A wandering Jew tells his story

The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela: Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century

by Uri Shulevitz

We never see the face of the narrator as he makes his way through exotic, dangerous lands. He’s viewed only in profile or from behind, an enigmatic figure who weeps into his cloak before the gates of Jerusalem or ruminates among the ruins of Rome.

Nothing is known about Rabbi Benjamin, a Jew who left his native Tudela, Spain in 1159 for a 14-year journey, except for what he wrote in his travelogue, one of the only surviving accounts of a time that straddled the ancient and modern eras.

He became the first European to bring back rumors of a country far to the east called China, and painted a complex portrait of Medieval Jewry as it perched precariously between Christians and Muslims during the time of the Crusades. He described pageants and pirates, and bore witness to the mystical and the miraculous.

Now try translating this real-life epic into a story readable to young children, and illustrating it in a way that does it justice. How would you do it? Shulevitz converts the tale into a first-person narrative and fills in gaps such as what documents Benjamin carried or the hair-raising hazards he faced on the road or at sea.

However rich the narrative, the illustrations lift this to the sublime. Shulevitz borrows different techniques and styles to fit the story: Constantinople shines as if lifted from a Byzantine mosaic; an impressionistic rendering of the Sahara shimmers with heat.

Shulevitz received a Guggenheim fellowship to partly retrace Benjamin’s path. You can see how it must’ve paid off in such knowing, precise details as the spires above Baghdad or the narrow alleys of Tudela. This isn’t merely a guide to architecture of the Middle Ages, but a tour through the imagined heart of a determined pilgrim.

Rating: *\*\*\*\