Running an All Jewish Saga
A rare few games will be run with the premise that all characters are Jewish.
This is no less a preposterous idea than running a game where all the characters are from a single hermetic house. Indeed, it can probably learn a great deal from such a game.
When creating characters it makes sense to think about how being a member of each house would affect a given Jewish character. This is especially true since magi don’t get to choose who they are apprenticed by. Many Jewish characters will be apprenticed by a non-Jewish parens, and will be affected by that apprenticeship. Once free of their parens a newly gauntlets magus can decide if he wants to stick around or join a new house. This might be more common for Jewish magi (at least those who want to stay Jewish) who may be more resentful of their forced “conversion” to the life of a hermetic magus.
The True Lineages are a difficult fit for a Jewish magus, but not impossible. Obviously the only way for a Jewish magus to be in such a house is to be apprenticed into it, so the fit needs to be good enough that they want to remain.
House Bonisagus seems the most natural fit - Judaism values learning and education, and its easy to imagine a Jewish lab rat taking the intelligence that Hashem gave him and applying it to advancing Hermetic theory.
The founder of House Guernicus was a devout Christian, and many in his house still keep to that tradition. That makes it likely that a Jewish magus would feel uncomfortable in the house. That said, legalism and Judaism are deeply enmeshed. A apprentice trained in Order Law might delight in applying the same skills to the Rabbinic Law of her heritage.
House Mercere is a True Lineage both in the Hermetic and the biological sense. All its members are descended from Mercere himself. But its not impossible that a Jewish woman might have children with a Mercere Redcap, and the product of such a union would be both halakically Jewish and qualified to be a Mercere.
The Tremere value loyalty above all. This might lead to accusations of dual loyalty for any member of the house who is Jewish. This is a common anti semitic trope both in 1220 and today. But a Jewish Tremere who could get past that prejudice would appreciate the long term thinking of the house. The Jews too take a long view of history and survival.
The Mystery Cults are a dangerous place for a Jewish maga. Some of them derive their power from powerful supernatural beings in ways that seem idolatrous to Jews. Others simply have beliefs that are far outside the Jewish mainstream.
While Jews in 1220 are not confined to cities they way they will be in a few hundred years, the centers of Jewish society are the cities and towns of Mythic Europe. That said, Judaism is very connected to nature, with its three major agricultural festivals, the celebration of the New Year of the Trees and the New Year of Animals, and frequent prayers for rain. But any Jew who dives deeply into the Bjornaer cult will quickly be concerned by the prevalence of ancestor worship and idolatry.
The Criamon’s focus on the teachings of Empedocles is alien to Jewish thought. Jewish history clearly begins and will (probably) one day end, there is no sense of a cyclical world. A radical Jewish philosopher of the Maimonidean camp might value a house dedicated to Greek philosophy, but this seems the most unlikely fit of all the houses.
The Merinita’s relationship with the Fae is concerningly for most Jews, especially as Judaism does not have a concept of the Fae and might recognize some of the more mischievous faeries as demonic spirits. This makes Merinita magic seem very close to the sort of sorcery prohibited by the Torah. Jewish wizards might be proponents of Merinita Nature magic, given Judaism’s connection to the natural world.
The Verditius reliance on tools and items to do their magic would be concerning to a Jewish magician at first glance. But looking deeper, the house has the least organization of its Mystery Cult, being a bunch of independent magi all striving for greatness. This leaves room for a Jewish magician to do their own thing, unconcerned with the rest of the house. As well, gold smithing and jewel cutting are relatively common professions in the Jewish world, so it’s quite plausible to imagine that the Gifted Jewish child of such a craftsperson would be snatched up by the house, and then would remain there after their gauntlet.
Finally the Societies, with their generally broad acceptance of all comers, seems like the most natural place for a Jewish character.
The Flambeau is stereotypically the house of Christian fanatic Crusaders hurling fireballs, which might be a difficult fit for a Jew. But plenty of Flambeau are more interested in being champions of the Order, scourges to demons, or slayers of magical beings. A Jew raised in the house may have some tricky encounters with zealous apprentices, but once they make it through their gauntlet they could become a noble defender of the Jews of Europe using the skills they have learned from their parents.
House Jerbiton is also a potentially difficult fit for Jews, though for more subtle reasons than the Flambeau. Many Jerbiton are involved in the mundane power structures of Europe, which are ultimately Christian power structures. But it is in the artistic side of the house that a Jew could flourish. 1220 sees a number of Jewish poets who compose works that are both expressions of faith but also simply beautiful works. The poems of a Jewish Jerbiton Baal Teshuva could be full of passionate emotions.
The difficult apprenticeship of a Tytalus is enough to shake any child to their core. Where the Book of Instruction conflicts with the Torah the former is sure to win. But after their gauntlet a Tytalus might recognize the similarities in the two traditions. To be Jewish in Mythic Europe is an act of defiance to the accepted order the day. A Tytalus might admire the stubbornness of the Jews, and a Jew might admire the stubbornness of the Tytalus.
Finally, House Ex Miscellanea offers the most obvious home for a Jewish maga. The house is open to almost everyone in Mythic Europe, but it does still require that the applicant learn a little Latin, Magic Theory, and the Parma. This might prove too much for a zealous kabbalist, but it's also possible to imagine that a kabbalist who is open to learning outside his own Jewish tradition would join the ex Miscellanea. A gifted Jew who knows a little amulet magic might find it very easy to join the ex Miscellanea, seeing Magical Theory as simply an expansion on the little magic they know. And perhaps there is a sect of Holy Magicians (RoPD 34) who do magic in a Jewish tradition within the ex Miscellanea. That said, Jewish characters will not get along with many of their fellow non-Jewish ex Miscellanea. Many traditions of the house draw from explicitly idolatrous backgrounds.
Jewish companion characters are harder to classify, but there are certainly a number of ways to create such a character. A rabbi or baal shem are certainly good options for a companion character, and good details on this are found in RoPD. Jews were also engaged in commerce, and so a companion could serve as a seneschal or broker for the covenant. Jews were even engaged in military matters, most commonly as members of a town guard. A Jewish guard captain might join the covenant to provide a warlike companion. Its even not entirely impossible to play a Jewish knight - history records a certain Jew named Teka in the 1230s who was a Hungarian “Count of the Chambers” and engaged in military raids on his rivals in the manner of a knight, and with no rebuke from the King.
If there are more than one or two Jewish wizards in a Tribunal, it makes sense that the Jews might gather themselves into a single covenant, and gather Jewish companions as well. Judaism is a communal tradition. This is for religious reasons, you need ten people (men in 1220) to have a minyan, the minimum size required to say certain prayers. But it is also for social reasons, Jews stick together because they are outsiders in a Christian world.
A Jewish covenant would certainly accept Jews of various levels of observance. Every Jewish community has a diversity of observance, and there just aren’t that many Jews around that a covenant can afford to be picky. But some basic ground rules would likely be some level of observance of Shabbat in public spaces and preparing only kosher food in the kitchens. Daily prayer would be offered twice a day, and because of the requirements of a minyan it might be an interesting opportunity for the magi and grogs to mingle in ways that don’t happen in most covenants. The Jewish grogs would attend services so that the minimum of ten men would be met, and so the grogs and magi would regularly see each other in a setting when they are, theoretically, equals.
Games where all the major player characters are Jewish will want to dive into the deep end. They may want to get involved in the controversies of the mundane Jewish world in 1220, such as debates over Maimonides lead by figures like Moses ben Nachman. They may encounter strange bits of magic like the kabbalists of Girona or you may want to have a companion character who can create Love Magic Amulets. Attending Yom Kippur services could turn into an adventure all its own, with the miracles of Kol Nidre or Ne’ilah. And characters might want to go on a pilgrimage to Eretz Israel and end up exploring the Halakic Day or the regio of Honi the Circle Maker.
A covenant full of Jewish characters will end up telling a story that is outside the norm of an Ars Magica game, but it will still be a story based in history, magic, and myth.