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The Manor and The Estate - Complete Two Novel Saga of a Family and an Epoch ... Read more

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Jews Are Bustin' Out All Over
Why should the Jews live in a narrow, religious world bound by myriad restrictions when all Europe is moving towards an industrial, modern future ?On the other hand, isn't leaving the guidance of one's own tradition, and walking on thin ice towards material and emotional satisfactions frought with dangers and fears ?As usual, Singer asks big questions in his novel and answers ambiguously.Readers have to look within themselves to divine the answers to such questions.Materialism and individual freedom offer rewards, but then so do spirituality and family ties.

Calman Jacoby takes over the management of a Polish manor after the failed revolt of 1863.He rapidly makes a success of it, becomes a capitalist, and willy-nilly moves away from maintaining the minute observations of Jewish tradition.Yet, he regrets this, he struggles to remain honest. When his wife dies, he marries an independent woman of dubious morals with an eye for the main chance.His eldest daughter marries the ambitious-but-traditional son of a local rabbi.Amother marries a no-count nobleman---son of the original manor owner---and lives a miserable life as an apostate to Judaism.Another marries a holy rebbe, leader of a Hasidic sect.The fourth weds a man who chooses rationalism and science over the mysticism and superstition of the village Jewish community.She cannot keep up with him. How can Jacoby deal with the stress of such transformations in traditional Jewish life ?While some men strive in the world of old, Talmudic scholarship, serving as guides to the gullible poor, speak only Yiddish, and shun contact with outsiders, others begin to shave, wear European clothing, eat non-kosher food, and associate with women outside the family.New political ideas appear and shake old certainties.Singer traces the tensions and upheavals in families who live in times of rapid transition from one kind of society to another.

Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and other novels can be related to THE MANOR, but a lot of African and Asian literature deals with the same theme, as does the literature of Native Americans.Singer's version is rich, rewarding, and full of poetic description. Perhaps, with so many characters, THE MANOR is more diffuse than some of his other novels, but most of them are vivid and well-developed.As always, he brings the lost world of the Eastern European Jews alive. It will live forever in these pages, as long as people read books or want to know what people once lived and struggled in Poland.

Singer wrote many novels set in different times---from "Satan in Goray" (1600s)to "The Slave" and "The Magician of Lublin" and "The Family Moskat"---as well as "Enemies, a Love Story" set in post-war New York, after the Jewish world was destroyed.THE MANOR is yet another jewel set in the necklace of his work.

A manor of worship: to God or oneself?
With the backdrop set during the late 1800s clash between the tradition and the renewal of Polish Jewry, Isaac Bashevis Singer introduces his novel, The Manor. A host of well developed characters represent the various paths taken in this historical time period. The story revolves around the manor, a residence meant to bring prosperity and the illusion of consequent happiness riches are expected to produce. Calman Jacoby, a spiritual and honest Jew, obtains the manor, and so begins a new phase of his life as a wealthy business man.
The Jacoby's have four daughters, and their stories show a different level of keeping, or rejecting, the traditions instilled in each by Calman. The relationships between characters, especially between the daughters and their husbands, are continually being tested. Singer explores how passion can lead one into irrational and blatantly immoral behavior. Loyalties are promised and broken and then reaffirmed again amidst affairs, lost belief in G-d, and renewed spirituality. The constant questioning thoughts of each character invokes conflicting feelings in ones own mind as to what is correct, and with which point of view Singer himself consents. The conflicts extend beyond what the characters actually think. Singer presents the beauty of certain scenes through metaphors and people's good deeds, only to contrast them to the mundane reality of others.
The novel is told in a refreshingly simple tone that is somehow able to communicate the characters' innermost feelings. Although I was surprised by the lack of communication among the daughters, I found The Manor to be an impressive book, one that incorporated historical fiction with exciting storylines, credible characters, and a theme that is still witnessed today: traditions clashing with the desire for progress.

Building Independent Nations Requires Independent People
"The Manor" is a difficult novel to enjoy but is a realistic depiction of the lives of Jews amongst Gentiles in 19th century Poland.Poland at this time was partitioned by Prussia, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian empire.The Polish Count of "The Manor" in the title, has been exiled to Siberia for participating in a Polish rebellion against Russia.A Russian Duke confiscates all his property.Calman Jacoby has frequently traded with the Count and he leases the property from the duke, taking a small shack for himself on the property while allowing the Countess and her daughters to remain living in The Manor.The disasters that befall Calman from that point forward make up the body of the novel.

When the Polish Count and his son, Lucian, return from Siberia,they are disillusioned and debauched beyond repentance.Lucian, a handsome rogue, seduces and elopes with Calman's favorite daughter, Miriam Leiba. They flee to Paris where they reside in filth while Lucian cuckolds Miriam Leiba continuously.Upon their return to Poland, a murder lands Lucian in prison. Miriam Leiba becomes a lush, loses the custody of her children to Lucian's sister, and contacts tuberculosis.

In the meantime, the Count sets up residence with a Russian woman he brings from Siberia, shortening the life of his wife, the Countess, by several years. Calman loses his own wife around the same time.She had been a bitter but responsible woman who failed to enliven Calman though she attended to his every need...except one.Calman marries again, believing himself in love with Clara, arich, fashionable, society woman.She is beautiful and appeals to Calman's senses but she is reckless and pressures him to evict the Count and his Russian concubine.She is pregnant and fancies residing in The Manor after she updates it to her liking.The peasants see negative omens in the sky when Calman moves into The Manor, but they don't protest because the Count was oppressive.The son Clara delivers to Calman in the Manor is a monstrous brat that engenders feelings of shame rather than that of love.

Shortly thereafter Clara begins an affair with Zipkin, auniversity student with communist leanings.Affairs have become "fashionable" with her "in-crowd".She hires her lover as a governor and tutor for Calman's rebellious son and moves him into the Manor until Calman, always suspicious but never officially exposing her, becomes uncertain of the parentage of Clara's second pregnancy and throws Zipkin out.Then he leaves The Manor himself, opting for a religious life in the Shtetl of his youth.He is done with "The Manor" forever, prefering to be a tenant of someone else than Lord of The Manor.He claims that as a tenant "God watched over him" and as a Lord, he was in over his head.

In my opinion, the characters in the novel are overly concerned with marriage and sex, so much so that every fatal mistake is attributable to their choice of spouse or lover.If each had spent time alone to develop self-sufficiency and notice it in others or enjoyed some form of useful trade, many of their personal disasters wouldn't have happened or could've been prevented.That they all end up dissatisfied, unhappy, in prison or in retreat is a logical outcome of their emotive, irrationaldecisions.Only Calman, the only character engaged in useful trade, realizes what has caused his problems and bythe end of the novel he is consciously working to repair his soul.The other characters fade off the pages in ignominy, victims of their dreams and own irresponsibility.

The building of an independent country, an issue uniquely applicable to these two nations, requires the full development of its people to create, defend and inhabit that new nation.Anynation is doomed to fall like a "House of Cards" (which The Manor comes to symbolize) when emotion is placed above reason.What Isaac Bashevis Singer shows us in this unhappy tale will help all who read it to understand why this must be so.

"The Manor" is a worthwhile if not enjoyable read and needs more exposure through a new reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The great short- story writer
Singer is one of the great short story writers. The title story of this collection 'Short Friday' is one of his masterpieces. It is the story of a loving but childless couple and their preparation for Shabbat. And the special kind of Shabbat they have. I will not say anything about the outcome. This is one of Singer's true love stories astoryof great sanctity and depth.
Anyone who wants to read truly great short stories should read as much of Isaac Singer as they can. ... Read more

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Themes of envy, betrayal and sexual perversity run through this collection of 20 short stories. The author also wrote "Satan in Goray", "The Manor", "The Magician of Lublin" and "The Manor", and won the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

book did not come
I ordered a book from this seller, they shipped it within 2 days but it never came.I contacted the seller and they very quickly responded and refunded my account.Even though I never received my book, because of their quick response and quick solution to the matter I would recommend them again!The have other quick and great reviews which makes them a safe and appropriate place to order from!

Worth it for the Title Story Alone
The Death of Methuselah, the title story, is one of the best short stories I've ever read.It deals with the hallucinatory last moments of Methuselah.The reader is taken taken on a trip through Jewish and Mesopotamian mythology, a trip brought on by Methuselah's lusting for Naamah the she-devil, consort of Asmodeus.

METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN
Master story teller IsaacBashevis Singer regales us once again with this remarkable collection of short stories. Woe to those who are faint of heart or have inflexible moral standards. His stories are sure to give you acoronary as you are confronted with issues of blasphemy, debauchery,mystery and intrigue. Singer assaults the whole of human fickleness in histales.

Yet his tales are not all sordid. In "The BitterTruth" we see a man's loyalty to his friend over-rides a secret thatcould spell disaster. "House Friend" will have you laughing atthe mere concept of a friend having sexual relations with another friend'swife with full hearted encouragement from the friend. Go figure? Singer's stories are down to earth and deal with the varied humannegativities that we display unashamedly. God's presence is very much inthe foreground of the stories as the characters stuggle with their ownethical isssues. Despite the fact that we as a human race can be sordid,the collection as a whole points out that we are redeemable and can displaythe best of ourselves.Laugh, cry, become shocked and fearful as youenter the complexities of humanity through the eyes of Singer. Nocollection of his is complete without this book. ... Read more

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Telling the story of an extraordinary friendship, a close friend and translator of the eminent Polish-American author, Isaac Bashevis Singer, offers understanding of the moral dimensions of Singer's art and his struggles with loss, age, and fame. UP. ... Read more

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Sublime Singer - For the title story alone
The title story of this work is one of the greatest of all Singer's stories. It tells of a poor aged sick student ofphilosophy who has dedicated his whole life to understanding Spinoza's thought, and his meeting with a poor, ugly , cleaning lady who comes to care for him in his illness. It is a story which in a way invokes great metaphysical dichotomies , between the Ideal and the Real, between Spirit and Matter(Body). But essentially it is one of the most moving love- stories ever written , a story which somehow finds the divine in the physical, but nonetheless as would be Singer's way, ironically. It's concluding line is one of the most striking I know in all of Literature.
Read and enjoy.

In short stories too, the prose of IBS is mastery
- I refer to to the Spanish version of Brugera (?)

I read this book some years ago with some caution, because I have known IBS as a novelist and somehow I had the expectation that the short stories might disappoint me. I was wrong, the prose is unique and the wisdom is there as everything the maestro writes. I feel compelled to learn yiddish right away.

Yiddish folklore --- Tales of Chassidism
Singer's father was a Hasid rabbi, and these stores are Jewish, but concern all mankind.These are stories with rich smells, and I can almost smell the chalah bread, and taste the kreplach and macaroons.Set in shtetl, (small communities of Eastern European Jews), there is a conflict of traditional culture and modern Jewish practice.

Not only are there stories of golem, dybbuks, and demons, but even more earthy people as Dr. Fischelson who marries a woman known as Black Dobbe.There is a devil manipulating two perpetual liars, the flamboyant Glicka Genedel, and Reb Yomtom.There is a story of divine providence, where a beggar directs and aspiring chimney sweep, then down the road is paid back. These stories are sure to delight and surprise.

stories of wasrsaw poland and the people
each short teaches a lesson in life and provides insight into our own lives. takes place for the most part in warsaw poland

Many good narrations make it worth buying
First, I feel I should list the stories included in this little gem of a book:

1)"The Spinoza of Market Street" 2)"The Black Wedding" 3)"A Tale of Two Liars" 4)"The Shadow of aCrib" 5)"Shiddah and Kuziba" 6)"Caricature"7)"The Beggar Said So" 8)"The Man Who Came Back"9)"A Piece of Advice" 10)"In the Poorhouse"11)"The Destruction of Kreshev"

With the exception of"Shiddah and Kuziba", all these storiesare set in the sameplace: the Poland of centuries past, when large Jewish communities lived inthe towns near the border with Russia (sometimes Russia itself controlledPoland). These stories involve love, treason, lies, evil, philosophy, lust,sex and much more. Though some stories are not very interesting, Iwasn't disappointed by any of them. I will write a little about those Iliked the most. "A Tale of Two Liars" has a plot whosesimplicity reminds me of the best short narrations by J.L. Borges. Nothingis left at the end for the reader to wonder about: though its written inI.B.Singer's usual style (full of sometimes unneccesary,"by-the-way", details), the plot is so well made and (what elseshould I say?) complete, that it is as if it were a sphere that you graspin its entierty with just one hand."Shadow" isphilosophical, with a lot of misanthropic and misogynous ramblings. Itsending, with the ghosts of the two main character coming back to haunt thetown, has the same eerie tone as that of Joyce's "The Dead". "Caricature" stands up to its title: an old writer whoseself-doubt makes him unable to clear his stinking and dusty room of uselessoutdated 'rubbish' (old magazines and letters that he has not bothered toopen or read) or publish his long-awaited manuscript pokes fun ateverything, including his wife, his own life and his obscure supporters. "The Destruction of Kreshev" reminds me of García Marquez's"One Hundred Years of Solitude". It is simply a masterpiece thathas to be read, a mixof science-fiction, horror and jewish folklore, atale of how religious, supposedly upright intellectuals can end corruptingthemselves by "too much thinking" and instronspection. "The Man Who Came Back", about a man who is revived only to bepossesed by an evil spirit, and "A Piece of Advice", a kind offable about pessimist, angry people acting as if they were the opposite ofthat, are also worth reading."Kreshev" and"Spinoza" are the only stories that appear in "TheCollecteded Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer". ... Read more

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The narrator of this story, Aaron Greidinger, is a writer just beginning to receive recognition. He finds himself involved with a group of refugees after Max Aberdam of Warsaw, a "ghost" who he had long thought dead, walks back into his life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Crazy, crazy...
This is the story of a group of pre-war Yiddish intellectuals transplanted from Warsaw to New York.The main character, Aaron Greidinger, is a short story and novelist writer as much as I.B.Singer was in real life.Hisfriend Max, long thought dead, reappears and introduces his mistressMiriam.A love triangle forms, upon which other triangles will be formedwith the introduction of several other characters.Aaron is attracted toMiriam and sees her as a symbolism of renewal in life and faith, but as hediscovers the horrible truths behind her façade, he is led to believe theworld will never heal; although he respects God he is unable to love a Godwho has shown no mercy upon his creation.The novel has a philosophicaldespairing tone, an overall feeling that indeed the world has gone"meshugah," (crazy, crazy)!This a posthumously novel publishedin 1994 and certainly not the best form Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Another Singer Classic
I first read "The Slave" and fell in love with Singer's simple yet vivid story telling. Meshugah did not disappoint. I enjoyed reading about three colorful characters (Polish refugees) involved in a bizarrelove triangle. Meshugah gives great insight on life after the Holocaust.Despite the horrors of WWII, Judaism, the Yiddish language, and lovecontinue in New York City. ... Read more

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No one Writes a short story better...
...Singer explores not only human loneliness but also the human comedy in his short works..the theme of course centers around love, a love that transports you far away, washing you with a tide of emotions...though these tales drawn from the old traditionary school of thought, celebrate the dignity, mastery and unexpected joy of living with moreart and fervor than any other writer...

This classic collection explores the varieties of wisdom gained with age and especially those that teach us how to love....the love that ages and matures...just like old wine tasting even better day by day, year after year and tear after tear...these are tales of curious marriages, of divorces, of love curses, bravery and loneliness... ... Read more

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A delightful addition to the cherished autobiographical work of the Nobel Laureate

A sequel to I. B. Singer's classic memoir In My Father's Court, these stories, published serially in the Daily Forward, depict the beth din in his father's home on Krochmalna Street in Warsaw. A unique institution, the beth din was a combined court of law, synagogue, scholarly institution, and psychologist's office where people sought out the advice and counsel of a neighborhood rabbi.

The twenty-seven stories gathered here show this world as it appeared to a young boy. From the earthy to the ethereal, these stories provide an intimate and powerful evocation of a bygone world.
... Read more

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Short concise excellent Singer
These stories were originally published ,in serial form, in the Jewish daily Foward. They are short almost precise stories of IB singers youth in Warsaw and his Fathers "court',the BETH DIN, a combination court,synagogue ,advice for the lovelorn, place of talmudic debate,etc. The stories,vignettes drawn from memory,tell these so well. None of these stories are in the collected stories,so it makes the purchase of these 2 volumes essential{the other is IN MY FATHERS COURT]. From Old widows wanting to remarry, to overly pious mates, to pseudo-intellectual rabbis trying to show off their'learning".,I.B. Singer has left us a record of a vanished civilization, in a place and time less then 70 years ago.Essential stories from the gratest short story writer of our time.

more stories from a master
These are vignettes, really, scenes remembered from Singer's youth when he served as a messenger errand-boy for his father who conducted a beth din in Warsaw. Although often ambiguous and seemingly inconclusive, they are the works of a master who can effortlessly create a powerful scene in only four or five pages. He avoids all the popular flaws of the short-story genre. There is not a trace of vanity or judgment in his narratives. He is the perfect short story writer. ... Read more

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In 1906, the death of his 17-year-old son, Arturo, has disrupted the life of Max Barabander, sending him back to his roots in Warsaw while his wife stays in South America. Having attained wealth after a life of poverty and a prison hitch in Warsaw for theft, Max revisits scenes of his past. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A delightful parable
Isaac Bashevis Singer's Scum is a tale of a 47 year old successful business man, thief and fornicator who hid many of his business deals and money and sex liaisons from his wife, who was his partner. Their son, a teen-ager dies unexpectantly. His wife falls into a deep depression, becomes frigid, and is unable to have a close relationship with him. While he thinks that he is not depressed, he becomes impotent and suffers for several years feeling that he has no enjoyment from his life. He decides to rekindle his zest for life by returning to the ultra-Orthodox Judaism of his youth, beginning with his return to his birthplace Poland and a visit to his parents' graves.
He arrives in Poland in 1906 and is drawn to the thieves' quarter where he discovers two kinds of Jews, the ultra-Orthodox and the unreligious and secular minded criminal class. The former are overwhelmed by piety, study of the Talmud and prayer; the latter by sex.
He makes several attempts to overcome his impotency and to find satisfaction. He becomes involved with five different women, each in a despicable way. He is charmed by the daughter of an extremely poor rabbi and offers her marriage. The girl is young enough to be his daughter. He tries to rape a servant girl to regain his potency. He joins with a woman who is unfaithful to her lover, who is a married man, in an enterprise to seduce or kidnap girls from Poland and take them to his country, Argentina, and place them in a brothel. He has sex with her and thinks that he recovered his potency. He seeks help from a clearly fraudulent clairvoyant to see his dead son and decides to help her escape from a man who is controlling her.
The story, as many written by the Nobel Prize Winner I. B. Singer, can be read as a parable of man's search for meaning and how he is hindered in his search by his failure to realize that he is searching for meaning, his inability to maintain focus on his goal and his failure to abandon his nature, in this case being scum.

A fascinating novel about a lost world
Singer (and his translator) manages with beautiful, easy-to-read prose, to evoke a lost world. His sketches of the the people and places in the Jewish quarter of Warsaw c 1906 are memorable and convincing. While I was readingthe book I was conscious that the city was flattened in the 1940s and 6/7of Polish Jews were murdered during the Nazi occupation - i.e. a stark darkline through history cut Max's world off from from today's Poland.Maxrecalls the assimilated, Spanish speaking Jewish community in Argentina andthe ultra-conservative village in Western Poland where he grew up - and towhich he is forever planning to return. He observes the pious Warsawfamilies in their detailed preparations for and observation of the Sabbath- but also the other Jews, the thieves, pimps, whores who live in the samestreet, and the middle class Jews in their large apartments a few blocksaway. This multi-layered community speaks a different language from themillions of Poles that surround them and is loathed by many of the hosts.Singer makes occasional refererence to the pogroms, anti-Semitism, theRussian occupation, but it is not an overtly political novel. Itconcentrates on the the street life in the ghetto and specifically on thecharacter of Max. Manic mad Max can't help getting into trouble. He lurchesfrom one messy encounter to the next, creating new dangers for himself evenbefore the previous one has been resolved. He has a wife in Argentina, yetpromises himself to several Warsaw women in his first few days in the city.His treatment of women is appalling, yet by highlighting his protagonist'sself-awareness, self-loathing, his profound grief over his lost son, hisoccasional moments of kindness, his guilt and conscience, Singer willendear his extraordinary creation to many readers. Max is deeply lonely andSinger explains much of his bizarre behaviour with reference to hisdesperate need to avoid being alone with his despair. This is my firstSinger novel and I will definitely read others - he creates both a strongmulti-dimensional central character and a powerful sense of place withstark, economical prose. A glossary of religious and cultural terms wouldhave been helpful- and a few pages of recipes would have been a treat(although I'll skip the cabbage fried in lard!) ... Read more

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When their wishes fail, three children learn that they must deserve by effort what they had wanted to get too easily. ... Read more

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great interviews
This is THE book if you want to listen in on insightful conversations with IBS about writing and everything else. It's better than the Paris Review interview and, of course, a lot longer. I read it years ago and never forgot it and just reread it and loved it once again. Great advice for writers, as well as a lot of interesting info for readers and people interested in the man behind the stories. It includes info on IBS's life philosophy, his convictions about everything from animism to vegetarianism. Writers will be esp. interested in his explanations of his approach and his love of the Russian greats (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Chekhov) and his dismissal of many of his contemporaries (Harold Pinter and many others whom he declines to name). Burgin does a great job of drawing him out and it is clear there was a great rapport between them.

Singer is always interesting
Singer is always interesting . He is just one of those kinds of people so rich in humor and the power of storytelling that even when he talks about things you disagree with him about he is thought -provoking. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

'Short Friday' One of mankind's most beautiful stories
The title- story of this collection is one of Singer's finest stories and one of the most beautiful I know.
It tells of a childless couple who live in deep love and joy with each other. And this as they pray and dream for a child of that love. The story tells of their preparations for Shabbat in the winter when Shabbat comes in very early (Thus:Short Friday).
I will not say anything further than this.
Read this story and know the pleasure of truly great literature.

Now What?
What a pity.In finishing "Short Friday", I have now read all books in English by the author Isaac Bashevis Singer.I guess there are some children's books of his that I haven't read yet and there is always the hope of some new works of his being translated from Yiddish to English.However, I don't know what sort of literary estate he has left behind so I will have to content myself with reading everything over again.

As for "Short Friday", this was a good collection of some of the many short stories Isaac B. Singer has written over the years.I would rate it a 4.5 if there were such a choice on the scale.About half of the stories in this volumne deal with the supernatural which is a populat subject of the author's.There is a wonderful little story of spiritual devotion in "I Place my Reliance on No Man".The title story is a moving tale of love at the end of life.However, the masterpiece of this book is the story "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy".I had read this story in the "Collected Short Stories of Isaac Singer" but it was well worth reading again.Many people may be familiar with the Barbara Streisand movie "Yentl" which is based on this story of a young woman who pretends to be a young man so that she can study the holy books.It is one of the author's best works.

Well, every collection of short stories by Singer is a joy to read because you never know what's coming next.This is one of the better collections and a good place to begin if you haven't read anything by the author before.On the other hand, it's not a bad one to finish with if you've already read everything else I.B. Singer has written. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A book from my childhood
I remember this book from when I was a child.Now that I have children of my own I am THRILLED to find out it is still in print.I have fond memories of reading the stories by myself and can't wait to share them with my children.

Sparkling
Isaac Bashevis Singer-one of the greatest story-tellers of all time-opens this sparkling series of eight Chanukah stories with a reminiscence from his own childhood in his parents' house. He recalls once evening, the last night of the festival of lights when his father, a rabbi in Warsaw, allowed his children to play the Chanukah game of dreidel.

On this occasion, it was snowing, and his brother Joshua pointed out that each snowflake was a hexagon-it had six sides "with fancy little designs and decorations." His father added that it was the world of God Almighty. The story then explains how the game of dreidel works, right down to the meaning of the letters on the little top. And it imparts thestory of a miracle contemporary to his father's time.

All eight other stories, including the title piece about Chanukah during the Nazi era, are miracles in their own right.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

TheCandle OfHope
We think it was a very nice story.It had lot's of feelings.It was a very entertaining story.Hunter and Callie.

Almost Too Good to Be True
The book, that is.The stories and pictures are just unbelievably warm and beautiful.I often read this short book cover to cover during Chanukah--one sparkling little gem a night. Just perfect for adults and, I'm sure, children, too.In fact, I can't imagine anything nicer than to read these to a kid on Chanukah. This book is the perfect gift, to yourself or anyone else.And if you can find yourself a hardcover copy, then you're *really* in luck.

Wonderful!
I really enjoyed this book. This book has eight stories, one for each night of Hanukkah. All the stories were interesting and had beautiful illustrations. My favorite story was The Power of Light. Isacc Bashevis Singer is a Nobel Prize Winner. This is a great book. ... Read more

Product Description
David Bendiner, a young writer and secularized Jew, has qualified to emigrate from Warsaw to Palestine, but he's broke, and in order to make the journey, he must enter into a fictitious marriage with a prosperous woman eager to get there. Grappling with romantic, political and philosophical turmoil, David must also confront his faith when his father, an Orthodox rabbi, shows up in Warsaw.
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A SINGER WORTH RESCUING
I.B. Singer's "The Certificate" is one of the books his estate unearthed from the pages of the Jewish Daily Forward after his death, a Yiddish text Singer himself chose not to translate into English in his lifetime. That alone makes us wonder if it should have been brought out. But unlike other posthumous issues (the thin "Meshugah" or the squalid "Shadows on the Hudson"), "The Certificate" is a real work of merit, if not top Singer, mainly because it is so autobiographical.

The nineteen-year-old David Bendiger, son of a Polish village rabbi, arrives in Warsaw in 1922 to start his career as a writer, and is cast adrift there. He is penniless, weak, feckless, unkempt, tongue-tied, unable to hold onto either keys or money. Zionists offer him an expense-paid trip to Palestine if he will marry the woman paying, then divorce her after they get there. While strings are pulled to get "the certificate" to emigrate, David lives as passively as a leaf tossed in the wind--exactly like Singer when he first came to Warsaw. Of special interest are the scenes when David's older brother, also a writer, shows up, a kind but dominating figure before whom David is still a dependent child, much like I.B.'s relationship with his own older brother, I.J., an established Yiddish writer. In real life, I.J. did everything for I.B., even bringing him to New York before the war and placing him at the Forward, but I.B.'s tormented resentments made it impossible for him to write anything of significance until I.J. died of a heart attack in 1944. Freed by this, I.B.'s writing took off at once, and by 1950 Knopf had published the English translation of his greatest work, "The Family Moskat."

"The Certificate" is one posthumous work that deserved unearthing: sad yet warm, philosophical yet filled with contempt for all forms of fanaticism, especially the young Jewish communists who practice their politics with the exact same cultic obsessiveness of Hasidim. This lesser-known Singer is well worth reading.

The storyteller's storyteller tells his own story as a young man
This is a highly autobiographical fiction, and one of tremendous verve, energy and life. An early work of Singer it was published after he won the Nobel Prize. It contains many of the familiar themes of his work, including that of a search on the part of the narrator to make some sense of, and understand his own life. The poor young man who is the subject of the story arrives in Warsaw from the provinces where he has been dismissed as a teacher. And in typical Singer fashion he finds his way to survival through a series of relationships with three different women. One of these women has a certificate which the Zionists have reserved for her and her husband so that she can travel to Palestine. But the man she loves is supposedly already there and she needs a fictive husband . Thus David Bendiger the Singer alter ego main character of the book , receives a lifeline. In the course of the narrative Bendinger and the pining Minna marry but this does not bring them to the Promised Land. Bendinger's other connections with two other women also do not solve his problem. Other surprises in the book like the return from Russia of the writer's older brother who is also a respected writer, and the sudden appearance in Warsaw at the end of the work at their aging Rabbi father also contribute to the book's interestingness.
Above all though it is the voice of the main character ironic and questioning, filled with dreams and wild imaginings, original in perceptions and questions which impels the story. Singer is a writer whose work lives line by line, and who can tell a story in a brief paragraph. As a narrator he just knows how to keep the reader curious, and his storytelling power is so strong it sweeps the reader along with it.
Another quality which I deeply appreciate in Singer is his knowledge of the Jewish world. His deep feeling for this world even as he is contradicting and turning away from an Orthodox style of life also add to the dramatic tension of the work.
One of the world's great storytellers in this work tells his the story of his early years in a truly enthralling and enjoyable way.

Portrait Of An Aspiring Writer As A Young Man
David Bendiger is at a crossroad in his life. He is 18-1/2 and like his brother, Ahron, he aspires to be a writer. David also has the opportunity to obtain a certificate of passage to Palestine, a British protectorate in 1922. The only catch is that if he had a wife entry into Palestine would be that much easier. David enters into a fictitious marriage with Minna, a woman from a well-to-do Jewish family living in Warsaw. Minna plans to reunite with her adored fiance in Palestine and then dissolve her union with David. Needless to say problems ensue.

_The Certificate_ is a splendid and engrossing story full of unexpected plot turns. It captures that moment in a young man's life when he is just becoming an adult and must make important decisions that will affect the rest of his life. In David's case he chooses to begin his writing career by endeavoring to have some of his writings published. Newly discovering women, he ponders about the kind of woman he will eventually marry. The son of an orthodox rabbi, David also faces a challenge to his Judaism and his belief in God when he meets two Communist women at a rooming house, as well as from Minna, a self-denying Jew. Even his beliefs and his value system, much of these derived from Spinoza, are shaken. Whether David finds a new life in Palestine or takes an altogether different road may be discovered by reading this small, but important and engrossing work in the I.B. Singer canon.

Wonderful Novel from a tremendous Author
A young man, who aspires to become a writer in Warsaw in 1922 gets caught up in issues of life, love, family, and politics.The times are chaotic and the future is uncertain.Social structures are changing, religon is under assault, and communism is on the rise.

This is the background for this novel by nobel prize winner Isaac B. Singer.This largly autobiograpichal story paints a picture of a culture and time lost in the ashes of history.His memories are touching and deftly written.A good read for any who are interested in this tremendous author.

Passionate and sad account
David Bendiger is a penniless young man, willing to make a name for himself as a writer in Warsaw.But 1922 is a time of turmoil, war, anti-Semitism, the rise of communism, all of which deeply affecting a younggeneration that cannot find its place in society.More so for the Jewishcommunity, torn itself between tradition and the new rationalism.David isa puppet in aworld of chaos, who gets himself carried and involved in thelives of three women, each one of them with their own dilemma in life. Like in all his other works, I.B.Singer masters his depiction of humandespair, love, greatness, and despicable existence. ... Read more