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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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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

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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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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.
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Customer Reviews (2)

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

Customer Reviews (5)

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

Product Description
Three unabridged novels by a Nobel Prize-winning author include The Slave, Enemies: A Love Story, and Shosha. Amazon.com Review
The Slave, set in 17th-century Poland; Shosha, adepiction of Warsaw's Jewish community on the eve of the Holocaust;and Enemies, a Love Story, which takes place in Brooklyn duringthe wake of WWII, are the three novels that make up this deeplyaffecting collection.

From the rabble to the rabbis, Singer brilliantly evokes a tinyvillage and its citizenry in The Slave.He draws aside thecurtain of space and time to reveal rich textures and unforgettablepersonalities. No sooner have you tasted the groats and potatoes thanyou witness the struggles that underlie each of his novels. Singercalled his characters "victims of their own personalities andfates"; they are characterized by a strong sense of fatalism andalternating urges to fight or surrender to destiny, or God's will.

Singer's work reflects decades of deep yearning to comprehend andserve God, and the rational, selfish backlash that can arise in modernman when God remains mute. His stories are deeply personalized,revolving around one man's experiences and elevating what wouldotherwise be merely interesting philosophical prose to impassioned,wrenching, beautifully crafted masterpieces. The author definitelydoesn't shy away from examining all of a person's thoughts and being,from the lofty to the crass, under the same harsh light. Desireclashes with duty, destiny wrestles against freewill, and logic sparswith spirituality. For some readers, his constructs are too strong,too affecting: some Orthodox Jews consider his work so tainted thatthey won't touch it. Others call it a mockery of Jewish culture, ortake umbrage at his depictions of women as hapless idiots, selfishsirens, or screeching nags. But are the conflicts within Singer'scharacters really so grotesque and profane, or are they simply whatmake them human? --Jhana Bach ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

three complete novels
great book- Singer is a superb storyteller. If you are Jewish and and are interested in Jewish history and tradition, this is the book for you. It is also a beautiful love story. While this book is fiction, it the story line feels real enough to be true. ... 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 (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

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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

Customer Reviews (3)

a good treatment of singer
Of course, this memoir can be read as one son's quest for his father after a twenty year seperation. But it is also a book about the vicissitudes of European Jews before and after World War II.For those souls, three fates awaited them:death by the evil force of Nazism, exile in America or some other safe haven, or settlement in Palestine and later the State of Israel.Isaac Singer wound up in American, and his son in Israel.In many ways, they became the separate embodiments of the solution to the Jewish "problem."Zamir took on a Hebrew last name (Singer in Hebrew) became an ardent Communist and Kibbutznik, participated in the War of Independence, and later, the Yom Kippur War.His father became a secular Jew (in action if not in thought), a writer and intellectual, at home in the American milieu, and a triumph on the American model: ultimate accolades in his field and monetary accomplishment.Zamir and Singer are clearly opposites; Singer's personality is cold and distant, and convoluted by a sense of estrangement from the world and others.Zamir, the man of the kibbutz collective, is adept at dealing with people and organizations.He carries a machine gun into his father's Tel Aviv hotel during the Yom Kippur War and the Golus Jew and the Sabra are clearly distinguished.It is also enlightening to read Dvorah Telushkin's memoir of Singer before his son's.Singer reveals far more of his nature to women, and is far from afraid of letting his dark side show.[Teluskin appears in the memoir briefly, a bit player, lacking the centrality she gives herself in her own memoir, understandably.] For Zamir, Singer's motives are more veiled, although he is not afraid to speculate or show his father's deep flaws and shortcomings.If the book accomplishs anything, it shows how profoundly influential the 20th century was for the Jews both individually and collectively.Eveything was transformed.

A decent son and a not-so- decent great- writer -father
I read this book in the language it was originally written, Hebrew. I found it to be a convincing and moving account of a relationship between a decent son and a not- so- decent great- writer father. Zamir's journey to his father, his efforts at befriending him have some success. But IB Singer who is without question one of Literature's greatest writer of stories was not very generous or welcoming. In time their relationship improves and the son translates the father's work into Hebrew. The sense is that the son is simply a very good human being, and the father a very great writer.

his falther/my father
to learn about our father, i had to read his sons book. my father hasbrought me on a journey into vast spaces that needed him.he has made meunderstand when i had no one to understand, he came to me in a vision..in abook..in many books, yet he is my father and your his son. thank you forthe only book that knows him, we know his thoughts..what is it that icannot comprehend, but thank you for sharing.all my love mina..daughter ofmahnaa ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Most all of these stories all end in a death
Mr. Singer is a wonderful writer.I have read several of his books and found them all entertaining and interesting.Apparently these stories were written in Yiddish or German because they all needed to be translated.This is interesting because he has lived in United States of America for a long time and I would have thought he would have written in English.I guess that he must have been writing for publication in special newspapers and magazines.
Most all of these stories all end in a death.Sometimes it is okay, the person dies and leaves a legacy that will be remembered for all time, other times it is their just desserts.All of these stories are worthy and interesting.

'A Friend of Kafka' - the friend is Jacques Kohn, a destitute actor, living in Warsaw.The writer is a writer (later on he sells a story) and both Jacques and the author frequent a writer's club.Jacques was born a Hasidic Jew in some small town in Poland named Jankel.He changed his name while in some of the capitals of Europe: Prague, Vienna, Berlin, etc.He had and was friendly with various celebrities of the day, but now he is down and out.He tries to look better than he is but the folks he knows, know him for who he is.Throughout the story he pokes fun at Jewishness ("Jews remember too much.") and his associates, former and present.He claims to be haunted by Fate, who is trying to bring him down, but to play the game (not necessarily to win, but certainly not to lose) is why Jacques keeps on keeping on.

'Guests on a Winter Night' -Isaac's (5 to 10 years old) Aunt Itta Fruma has come to with his family.She has lost the house she had been living in.His father is reluctant to put her out, mostly because he is trying to be a good Jewish person and he does not feel it is absolutely necessary.She tells stories of the family and tends to religious rites like a man as well as as a good Jewish widow.She moves in and the family is thrown into disarray and disagreement.After a time she moves out and all is well.In the end she passes on and the family feels worse for having not been more charitable.

'The Key' - Bessie Popkin is beset by demons of her own making.She has been widowed for years and trying to live on a meager income.She frightens herself with imagining various evilness in her neighbors and shopkeepers, etc.When she goes out this time, all goes well enough, but her key breaks in the lock, so she has to spend the night outside and does not know what to do to get into her apartment or what to do with her groceries.She learns in the end all her fears were fantasies and so becomes happy.

'Dr. Beeber' - Another poor fellow met at the writer's club.This one's story is better and ends with a surprise.Dr. Beeber lives the life of Riley, carefree and happy.Then he meets a woman who finds him utterly charming.She talks him into marriage, but he is not quite happy.He gets out of it and resumes his happy dissipated life.

'Stories from Behind the Stove' - In the study house, various people tell tales: A shed disappears and reappears.A saintly Rabbi dies and comes back to his study house for a visit. A eunuch tells of his dabbling in the Cabala and his fight with a goblin for a night.He was safe in a certain town for twenty years until the goblin died.

'The Cafeteria' - A surrealistic story of a woman, Esther, who is introduced as mysterious.The author does not know where she comes from or if she was or is married.She just appears one day in the cafeteria he goes to to visit with others like himself.One day the cafeteria has been blown up, the author has to find a new haunt and loses track of Esther.She appears one day and tells a tale that is unbelievable about how the cafeteria was blown up.This story also shows the trauma and fear that Jews have felt since the Holocaust.

'The Mentor' - Itche is on a visit to Israel in 1955.He meets people from his past: his hometown, Jadow (where he grew up and was called 'Itche'), and Warsaw (where he began his professional life).The two groups had no one in common.Friedl, a girl from Jadow who became a multilingual doctor, who married a hometown boy. Tobias.They had a daughter and separately, emigrated to Israel, and set up separate lives.He keeps the daughter with him in a kibbutz.She lives in Tel Aviv, and meets Itche there.Itche is given the details on a trip to visit Tobias with Friedl.There is some row between them and there is no resolution.Part of it is that the daughter is dissipating herself and Friedl can not do anything about it.Oddly enough, Friedl is herself quite the free spirit, so why is she upset at her ex-husband's anddaughter's lifestyle, other than propriety or her own wish to be a part of her daughters life?

'Pigeons' - Professor Vladislav Eibeschutz retired from teaching at Warsaw University.He spent his days with his books and was cared for by Tekla, his maid for years.He had several birds he cared for as well: Parrots, canaries and parakeets.Beyond that he would feed the pigeons twice daily.He watched and admired the pigeons and felt they taught him about life and Jewishness.He lived and died, as life always ends, but his funeral was something to behold.This is the one story my wife had me copy for her son, feeling that it was something he could relate to.

'The Chimney Sweep' - Black Yash, the local chimney sweep, gets a bump on his and becomes some one special.He is so special that visiting dignitaries come to see him.When the most importantcomes by he has lost specialty by virtue of another, ill-timed, bump on the head.So it goes.

' The Riddle' - Oyzer-Dovidl married a woman who turned out to not want to be with him.He is a pious Jew, she is not and gets tired of all his piousness.He loves her and wants her to be happy.She just wants him to leave her alone.I am not sure of the riddle that is asked.Maybe, how is one to be happy and pious?In the end, "All these evil tidings, the way to saintliness lay open before him."

'Altele' - The Jewish wife has no rest or ease in this world.Altele's husband, Grunam, was good and devout.He was chosen by her Grandmother to be Altele's husband, but he turned out to be poor and getting poorer.Altele also wa not getting pregnant, so her Grandmother and her went on various trips to holy men and other places to help Altele to get pregnant.Altele became used to being on the road and evetually, she and her husband became so distant, they could barely recognize each other.

'The Joke' - Liebkind Bendel is rich and wants to publish a yiddish magazine in New York.The narrator is the editor.They concoct this ruse to get a fellow Jew from Berlin to New York.When it works, they have to scurry around and make the ruse true as can be or with reasonable excuses, why not.

Singer is Singer, but this is not his best
I do not know of a greater short- story writer than I.B. Singer. He has it all, a tremendous storytelling ability, a capacity for creating memorable characters, a capacity to present interesting ideas in dialogue, great humor, colorful idiomatic language, the evocation of a world- or worlds gone, deep Jewishness ( for those who care) a capacity to vividly so vividly evoke situations of conflict and drama, an interesting way of writing about sexuality, a probing of and questioning of God, loneliness, love, hunger, sadness, death. He has it all.
Yet these stories are not among his best. They have a certain weakness with characters sometimes seeming more odd than compelling , and with the lust instead of firing the imaginationtailing off into sordidness.
Short Friday, Gimpel the Fool , The Spinoza of Market Street, Passions are all superior collections.
But this is still Singer and so is worth reading. Certain enjoyment you will certainly get- if not the greatest.

More from the master of the short story
Let me begin by saying that I have never read anything by I. B. Singer that I thought was a waste of time.This man is incredible with the stories he writes and the style he writes it in.What is even more amazing is that Singer always maintained that his stories lost about 40% of their literary value in translation.As great as I think he is, I apparently will never appreciate how great he really is because I can't read Yiddish.That said, I don't recommend this book for an introduction to the author.It is very good but it is not one of his better collections of short stories.I'd actually rate it a 3.5 on this scale but, with Singer, you always round up.For a good introduction to the author I would recomend "Passions".

The stories I did enjoy the most were certainly worth the price of admission.Those stories would include the title story.The last line is terrific but not if you hadn't read the story first.I enjoyed "The Key" in which a lonely widow discovers that she is surrounded by friends that she never before realized."The Cafeteria" is the type of love story that Singer writes when he is one of the lovers.True romance seems to only happen to others in his stories."The Chimney Sweep" is a nice little story about what a knock on the head can do for a fellow."Schlomele" is a story about the sort of zany characters the author seemed to find so easily in this country."The Colony" is a sort of haunting story about a visit to Argentina.It seems like all of his short story collections have a story about a visit to Argentina.They seem to always be very good stories, too."The Wager" is the story of the tragic outcome of a practical joke gone bad."The Son" is a short but touching tale of a father and son reunion in a case where they were separated near birth and rejoined as grown and near-grown men.

There were many other stories but, as I looked back over them, they didn't seem as memorable as most of Singer's stories I've read in the past.I started out by writing that you can't go wrong reading Isaac B. Singer.I'll close by saying the same thing but I suggest you introduce yourself to him with a different book.I wouldn't want you to get the wrong impression.

spectacular view of a vanished world
It is a mystery to me why these books are all going out of print.Singer is one of the great 20c masters of the short story.I would characterise them as genius:they evoke lives in the deepest sense, offering a glimpse of an utterly alien existence.

I was attracted by the title, and delightfully surpirsed at the power of the writing, including stories of neglected sholars, demons and harmless goblins, and the way of life of pre-WWII Poland.Every story is superbly crafted.

Warmly recommended.This writer deserves to be read. ... Read more