The Shaman and the Jew

Book excerpt: The Shaman and the Jew The enduring struggle for ethnic, cultural, national, and individual survival characterizes human history.These are powerful forces that drive events, underlie deep psychological motivations, and when challenged, are uncompromising. While sadly foreseeing the impending cataclysmic termination to Moorish Muslim Spain by the Christian armies, the Sultan of Granada and his esteemed Jewish physician, Juan Diego Camerino de Valencia are in a rare private dialogue. It is 1492 and their empathic exchange is most remarkable. The Sultan knows he could never become a wanderer like the Jews and will heroically die in the final attack, while Doctor Diego, realizing there will be no future for Jews in Spain, bemoans the loss, once again, of a homeland for his family. His only son Antonio, with a name change to Christian, is sent to Cuba in the New World. The struggle for survival has also characterized the lives of a small native American tribe, the Karankawa. Their hold on a bit of relatively barren land in southern Texas is under constant stress. Initially the dominant Apaches were threatening, only to have pressures increased by proselytizing Catholic priests moving up from Mexico, and finally by European settlers pushing ever westward. The arrival of Christian, the son of Doctor Diego, changes the dynamic of events. Barely surviving a shipwreck, his unconscious body is found on the shore by the Karankawa, who kindly nurse him back to health, with the essential blessings of the Shaman. The friendship that soon develops between the Shaman and Antonio (who restores his name and identity as a Jew) impacts succeeding events. Though their bonding is strong and authentic, the Shaman harbors suspicians that Antonio is a messenger of God, whose powers will benefit the people. Antonio is committed to a new life, finally succumbing to the urging of the Shaman to marry his daughter. From this harmonious pair, new generations of leadership emerge who are able to remarkably preserve the Jewish traditions within a welcoming Karankawa embrace. It is a rare amalgamation of the Karankawa traditional beliefs and the awesome prophetic Jewish faith. The encounter of an anthropologist—of Apache descent—with Wapasha—the custodial Shaman of the Karankawa—highlights the unyielding tenacity of ancient cultures on the human sense of identity.