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györgy spiró
and been a grammateus.
Fortunatus’s eldest son went
down with the Torah scroll,
tucking his head into his
shoulders to pass under the
low entrance, the other family
members held a lit torch and
oil lamps so they could see
anything in the underground
passages.
Joseph made an unexpected
request at this point: that Uri
only return to the catacomb
when he, the father, was
buried, but never again. He
asked that Sarah and the girls
stay outside. He also asked
that nothing be put on the
sepulchral plaque apart from
a menorah; no name, no age,
nothing else. Let no bird be
painted or engraved on the
plaque, nor shofar, nor wine
flask, no lulav, no etrog—
nothing.
Uri was shaken that his father
was speaking about death.
Not much later, he realized
that his father had marked
him to step into Fortunatus’s
shoes, and he wanted to
prepare him mentally.
His father ’s emotional
blackmail felt demeaning and
sneaky, but he had nothing
against a notary’s work. It
was a cushy job; there was no
need to spend all day, every
day in the house of prayer;
the only bad thing was that
you were the servant of the
archisynagogos and could not
talk back.
An archisynagogos was not
a priest but a layperson who
had a position of esteem in
the congregation, on account
of his wealth, for instance, and
he was generally elected to
look after communal affairs
for a five-year term. Annianus,
the current archisynagogos,
was an uptight, hysterical
man, and difficult to get