Isaac Bashevis Singer: Writings on Yiddish and YiAddishkayt; A Spiritual Reappraisal, 1946 -1955 translated and edited by David Stromberg; Amherst, Massachusetts: White Goat Press; ISBN 9798989-452477; 219 pages; $18.95.
SAN DIEGO –Isaac Bashevis Singer was a prolific writer in Yiddish, whose many accomplishments include winning the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature, authorship of 18 novels including Satan in Goray and The Family Moskat; and numerous short stories, including Yentl the Yeshiva Boy, which was made into the movie Yentl, starring Barbra Streisand.
And that’s not the half of it.
Singer also was an essayist whose topics included ruing the assimilation of American Jewry and the diminution of the Yiddish way of life. Many of these essays appeared in the Yiddish-language Forverts. Translator David Stromberg dug into the collections of the Yiddish Book Center to produce 25 of Singer’s essays, all written in the decade after the Holocaust.
This is an important book, which also is enjoyable to read.
I found myself highlighting passages throughout the entire book, sometimes for the depth of Singer’s thought, other times for his felicity of phrase. I disagree with those people who think that books are shrines and that writing in them is tantamount to vandalism. My compliments go to writers whose books are underlined, or dog-eared, or otherwise “defaced”; these works will be remembered, while others should be recycled into so much pulp.
I am going to provide a few samples of Singer’s writing—as translated brilliantly by Stromberg—but I caution that there are many more nuggets of wisdom in this collection, which can be read again and again.
The earliest essay in this book is titled “The Eternal Jewish Question: What’s the Purpose?” Singer first described previous generations who believed that the “Jewish truth, our faith, would sooner or later rise like oil on water and that the promises of the prophets—that the Torah will go forth from Zion out to the whole world–had to come true.”
He contrasted those previous generations with contemporary youth who “know very little about being Jewish. Quite often they haven’t even peeped into the Hebrew Bible, let alone the Talmud or other religious books. They know no Hebrew and no Yiddish either. They don’t feel like they have a mission in the world. The whole issue of being Jewish is nothing to them but a bundle of troubles. It stops them from getting accepted to university or landing a job at certain companies…”
Singer again contrasted old vs. new in the essay “The Synagogue and the Studyhouse.” In it, he declares “No synagogue, organizations, office, college, society, conference, congregation, or any other such institution can substitute this place where Jews could come any time they felt like taking a book, reading, discussing and being in contact with other Jews. In the synagogue you finish praying and close the doors. In a large hall you hold a meeting and then turn off the lights. In institutions you hear a speech and then go home. None of these has the right atmosphere for the Jewish spirit.”
In “The Concept of Beauty Among Olden Jews,” Singer opines that “it was the kavanah—the living person’s intention—that determined whether an action was good or bad, beautiful or ugly. There is no good without a good intention, and there can exist no beauty without a beautiful intention. It’s all a question of one’s attitude. The gold that was used to build the Mishkan was beautiful. The gold that was used to forge the Golden Calf was revoltingly ugly. The knife with which you cut the hallah on Shabbat can be beautiful, but a dagger with which you stab someone is ugly even if it has a gold diamond-studded handle.”
In the essay, “The Philosophy of Our Prophets,” Singer states that “Many times the Hebrew Bible repeats that God wants justice above all. This is the main issue. People who are righteous don’t steal or rob from others, they don’t take bribes, they’re good to orphans and widows and hired workers, they judge fairly and speak the truth. Wrongdoers are those who do the opposite.”
In his essay “Jewish Tragedy Should Not Be Made Mundane,” Singer inveighs against invoking the Holocaust to raise money for various Jewish charities. “If we start describing the gas chambers every chance we get, it will turn the whole thing into an everyday issue. After a while, it will stop working altogether, and anything that’s said will simply become an insult to the victims.”
Singer wrote these essays during the first decade of my life. Now almost 80 years have gone by and they still have relevance and impact. No wonder I felt compelled to mark this book up.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.