe he pulled out three gold rings.

  “Rabbi, how in the world? I am amazed. If they had thought you had anything, they would have cut you open. How did you do it?”

  “It has been in my shoe forever. I do not know how they missed it, and yes, it was perhaps foolish not to turn it over.” Rabbi Liebermann rolled the two rings between his thumb and fingers. “But I felt this strong urgency . . . I trust it was from God . . . to keep these and to simply place them in my shoe.”

  “Well, we serve the same God.” Goldman grinned and his whole face lit up. He reached down and pulled the tiniest of bags from his shoe. Opening it up, he poured several small diamonds into the palm of his hand.

  Rabbi clapped him on the back. Soon both were laughing so hard that tears rolled down their cheeks. Esther, Lydia, and Gabe came into the small room.

  “Papa, why are you laughing so?” Lydia climbed up into her father’s lap.

  Rabbi and Goldman showed their families the treasures that had made the journey.

  “Father, what shall we do with these?” Gabe picked up one of the rings and felt the smoothness of the gold.

  “We need to preserve them with the tassel. What can we use?”

  Gabe reached into his pocket. “I just found this bottle on the beach.”

  The rabbi examined the bottle. It was a square bottle though the corners were slightly rounded. The glass was fairly thick, and the bottle stood about seven inches tall. The neck was a little over an inch in diameter and an inch in length.

  Mr. Goldman reached over to take the bottle from the rabbi. “I think this is perfect. We can make it sterile by placing it briefly in the flame of the fire. We can use wax from our candles to seal it securely. I do believe this was a medicine bottle of some sort.”

  Rabbi Liebermann chuckled. “The tassel will be our medicine. There is a proverb that the Word of God is health to our body, so when we look at the tassel, we will remember and speak His Word and we shall be made well.”

  “Rabbi, I remember a story that I had almost forgotten, passed down through my family, about Yeshua, the prophet that many thought was the Messiah.” Mr. Goldman turned to face the little group. “He died a gruesome death. But one day it is told that as He traveled down a road with His followers, a woman very sick with a bleeding condition followed Him.”

  Anna put her hands up to her face. “Oh my, wasn’t that forbidden? She would be unclean.”

  “Yes, that is so.” Mr. Goldman extended his hands. “Apparently, she had spent all her money on physicians and was none the better. She heard about the Prophet Healer and went out to find him. She said to herself, ‘I must just touch His tzitzit, the tassel of His prayer shawl, and I will be well.’ And she did just that.”

  “What happened?” Lydia sat with her elbows on her knees and her chin resting in her hands.

  “She was healed of her condition. And Yeshua turned and said, ‘Woman your faith has made you whole.’ Isn’t that amazing? The tassel. He did not even see her coming.”

  Rabbi said nothing for a few seconds. He gazed off to the side. “It truly is amazing, my friend. God told us in the Torah that He would bless our bread and our water and take sickness away from us. This woman must have known that and knew the tassel was a symbol of all the law and promises of Almighty God, blessed be He. Thank you, Joseph, for sharing that story. Once we have the tassel sealed, let us pray that God’s blessing of wholeness will always follow it.”

  Lydia laid her head against her father. “I wish Mama had touched the tassel when she was sick.”

  Rabbi Liebermann placed both arms around his daughter. “Oh, Lydi, so do I. Perhaps we did not trust enough at the time. We were all so shaken. Your mother was not only sick and injured, but was so fearful of the ocean, the voyage, of leaving her home. She wanted to be strong for us, but she knew you, Lydi, and I would be strong and brave. So, she went to Abraham’s bosom, and we will see her again someday.”

  “I know, Papa. I just so miss her some days.”

  Mrs. Goldman came over and took Lydia’s hand. “I miss your mama, too, and I will do everything I can to provide you the comfort and guidance that a young woman needs from her mother. I cannot take her place, but I already love you as if you were my own.”

  Lydia hugged Mrs. Goldman. “I know, Auntie Anna, I know.”

  The men sterilized the bottle by holding it
in a fire flame on the end of a fire poker. They allowed it to sit and cool and then took a white cloth to wipe out any blackening that formed on the glass. At the same time, they took the finest candles Colombo had given them from their ship and melted them.

  Joseph Goldman suggested they put a layer of wax in the bottom and then place the diamonds into the wax and place another layer of wax over it. Esther Goldman suggested they add the memorial coin to the bottle as well. It was placed under the diamonds with another layer of wax. Then they looped the end of the tassel through the three rings and covered the rings with wax as well. Laying the bottle on its side they inserted the tassel into the bottle and filled the neck with wax, so the rings were completely invisible. The wax then was used to completely cover the outside of the neck so that no air could enter or escape the bottle. Each of these steps was done over a few days to make sure that every part was secure.

  The Goldmans and the Liebermanns agreed that they would never reveal the presence of the diamonds, the coin, or the gold rings. It should only be revealed in a time of extraordinary need or at God’s command. Each person, adults and children, pledged this to the others.

  Then they held hands and prayed that God’s blessing of wholeness and safety would dwell with the tassel bottle as it would with the holy temple of God.

  The Liebermanns and the Goldmans traveled together and set up synagogue and temple worship along the islands for those who desired to know the God Jehovah. Many from the original journey with Colombo journeyed with them. They lived in humility and kindness, believing that God had ordained their travel in this new land. They learned from the natives to garden and hunt and told the story of the Tassel of the Tallith, the Jewish prayer shawl. The five knots of the tassel they equated with the five books of the Torah.

  “Five in Hebrew, the language of God, blessed be He, gives the meaning of grace. Such grace that we can know the Torah, that we can belong to the God of the universe, that we have His commandments and can know them, that we can obey His commandments.” Rabbi Liebermann smiled at his little congregation.

  “The Hebrew word for tassel is tzitzit. All letters in Hebrew have a numerical value and the letters in Hebrew for tzitzit add up to 600. There are eight strands here with five knots. 600 plus eight plus five equals 613, which is the number of the commandments that God has given us. So, this tassel, this tzitzit, which was attached to my prayer shawl, my tallith, is a reminder to know, honor, and obey the commandments which the great God, blessed be He, gave us for our good.”

  Lydia stood up and walked over to her father. She gazed up at him with big eyes. “Papa, how can we know all of them and obey them here if we don’t have the Torah scrolls?”

  “Our God, blessed be He, knows our plight. He has given us the tassel as a reminder. Many of us have God’s Word written in our hearts and minds. We will pass on what we know and pray that one day we will again have the Torah for our eyes.”

  Lydia returned to her seat satisfied.

  “The prayer shawl, the tallith, which we no longer have, also represents God’s amazing and infinite light, greater even than the light of day from the sun which our God, blessed be He, hung in the sky . . . for us.” The rabbi bowed his head and shook it slightly. “Oh, the things He has done for us.” He looked back to his attendant group. “The fringe of the tallith, the tassel, points as well to that divine light that permeates every single portion of creation.”

  Gabe raised his hand. “Rabbi, so our tassel tells us of God’s commandments, 613 of them, and is a reminder of all that God has given us and a reminder to obey His commandments?”

  “That is so, Gabe.”

  “And it also tells us that God’s light is in every part of creation?”

  Rabbi Liebermann walked over and patted Gabe on his head. “You have learned well, today, young man. You will make a fine rabbi someday.”

  Rabbi Liebermann turned to those gathered. “Let us now recite the shema, the call to hear.”

  The small congregation of believers stood. Rabbi began and each one joined in as much as they had memorized the prayer. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.

  “And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And it shall come to pass if you surely listen to the commandments that I command you today to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that I will give rain to your land, the early and the late rains that you may gather in your grain, your wine and your oil. And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle and you will eat and you will be satisfied. Beware, lest your heart be deceived and you turn and serve other gods and worship them. And the anger of the Lord will blaze against you, and He will close the heavens and there will not be rain, and the earth will not give you its fullness, and you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord gives you.

  “So, you shall put these, my words, on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them for signs on your hands, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And you shall teach them to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, in order to prolong your days and the days of your children on the land that the Lord promised your fathers that He would give them, as long as the days that the heavens are over the earth.

  “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them they should make themselves tzitzit on the corners of their clothing throughout their generations, and give the tzitzit of each corner a thread of blue. And they shall be tzitzit for you, and when you look at them you will remember all of the Lord’s commandments and do them and not follow after your heart and after your eyes which lead you astray in order to remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. I am the Lord, your God who leads you from the land of Egypt to be a God to you. I am the Lord, your God.”

  CHAPTER 5

  PRESENT DAY, CHICAGO

  The day of Mr. Goldman’s visit with the senior partners had come and gone. Tassie looked forward to hearing what had transpired in the morning meeting. As she gathered her files and notebooks for the meeting, she turned back to grab her coffee cup. She was ready. Before she could turn back to the door of the office, there was a knock.

  Odd, Teresa knows I have a meeting in ten minutes. “Yes, come in.”

  Mr. James walked in and he didn’t look happy. Tassie raised her eyebrows. “Good morning Mr. James. I was just heading down to the conference room for our meeting. Can I get you something?” Tassie tried to sound cheerful but her voice had a nervous quality to it.

  “We need to talk a few minutes, first. Take a seat Tassie.”

  She set her items on the desk and sat down quickly on the client’s side of the desk. Mr. James sat next to her in the other chair.

  “Yesterday was Mr. Goldman’s appointment.”

  Tassie breathed. “Yes, I was wondering how that is proceeding.”

  “It isn’t.” Mr. James’ voice was flat.

  “Pardon? What do you mean?”

  “You didn’t know he wouldn’t follow through?”

  “He isn’t following through?” Tassie widened her eyes and her hands felt sweaty.

  “He called ten minutes before his appointment and said he’d changed his mind, that he was moving to Israel, and would not be pursuing the case.”

  “He’s going to go?” Of course he’s going to go. Tassie wante
d to smile, thinking like Mr. Goldman talked, but this was not the time to smile with Mr. James staring her down.

  “Did you advise him to go, Ms. Stevens?”

  Blood drained from her face. He called her Ms. Stevens, not Tassie. “I presented a few options as he asked questions while he gave me his background. His wife . . . ”

  “Yes, I know the case. Your background notes were very thorough. I just want to know if you inserted your own speculation into his situation to persuade him to move in a certain direction. These cases bring in a lot of revenue, Tassie. Yes, it is unfortunate from one point of view that we profit over someone else’s troubles, but we provide a service at their request. Did he request it? Did you advise against it?”

  “Sir, he asked at the end if we could help him. I very specifically told him I could not, but our firm most certainly could, that you or Mr. Connors would find out everything necessary to assist him in his particular situation.”

  “You did not advise him to move to Israel and drop the whole thing?”

  “I discussed moving to Israel as an option, temporarily to find out if it would work. He was rather distraught at the thought of losing his daughter.”

  “This would have been a good case, an interesting case, and a case we believe we could win.”

  “Yes, sir.” Tassie had no idea what else to say.

  Mr. James sat for a few moments. Tassie didn’t breathe.

  “Ms. Stevens. Tassie. You will learn. You’re still new. And we are pleased with your work so far.” Tassie breathed. “When you do background, you do not interject your own opinion. You do not get involved, other than to promise our unmitigated assistance to take up their cause and win. Are we clear?”

  “Crystal.” It came out before Tassie could stop it. “I mean, yes sir, we are clear. I will be totally objective.”

  Mr. James had a slight smile on his face. “Haven’t heard ‘crystal’ in a long time. I believe we have a briefing meeting to get to. Let’s go, Tassie.”