The Empty Throne

My Jewish historical fantasy short story “The Empty Throne” is out today (January 27, 2024) in Sunday Morning Transport!

Lea Peneth missed her chance to fight for Hungary’s freedom. The Revolution of 1848 rose and fell while her father’s angels trapped her in her backwater village. But the Austrian Empire crushed the revolution and killed her father, and now she must carry the mantle of his rabbinic magic into the refugee-choked streets of a dead Budapest. She’ll find a way to rekindle the spark of revolution, no matter whom its flames might burn.

She returned to the queue behind her aunt. When she faced the soldiers, she imagined herself as one of Gehenna’s avenging angels, ready to herd Hungary through fire and pain to liberation.

This story is free to read, but you can also try out a free 60-day subscription to the Sunday Morning Transport here. Check it out, and consider supporting all the fine sources of short speculative fiction out there!

If you’d like to learn more about the mythology and history behind The Empty Throne, read on below the fold. Any spoilers will be marked & avoidable.

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“The Empty Throne” is a story that holds a lot of personal meaning for me. On one level, it’s about what it means (to me) to be Jewish in an age where justice and God’s presence seem absent in the world. I hope it resonates for people of any faith.

I won’t go any further into interpreting the story, that’s the reader’s job. But if you keep reading, I can tell you a lot more about the story’s mythology, history, and design!

The real Jewish myths behind The Empty Throne

I used the book Tree of Souls (TOS) as my main reference and source of quotations. Its text is a mix of quotes, synthesis, and commentary on primary sources. Nevertheless, take nothing as official: Jewish myths always have multiple versions and interpretations, and frequently contradict each other. Any TET spoiler will be hidden with white text.

If you aren’t familiar with Jewish beliefs, be aware that this is the Esoteric Lore, not “Jewish beliefs” in any common sense. My modern American-Jewish-child education included almost none of these – only #15 and parts of #2. The rest I learned from reading TOS as an adult writer.

1. “Four sages entered paradise…” (epigraph)
   • A fuller translation might be, “Four sages entered the orchard [of esoteric knowledge]. Ben Azzai looked and died. Ben Zoma looked ant lost his mind. Acher cut down the plantings. Only Rabbi Akiva entered and departed in peace.” Acher’s reaction is widely interpreted as meaning he lost his faith or became a heretic. (TOS p.173; quoting Babylonian talmud, Hagigah 14B) SPOILER: It is said that Acher had this negative reaction because he saw the angel Metatron seated on a throne, and misunderstood it as two powers ruling in heaven. (Don’t get me started on Metatron.)
2. Gehenna
   • “Gehenna is the place of punishment in Jewish lore… It has much in common with the Christian concept of hell, except that in the Jewish view punishment in Gehenna never lasts more than a year. It is usually described as being under the earth… But there is also a tradition that heaven and Gehenna exist side by side, and that the wall separating them is no more than a hand’s breadth.” (TOS p.233, integrating multiple sources)
3. The Angel Samriel
   • “The angel appointed over the gates of hell is Samriel. He sees that no one is admitted to Gehenna unless their name is listed in the giant Book of Gehenna that Samriel consults… Samriel has three angels under him, with three shovels, who clear a path out of Gehenna so that the light of the world can enter and be seen by the inmates of Gehenna.” (TOS p.240, quoting mostly Zohar 1:62b)
4. “The gates of Gehenna are wherever they need to be.”
   • “Some say that there are three entrances to Gehenna; one in the wilderness, one in the sea, and a third in Jerusalem… Others say that there are four openings to Gehenna on each side of the universe, sixteen in all. Then there are those who say that the mouth of Gehenna  can be found anywhere in the world, and should it be needed, the mouth opens and swallows whatever is standing there.” (TOS p.233, integrating Midrash Konen and others)
5. “No soul stayed forever in Gehenna’s purifying flames.”
   • “…The guilty ones are punished in their bodies and their souls, each with a suitable punishment, so long as the body in the grave is intact. But when the body breaks down the punishment of the soul ceases. He who must leave Gehenna leaves, and he who must find rest has rest – to each is done what is suitable to him.” (TOS p.238, quoting Midrash Konen)
6. The avenging angels
   • “Gehenna, where the souls of the wicked are punished, is ruled by the angel Dumah… Three angels of destruction are at his command. Their names are Mashit, Af, and Hema, and they command many legions of avenging angels.” (TOS p.236, multiple Midrash)
   • “Avenging angels drag the souls of sinners of Gehenna, and the gatekeeper makes sure that they deserve to be punished there.” (TOS p.240, Midrash Konen)
7. “If a rebellious star trudged through the Erzsébetváros ghetto in search of work, Lea would never know.”
   • “There is a dreadful abyss at the end of heaven and earth where there is no firmament of the heavens above, and no earth beneath it… This place is God’s prison for rebellious stars and fallen angels. In it are seven stars that burn like great mountains as they roll over the fire of the abyss. Because they did not come forth at their appointed times, God has bound them in that place for ten thousand years.” (TOS p.214; quoting various lines of 1 Enoch)
8. “So God changed the roles of the angels”
   • This is pretty much direct from Lamentations Rabbah 2:5, as quoted in TOS p205-206.
9. Acher in Gehenna
   • SPOILERS: “What happened to the darkness that existed before the creation of the world? Some say it is hidden in the seventh compartment of Gehenna. That compartment contains six nations of the world, but they cannot see each other on account of the darkness. The heretic Elisha ben Abuyah is said to reside there.” (TOS p.213)
     • This is the myth that got me started writing The Empty Throne. Mythical prisons, primordial darkness containing lost nations and… one named individual? I had to learn more about that guy!
   • A real historical individual, though not much is known about him because most references are smack-talk written about him after he became some kind of apostate.
10. “A braid of gold-embroidered circles”
    • In early drafts this was explicitly to the sefirot, and it played a detailed role in the scene’s magic. Later I decided that that I wanted to avoid the “Kabbalah is an occult practice” trope, which is rife with cultural appropriation.
11. The Angel Mik’hael
    • “An angel serve[s] as the prince over each of the elements. Gabriel is the Prince of Fire, Rahab the Prince of the Sea, Ridya the Prince of Rain, and Michael the Prince of Hail. There are also four angels that surround God’s throne; the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.” (TOS p.116, integrating many sources)
12. “Man and eagle, lion and ox.”
    • “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.” (Ezekiel 1:6, a vision of the angels carrying God’s chariot)
13. “It flashed with fire and amber light.”
    • “[A child of exceptional understanding] comprehended the true meaning of the word “amber” in the passage, I looked, and lo, a stormy wind came sweeping out of the north – a huge cloud and flashing fire, surrounded by a radiance; and in the center of it, in the center of the fire, a gleam as of amber. (Ezek 1:4). At that instant a fire went forth and consumed him.” (TOS p.276, quoting Babylonian Hagigah 1`3A)
14. “She squeezed her eyes shut before soul could flow [out] like water poured from a jar”
    • “This myth [that humans may not see God and live] presents an essential paradox about the nature of God’s face. On the one hand it is said to be beautiful beyond measure or imagination. On the other hand, whoever beholds it will be instantly “torn to pieces.” …The same passage in Hekhalot Rabbati offers another metaphor for the destruction that will take place: whoever glimpses God’s beauty will instantly pour himself out as a vessel.” (TOS p.21, commentary on e.g. Hekhalot Rabbati 8)
15. A still, small voice
    • “And lo, the Lord passed by. There was a great and mighty wind, splitting mountains and shattering rocks by the power of the Lord – but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, an earthquake – but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, fire – but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire – a still, small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his mantle about his face and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.” (1 Kings 19:5-12)
16. The Angel of Death and its names
    • “Some say that the only thing created on the first day of creation was the Angel of Death. How do we know this? By the word ‘darkness’ in the verse Darkness was over the face of the deep (Gen 1:2). …But others  say that the Angel of Death did not come into being until Cain slew Abel, for until then no one had died… Cain served as the Angel of Death for one hundred and thirty years, wandering and roaming about, accursed. After the death of Cain, Lamech took his place as the Angel of Death.” (TOS p.206, integrating many sources)
17. “The world was a shattered vessel”
    • This one’s gorgeous but huge, a foundational myth of Jewish ethics and mysticism. I’ve provided here only part of the TOS summary (p.122), which integrating at least 16 original sources and includes commentary 3x as long as the story itself.
    • “At the beginning of time, God’s presence filled the universe. Then God decided to bring the world into being. To make room for creation, God first drew in God’s breath, contracting Godself. From that contraction a dark mass was produced. And when God said “let there be light,” the light that came into being entered the dark mass, and ten vessels came forth, each filled with primordial light.
      “In this way God sent for those ten vessels, like a fleet of ships, each carrying its cargo of light. Had they arrived intact, the world would have been perfect. But somehow the frail vessels broke open, split asunder, and all the holy sparks were scattered, like sand, like seeds, like stars. Those sparks fell everywhere, but more fell on the Holy Land than anywhere else.
      “That is why we were created—to gather the sparks, no matter where they are hidden. Some even say that God created the world so that Israel could raise up the holy sparks. And that is why there have been so many exiles—to release the holy sparks from the servitude of captivity. For in this way the people of Israel will sift all the holy sparks from the four corners of the Earth.
      “And when enough holy sparks have been gathered, the vessels will be restored, and the repair of the world, awaited so long, will finally take place. Therefore it should be the aim of everyone to raise these sparks from wherever they are imprisoned and to elevate them to holiness by the power of their soul.”

The larger historical context around the events of The Empty Throne

In 1848, liberal-nationalist revolutions swept Europe, including Hungary‘s attempt to wrest self-rule from the Austrian Empire. Most of these revolutions succeeded… for 1-3 years, before reactionary forces put down the new revolutionary governments.

Jews played an active role in the Hungarian Revolution (among others); the old order had long pushed Jews to the margins with restrictive laws, and many Jewish communities had been undergoing “integrationist” (Haskalah) reforms in the preceding decades. Jews actively supported the revolution, though stories differ on how friendly the revolutionary government truly was to Jewish interests; the revolution’s nationalist aspect meant it could be unfriendly to minority groups. Regardless, the revolutionary government eventually enacted Jewish emancipation (removal of Jew-specific legal restrictions) – for exactly two weeks, before its surrender to Austria in August 1849. The Austrian military government punished Hungarian Jews with heavy war-taxes for their role in the uprising. To dilute Jewish identity, the Austrians forced Jews to establish and fund schools that would provide secular German-language education.¹

The post-revolutionary period was one of forced urbanization & education, which accelerated the integration of Hungarian Jews, and thereby increased their popularity and political effectiveness. Ironically, the Austrian punishments laid the groundwork for Hungarian Jews to achieve a more lasting legal emancipation in 1867.

Another fun story about inspirations for The Empty Throne

Permit me one self-indulgent story: Back in my LARPing days (15 years ago), I played in a game with a pantheon of distant and complex gods, but the god of darkness/dreams had the ability to cheat some of the universe’s rules and occasionally show up in person. If you were brave enough to ask him a question, he would give you a reply that sounded like a satisfying answer. And then, sometime after he was gone, you would realize that his reply didn’t actually contain any information whatsoever.

I wrote Samriel’s final line to make him proud.

Intentional anachronisms in The Empty Throne

I left three anachronisms that I know of. (1) Budapest was not a single city until the merger of Buda and Pest in 1873, but “Budapest” is a name readers will recognize. (2) The Erzsébetváros ghetto did not get its name until 1888. But that neighborhood had been the Jewish region of Pest for centuries, and I couldn’t find any contemporaneous place-name for it.² (3) Many Jewish people would not have used the term “Jewish” in the mid-late 1800s: for example, modern Jewish Community Centers stem from an organization founded in 1854 as the Hebrew Young Men’s Literary Association. I leaned primarily on the modern term “Jewish” for readability, though I did use “Hebrew” a few times for period flavor. Some older characters use a different non-modern-use term for the Jewish people, “Israel(ite).”

TET probably has unintentional anachronisms too, but I did my best!

The lengthy

Hahaha. Hah. Ahem. I first drafted this story in 2015 for a writing contest on the web forum Codex. I thought, at the time, it would be my breakout piece! Instead, my first pro sale was another story I worked on to take a break from TET. Since summer of 2015, I submitted TET to markets an unparalleled 56 times. Along the way I would regularly revise and tweak it, but spending less and less effort each time, on the grounds of diminishing returns with fewer markets available. Those 56 submissions included 17 personal rejections, 3 withdrawals, and one time when the editors said “this is ok but we’re still thinking about the story you sent us last time, can we buy that?” By the early 2020s I had largely put the story from my mind. But when Fran Wilde at Sunday Morning Transport asked me in 2022-2023 to send her a story of my heart, I knew which one was worth pulling out of the trunk for a last round of rewrites that could help it compete at a dream market.

Persistence pays off, kids. New markets open, even professional ones. You may yet find a worthy home for your favorite old piece. If you do it with a submission count over 56, I want to hear about it!

The Empty Throne’s connections to my other stories.

TET doesn’t really connect to my two Hungarian Jewish steampunk stories, except insofar as they all draw on my Hungarian Jewish ancestry. However, I do consider TET to exist in the same world as a different story of mine: “Memories of Fire,” which is set in 2011 Libya, and was inspired in part by Jewish myth #7 above. Who can resist the light of a rebellious star?

1. In a true feat of time-wasting research, I found an actual curriculum for an 1850s Austrio-Hungarian Jewish boys & girls school.
2. Thanks to reader Budai1 for providing the answer: The contemporaneous place name of Erzsébetváros was Terézváros-Theresstadt (“Theresa City.”) The Jewish population was concentrated in the areas between Königs gasse (magyarised to Király utca in 1850, “King Street”) and Tabak gasse (magyarised to Dohány utca in 1850, “Tobacco Street.”)