Incident at Heidelberg

This story is, as Nathaniel Hawthorne once said, “…of the territory somewhere between the real world and fairy-land, where the Actual and the Imaginary may meet, and each imbue itself with the nature of the other.” It is the story of a Polish rabbi and his family as they move to America and mysteriously interact with many of the significant events of the first half of the 20th century, events which change the course of history. All of this being set in motion by The Masters of the Kabbalah in Jerusalem.

Upon the untimely death of his mother, a college freshman finds an old manuscript among her possessions, a manuscript written in Hebrew, German and Yiddish which he hopes might shed light on the mysterious murder of his father shortly before his own birth. When the manuscript is finally translated he discovers the answer to this question, but more importantly he discovers that his family, including a cousin no one ever knew he had, was involved in an attempt to change the course of the history of the 20th century.

During the entire telling of the story we understand that the events which are unfolding before our eyes appear to be guided by the prophets and archangels of the Old Testament. Ezekiel, Jacob, Michael, and Gabriel appear and disappear as well as the voice of the G-d of the ancient Israelites.

Thus are reality and fantasy intertwined to a degree which strains the reader’s ability to distinguish between them, and within this maze, the struggles of one man’s family to alter the terrible history of the first half of the 20th century.