Rashi's Daughters, Book II: Miriam (52 page)

Joheved looked surprised, but she answered, “I can’t imagine what favor you could need from me, but I will do it if I can.”

“I told you about the boy Hugh fathered with his mistress?”

Both Joheved and Miriam nodded.

“His name is Milo and he’s already learned to read and write,” Emeline said. “I’d like to continue his education at your manor, so that he may be as fine a steward as Pierre.”

Joheved remained silent, and Miriam said what surely was on her sister’s mind. “I understand your desire to remove this youth from your midst, but won’t his mother object?”

Emeline shook her head. “You misunderstand me. Milo’s mother died a few years ago, in childbirth, and out of pity I began teaching him his letters. He has shown surprising intelligence and I’ve become fond of him.”

“Why not send him into the Church?”

“My husband expects one of our younger sons to go into the Church, where a baron’s legitimate son can attain a higher office than an illegitimate one.”

Joheved knew the Edomites rarely educated more than one son for the Church. “Since you recommend his son, I’m sure we can train him. But we must have Hugh’s permission.”

“I wanted to have your approval before I went to him with the idea,” Emeline said. “But of course Hugh will agree. Why wouldn’t he want Milo to have a future beyond that of a landless
juvene
, fighting in one tournament after another?”

 

As Joheved and Emeline discussed the details that needed to be settled before Milo could become a squire, Miriam remembered that she wanted to consult Moses haCohen about Judah.

She found him standing next to Meir near the platform’s edge. “I need some medical advice,” she said.

Moses walked with her toward the back, where they could have some privacy. “How can I help you?”

“Judah, my husband . . .” Miriam hesitated, unsure how to describe her concerns.

The doctor waited for her to continue, and she finally decided simply to say what she thought. “I believe he suffers from melancholy.”

To Miriam’s surprise, Moses didn’t question her about Judah’s symptoms. Instead he asked, “Doesn’t Judah’s normal temperament tend toward the melancholic?”

“
Oui
, but he seems to be more gloomy than usual.”

“Autumn is the season associated with black bile, so people often feel sad at this time of year,” he said. “In fact, extra black bile in autumn can be helpful for the Days of Awe because it brings on confession and penance.”

Miriam frowned. “So I should just wait until spring and then he’ll be better?”

“Not at all,” Moses replied. “Satan can be connected to the black bile, because he finds in it a disposition for great damage; for example, persuading men to hang themselves and despair of God’s mercy, or torturing them with strange imaginations. Don’t worry, I will speak with Judah when I return to Troyes for Simchat Torah. And if he complains of melancholy, I will prescribe an appropriate regimen to rid him of his excess black bile.”

Thus reassured, Miriam’s interest in medicine claimed her attention. “You said that black bile is related to autumn, but I would have thought it was more appropriate to winter.”

Apparently Moses was also bored with the tournament, because he continued by telling her all sorts of fascinating things about the four humors.

“Each humor is associated with a certain personality, as well as with a specific element, planet, season, and organ of the body. For example, excess black bile makes a man too dry and cold, thus causing melancholy, which is actually the Latin word for black bile,” he said. “The person with excess blood is too warm and moist, too sanguine, while extra yellow bile makes him choleric, too hot and dry. Finally, too much moist and cold phlegm makes a man phlegmatic.”

Miriam smiled at the doctor. “So phlegm is the humor of winter.”

“Indeed, as blood is the humor of spring and yellow bile the humor of summer.” He smiled and asked her, “I recall telling you which humor goes with which element, but do you know which one comes from which organ?”

“Let me think,” Miriam said. “Phlegm is clearly made by the lungs, and I believe blood is made in the liver.”

“Correct.” Moses nodded.

“But I don’t know where yellow and black bile come from.”

“Yellow bile is produced in the gallbladder and black bile in the spleen.”

“I didn’t know the planets were paired with humors.” Miriam gestured toward the battlefield behind them. “However I would guess that choleric yellow bile is attached to Mars, which influences man to anger and war.”

“Correct again.” The doctor smiled broadly. “Blood is under Jupiter’s influence, while phlegm is under the moon’s, which is perhaps why people do such foolish things when the moon is full. Black bile is the humor of Saturn—do you know if Judah was born on the Sabbath? That sometimes predisposes a man to melancholy.”

“I doubt it,” she said. “Papa once told us that he was born on Shabbat, and though Judah’s mother was with us, she didn’t say that Judah was born that day as well.”

“I wouldn’t have thought that Salomon was born under Saturn’s influence, although another planet dominant at the hour of his birth probably mitigated Saturn’s effects.” Moses looked pensive. “Certainly the influence of Saturn would explain his deliberativeness.”

Miriam wanted to know more about how the planets affected everyone, but suddenly shouts and noises coming from the tournament grew so loud that further conversation was impossible. Miriam, along with everyone else on the platform, ran to the edge to see what had caused such excitement so late in the afternoon.

When Miriam began speaking with Moses, it seemed that the tournament would drag on until every last man had been captured or dropped from exhaustion. But now there were fresh knights riding into battle, men whose colors were neither those of the northern nor the southern Champagnois.

Several shouts rang out. “It’s Count Robert’s men!”

“That’s not fair,” other men began yelling. “They’re supposed to be guarding the
lices
, not fighting.”

Miriam turned to Emeline. “Are they allowed to do this?”

“Who’s going to stop them?” Emeline shrugged her shoulders. “The only rule enforced in a tournament is that no one may attack men in the
lices
. Knights aren’t supposed to chase each other through village streets, but they do. And they aren’t supposed to keep fighting after sunset, but they do.”

Indeed, Count Thibault’s men merely watched as the Flemish knights swept onto the field, snatching up prisoners at random. The few remaining local knights were too exhausted to put up much of a fight, and those with their wits about them, including Alain, fled into the forest. In less than an hour, it was over.

To Miriam’s surprise, nearly everyone considered the Flemish maneuver a clever tactic, not an unfair one. As Salomon reminded her, “Tournaments are preparation for warfare, and it makes sense for captains to deliberately keep some men back from the battle at first so they’ll have fresh troops later.”

 

True to his word, Moses haCohen invited Miriam and Judah to
disner
the day after Simchat Torah. When Francesca excused herself to nurse the baby, Miriam exchanged looks with Moses and left with her. But Miriam had barely finished sharing Emeline’s story when the doctor asked her to return to the salon.

Judah spoke as soon as he saw her. “I want you to hear the advice Moses has given me, since it involves hanging some herbs in our bedroom and putting me on a special diet.”

Miriam turned to Moses. “What do you want me to do?”

“Judah and I agree that he mostly likely suffers from
tristitia
, which is a temporary sadness, rather than
acedia
, a long-term melancholia,” Moses said. “So we will begin with a gentle regimen and see how he feels in two months.”

In two months Elisha would be back, Judah thought. He’d better be cured if he was going to see Elisha and Giuseppe together every day without crying.

“Judah tells me that he has never undergone therapeutic bloodletting.” The doctor’s voice was disapproving. “So I’m going to bleed him twice a month, every other Sunday at the beginning of the ninth hour, when Saturn is ascending. At that time we are likely to draw off the highest concentration of black bile.”

Miriam nodded, and Moses turned to Judah. “Even when you feel better, I want you to continue with monthly bloodletting on Sunday afternoons. Men need to remove corrupt humors from their bodies since they don’t bleed regularly like women do.”

“You mentioned a special diet,” Miriam said. She hoped the necessary ingredients wouldn’t be too difficult to find.

“It’s a simple thing, and since these foods tend to make people cheerful, your whole family can eat them. First, I recommend small cakes made with nutmeg and cinnamon, both of which are hot and warm. Judah may eat as many as he likes, but he should eat at least two a day, morning and night.”

“That’s easy enough. What else?”

“Rue and fennel are also helpful for this condition.”

“I could put them in my bread dough,” she suggested.

Moses nodded and addressed Judah again. “You should avoid fish and roasted meat, unless they are served with a spicy sauce. Try to eat more boiled meats and stews. Also, because of the cold, dry nature of black bile, your body has become so desiccated that you will need regular baths.”

Judah blushed with shame. Had Miriam told Moses that since Elisha left, Judah had stopped going to the stews on Friday afternoon? The only time Judah had bathed recently was with Papa, just before Rosh Hashanah.

“Are there any other foods Judah should avoid, other than plain fish and roasted meat?” Miriam asked. So far, Judah’s special diet was a simple one.

“Dill can increase melancholy, but other than that, he may eat any other herb or spice.”

Miriam rose to return to Francesca’s chamber, but the doctor had something else to say. “Normally I would suggest hanging some sweetsmelling herbs in a melancholy person’s bedroom, but I don’t want to encourage your child to be born too soon, under Saturn’s influence.”

Like most midwives, Miriam understood that Saturn ruled the eighth month of pregnancy, with the result that babies born that early rarely survived. But she was close to starting her ninth month, the one ruled by Jupiter, and if the baby came then it would be a relief. So she hung basil and sweet lemon balm in the bedroom, prepared the prescribed diet for Judah, and prayed that the Merciful One would soon heal him.

And three weeks later, when their third son was born after a quick and uneventful delivery, Judah’s mood had improved. Miriam suspected that, while this event certainly cheered him, the cause of his better spirits was not the special diet or sweet spices, nor the baths and bloodlettings, but that Papa had asked Judah to study Tractate Sanhedrin with him in preparation for the Cold Fair. Not to mention the anticipation that, after five years of training, Miriam was finally going to perform her first
brit milah
—on their own son.

 

Each time she changed her new son’s swaddling, Miriam carefully stretched his foreskin forward and then pushed it back as she cleaned him. Every Jewish mother did this for her newborn son to make his foreskin easier for the mohel to cut. With her first two boys Miriam had cleaned them without thinking about it, but this child was different. She would be doing the circumcision herself.

She was trying to decide if she had softened the foreskin sufficiently when she heard a familiar voice downstairs calling, “Miriam, I’m coming up. I can’t wait to see your new baby.” It sounded like Rachel, but shouldn’t she be in Barbary?

“What are you doing here?” Miriam said as her younger sister came in. “Is anything wrong?”

“Everything is fine. I kept thinking that if you had a boy this would be your first
brit
, and I couldn’t bear missing it. So we decided to travel to Kiev with Samson and buy furs.”

“I’m glad you’re here in time.” Miriam placed her son in his cradle so she could hug her sister. “How long will you be home?”

“Two months at least. The Cold Fair has the best armor and weapons, so we’ll get some to sell in Sepharad this spring.”

Rachel peered down at her newest nephew and then winked at Miriam. “He’s an ugly little brute, but then what can you expect from such a father?”

Miriam smiled back.
He is an attractive baby
. “My labor was so fast that his head didn’t have a chance to get deformed.”

“You may have difficult pregnancies, but you always manage to have an easy birth.” Rachel sat down on the bed. “How is Joheved?”

“Her child hasn’t turned over yet, so I think I’ll have her stay in Troyes after the
brit
.” If Joheved’s baby were breech, it would be best to deliver in a town with experienced midwives.

A flicker of fear crossed Rachel’s face, but then she brightened. “This will be her fifth child. Surely everything will be fine as usual.”

“It’s so good to see you. I’m glad you decided to deal in furs and steel this winter.” Miriam put her arm around her sister. “I missed you.”

Rachel basked in the unexpected attention. “I’ve missed you too, but we’re also here because of Eliezer.” She sighed. “My husband is getting better at buying and selling, but his heart wishes he was still in the yeshiva.”

“Judah will be glad to have his old study partner back again,” Miriam said. “And so will I.”

Rachel’s expression became thoughtful. “Mama said you’re doing the
brit
tomorrow, but you don’t seem nervous.”

“I’ve been training for so long, I just want to get on with it already,” Miriam said, pleased that she was hiding her anxiety so well.

M
iriam was not so reticent when Judah remarked on her surprising calmness that night. “Now I understand the tradition of having an apprentice do his first
milah
at the last moment, when the mohel is indisposed,” she said. “Having to wait and worry for eight days is awful.”