Isaac Bashevis Singer: Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt

The War Years, 1939-1945

Isaac Bashevis Singer, David Stromberg

• Publisher: White Goat Press
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN:
  9798988677314
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Translating & Interpreting

Discover Isaac Bashevis Singer's poignant reflections on Yiddish language and Jewish identity during the tumultuous years of World War II.

Isaac Bashevis Singer: Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt: The War Years, 1939-1945, translated and edited by David Stromberg, offers a unique glimpse into the Nobel laureate's Yiddish writings, bridging the gap between his Yiddish and English works. These essays, penned during a time of immense loss and upheaval, capture Singer's urgent desire to preserve Yiddish culture and explore the complexities of Jewish identity in the face of the Holocaust.

Through Singer's insightful observations, readers will grapple with questions of religious tradition, modernity, and the role of the writer in a world on the brink of destruction. This collection is perfect for those seeking a deeper understanding of Jewish history, Yiddish literature, and the enduring power of the human spirit. Explore themes of loss, hope, and cultural preservation in this compelling collection.

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Singer’s Wartime Writings:
• An Introduction by David Stromberg
• Agunot—Wives of Missing Husbands Not Allowed to Remarry by Jewish Law
• What Is a Dybbuk?
• What Is Kabbalah?
• Jews Would Oppose Nazis Even if Fascists and Hitlerites Were Not Antisemites
• Matchmaking, Weddings, and Divorces—Tragedy and Comedy in Old Jewish Life
• Elul—the Month When “Even a Fish in Water Trembles”
• Religious Jews Say That the Current War Is the War of Gog and Magog
• The Yiddish That We Spoke in the Old Country Is Being Forgotten
• Rabbi Nahman Told Stories That Delighted Our Grandparents
• Is Being Powerless a Jewish Ideal?
• Does Being Jewish Influence the Work of Jews Who Are American Writers?
• Pages Out of Jewish History from French Cities the American Army Is Now Liberating
• They Don’t Know Why They’re Jewish, but Don’t Want to Be Anything Else
• Each Jewish Street in Warsaw Was Like a Town of Its Own
• Famous Rabbis Who Spoke Out against Swinging Chickens as a Sacrifice before Yom Kippur
• The Ancient Jewish Notion that Good and Evil Are Always Battling Inside Us
• Yiddish Language and Culture Undergo Their Greatest Crisis in History
• Hanukkah Candles and the Stories They Tell
• Jewish Names and Yiddish Names
• Was Y. L. Peretz a Writer or a Rebbe?
• Jews and Jewish Life Not Yet Portrayed in Yiddish Literature
• The Destruction of Berlin and the Destruction of Jerusalem
• Why Movies Aren’t Made about Jewish Life
• Answer to a Tough Question on Jewish Rights in Palestine
• Increasingly Hard for Jewish Writers to Describe Jewish Life
• Acknowledgments