“Sometimes I forget how young you are, Eliezer. But do not fear. Abba hired a special bodyguard to stay with you during the entire bar mitzvah celebration!”

“Please, Reb Pinchas, heed my warnings! If Eliezer breaks these conditions, I will be powerless to protect him from the consequences that will follow”

Reb Pinchas sank onto his knees in shock. There was nothing he could do then but stare into the swaying trees as total grief shook his body

“The voice tells me that if we should ever have a child then something terrible will happen to it”

“I saw his face when he was talking with us. He’s completely brainwashed. He needs the ideas of the Jewish people to be beaten out of him!”

Max stepped forward and held out his arms to hug Meir. A huge golden cross dangled from a chain around his neck

“I’m not your son! My name is Meir son of Efraim. I am a Jewish boy on a business trip from Vienna”

Courageous and eager to help his ailing family, Meir volunteered to undertake the business trip his father had been about to take right before he became sick

“Ah, Agnes, what a pleasant surprise!” A dark-skinned woman wearing many shawls and beads approached the elegant guest with excitement. “What a pleasure it is to see you again”

“I’m blessed that my son is marrying into to the royal Absberg family. I am but a simple judge, and they are such a prestigious German family”