The Order Read Free Page B

been founded by Chiara’s ancestors in 1580. Unheated, it was open from Passover to the High Holidays
     of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Levantine Synagogue, located across a tiny square, served the community in winter.
    Rabbi Jacob Zolli and his wife, Alessia, lived around thecorner from the Levantine Synagogue, in a narrow little house overlooking a secluded corte . The Allon family dined there on Monday evening, a few hours after their arrival in Venice. Gabriel managed to check his
     phone only four times.
    â€œI hope there isn’t a problem,” said Rabbi Zolli.
    â€œThe usual,” murmured Gabriel.
    â€œI’m relieved.”
    â€œDon’t be.”
    The rabbi laughed quietly. His gaze moved approvingly around the table, settling briefly on his two grandchildren, his wife,
     and finally his daughter. Candlelight shone in her eyes. They were the color of caramel and flecked with gold.
    â€œChiara has never looked more radiant. You’ve obviously made her very happy.”
    â€œHave I really?”
    â€œThere were definitely bumps along the road.” The rabbi’s tone was admonitory. “But I assure you, she thinks she’s the luckiest
     person in the world.”
    â€œI’m afraid that honor belongs to me.”
    â€œRumor has it she deceived you about your travel plans.”
    Gabriel frowned. “Surely there’s a prohibition against that sort of thing in the Torah.”
    â€œI can’t think of one.”
    â€œIt was probably for the best,” admitted Gabriel. “I doubt I would have agreed otherwise.”
    â€œI’m pleased you were finally able to bring the children to Venice. But I’m afraid you’ve come at a difficult time.” Rabbi
     Zolli lowered his voice. “Saviano and his friends on the far right have awakened dark forces in Europe.”
    Giuseppe Saviano was Italy’s new prime minister. He wasxenophobic, intolerant, distrustful of the free press, and had little patience for niceties such as parliamentary democracy or the rule of law. Neither did his close friend Jörg Kaufmann, the fledgling neofascist who now served as chancellor of Austria. In France it was widely assumed that Cécile Leclerc, leader of the Popular Front, would be the next occupant of the Élysée Palace. Germany’s National Democrats, led by a former neo-Nazi skinhead named Axel Brünner, were expected to finish second in January’s general election. Everywhere, it seemed, the extreme right was ascendant.
    Its rise in Western Europe had been fueled by globalization, economic uncertainty, and the continent’s rapidly changing demographics.
     Muslims now accounted for five percent of Europe’s population. A growing number of native Europeans regarded Islam as an existential
     threat to their religious and cultural identity. Their anger and resentment, once restrained or hidden from public view, now
     coursed through the veins of the Internet like a virus. Attacks on Muslims had risen sharply. So, too, had physical assaults
     and acts of vandalism directed against Jews. Indeed, anti-Semitism in Europe had reached a level not seen since World War
     II.
    â€œOur cemetery on the Lido was vandalized again last week,” said Rabbi Zolli. “Gravestones overturned, swastikas . . . the usual. My congregants are frightened. I try to comfort them, but I’m frightened, too. Anti-immigrant politicians like Saviano have shaken the bottle and removed the cork. Their adherents complain about the refugees from the Middle East and Africa, but we are the ones they despise the most. It is the longest hatred. Here in Italy it is no longer frowned upon to be ananti-Semite. One can wear one’s contempt for us quite openly now. And the results have been entirely predictable.”
    â€œThe storm will pass,” said Gabriel with little conviction.
    â€œYour grandparents probably said the same thing. So did the Jews of