n 1805, a small Bohemian Jewish community is making plans for the Purim festival. The children are giddy with excitement about the costumes, parades and silly contests that mark the joyous holiday. But Ezekiel Benzion, who leads the community's defenders, cannot share in the holiday's festivities. He must remain vigilant, waiting for signs of the vicious libel that often emerges with the spring and brings with it mob violence against his people. Suddenly his worst fears are realized. A dead infant is discovered. Whose baby is it? How did it die? Who is to blame? Whispers begin, hinting at suspicions that build towards a call for revenge. Ezekiel, Judah Halevi and the other defenders have only hours to learn the truth and avert the violence caused by ancient hatreds. Just a day to save their community and most especially their children. The 200-year-old journals of Doctor Judah Halevi Nieto contain many short tales of events, people and medical phenomena that he took care to record. Often he hid details in puzzles and codes, using pseudonyms to protect people's identities. However, he clearly wanted his descendants to know about the the men he admired and the fight they waged against oppression and injustice. Along with the series of novels that tell longer and more intricate stories, this novella begins a series called the Tales of Doctor Judah Halevi Nieto, briefer episodes in the lives of the people known and admired by the author's forebears. Includes bonus excerpts from two award-winning novels from the series called The Judah Halevi Journals.
About the Author: All his life, Ezekiel Nieto Benzion (born in NYC in 1954) has been an avid listener--highly prized by the talented storytellers in his family who often vied among themselves for an audience to hear their tales. His favorite memories were the hours spent with his grandparents--all immigrants from Eastern Europe--who told wonderful tales about their adventures in the old country and in the new one while "kibitzing" over endless games of gin rummy or pinochle or while drinking many "glasses" of tea. As the stories reached their climaxes, the narrator often switched to Yiddish, to spare the tender ears of "das Kind"--the child. Everyone would roar with laughter or shake their heads in sympathy at the end of the tale, leaving young Ezekiel desperate to learn the language to understand their secrets. So, in college, he switched his major from mathematics to foreign languages--specializing in the languages of the Jewish diaspora--Yiddish, Ladino, Arabic and Hebrew. Eventually his grandfather gave him his most prized possession--the 200 year old journals written by a distant forebear, Judah Halevi. Throughout the journals, Ezekiel found codes and puzzles leading him on new paths of research to uncover the truth of the mysterious doctor's life. What he learned forms the structure of the tales from "The Judah Halevi Journals." In writing the books, Ezekiel proudly follows his family's tradition--telling the stories of the old country to a new generation.