Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday. In 17th-century Palma, no one on Sagell Street could consult a Jewish calendar without risking their life. But everyone could hear the bells.
A maid described it to the tribunal with a precision that still chills: her mistress «never does any work on Friday nights, however pressing, but as soon as the prayers ring, she leaves her chores». The prayers were the Angelus bell. Without knowing it, the church was announcing the start of the Jewish holy day.
On the Sabbath there was no cooking either. Saturday's food was prepared on Friday, before sunset, «and with such observance that they never cook it, unless she is ill and it cannot be helped». The only exception was illness, which is exactly the exception Jewish law allows.
A double life kept by the enemy's clock: Mass on Sunday, Shabbat on Saturday, and the parish bells as the border between them.
