THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
40 Friday, March 1, 1980
Kresh Describes Isaac Bashevis Singer's Life and Work
ttreif.'
"Here are the sensual
"The world of Isaac
Bashevis Singer unfolds eaters and carousers, the
like a great mural across womanizers, the self-
the pages of his writings. indulgent. Indoors, pale be-
Here are the vanished neath their yarmulkes, sit
shtetls of Radzymin and the yeshiva students, with
Bilgoray, with their devout one eye on the Torah and
rabbis, steeped in piety, ob- the other on the tempting
serving to the letter the pre- shapes that spur their lust.
cepts of their faith, ready to Demons cavort in this
wrestle with the Devil and world, and witches. The
lock him in a cage if he scene is Warsaw, shivering
shows his face, defending under bitter winds and
traditional values, suspici- snows."
The above passage is the
ous of all that is secular and
opening paragraph of "Isaac
Bashevis Singer," subtitled
"The Magician of West 86th
Street" (Dial Press),
authored by Paul Kresh.
Isaac Bashevis Singer
wawborn Nov. 21, 1904 in
BERKLEY THEATRE the small Polish town of
Leoncin. His father, Pin-
2990 W. 12 Mile Rd.
chas Mendel Zynger, was
3erkley
LI 2-0330
a respected rabbi whose
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mind was forever ab-
at all times
sorbed in the study of
Weekdays incl. Sat.
Tor,ah and its commen-
HELD OVER!
Jane Fonda & Robert Redford
taries. -
"THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN" (PG)
From Leoncin, Isaac's
7:25 & 9:30
family first moved to Rad-
Sun. 3:05, 5:10, 7:20 & 9:25
zymin and from there to 10
Krochmalna in Warsaw
where their living quarters
WASHINGTON THEATER
consisted of a kitchen, bed-
426 S. Washington, R.O.
room, living room, also used
541-0082
as Rabbi Pinchas Mendel's
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"Beth Din" (religious law
at all times
court). This cramped
Robert Redford & Jane Fonda
apartment in which Isaac
"ME ELECTRIC HORSEMAN" (PG) spent his childhood years,
Mon.-Thur. 7:15 & 9:30
had "one feature that re-
Fri. & Sat. 7:15 & 9:45
deemed its dingy quarters
Sun. 4:45, 7:15 & 9:30
for Isaac — a balcony where
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ISAAC B. SINGER
he loved to spend his time
. . . There he would spin his
daydreams and think about
the questions that never
ceased to plague him: Why
was the sky blue? . . . Why
did men and women love
each other? Where was the
God his father talked about
so much?"
To Isaac's father's Beth
Din people came for counsel
and consolation, as well as
to have their "din torahs"
(lawsuits) settled. The
"litigants" very well knew
that "Out of my father's
mouth spoke the Torah, and
all understood that every
word was just. I was often
witness to how my father,
with his simple words,
routed pettiness, vain ambi-
tion, foolish resentment,
and conceit."
The biographer describes
in minutest details Isaac's
childhood and boyhood, his
games, playmates, school-
mates, teachers and hob-
bies. He enjoyed drawing,
constructing toys, reading
books with scary plots, and
running to the open country
meadows that were
"covered with grass and all
sorts of flowers," and where
he "smelled the scents of
earth and grass," and where
he realized, "This then was
the world God had created."
These experiences, the
biographer observes, are
mirrored in Isaac's novels
and stories.
Isaac traces his rabbin-
ical family-tree to Reb
Moishe, "the sage of War-
saw," and to Rabbi Israel
Ben-Eliezer, the Baal
Shem Toy, the founder of
the Hasidic movement.
Singer describes vividly
this illustrious rabbinical
lineage in his famous book,
"Of a World That Is No
More: A Tender Memoir."
He relates these char-
acteristic stories about
some of his forebears:
His great-grandmother
_ wore ritual fringes and like
male Hasidim often visited
her rebbe.
His grandfather, the
Rabbi of Bilgoray, once
asked his followers:
"Why is the Almighty so
eager that Jews should
pray three times a day? If
a Jew misses a prayer,
he's already going to
Gehenna. He's a Great
God, he has many
planets, he is praised by
the angels all the time.
Why is he so eager that a
little Jew in a little village
should pray to him three
times and also in addition
if
,
. .1 f..1.
poet,
Hebrew-Yiddish
Aaron Zeitlin, the son of
Hillel Zeitlin, the mystic
and martyr, exerted a pro-
found influence on Isaac.
Both had many literary
interests in common, and
both had an unswerving
faith in God, and believed in
"demons, evil spirits, in all
kinds of ghosts, and phan-
toms."
Singer, in 1978 won the
Nobel Prize for Literature,
the only Yiddish writer ever
to be so honored.
Paul Kresh has produced
a comprehensive biography
of Isaac Bashevis Singer.
say prayers over every-
thing he gets and every-
thing he eats?
"The Almighty, my
grandfather explained, does
not need such praise at all.
The only thing, he knows
from experience that when
people stop praising Him,
they will start to praise one
another. And He does not
like it."
The parable, it is fair to
note, has served teachers
and rabbis as a humanizing
device ever since talmudic
times.
Isaac's father, to prove
that there is a God, told all
kinds of stories, not only
stories about miracles, but
about demons and imps, be-
cause if there are demons
there are also angels" (God's
messengers).
Singer started his liter-
ary career at an early
age. The first stories he
wrote were titled "Oyf
der Elter" (In Old Age)
and "Vayber" (Women).
The first story he signed
Tse and the second
Bashevis, a derivation
from his mother's name,
Bas Sheva, the Yiddish
form of Bathsheba.
The first novel he wrote,
"The Satan of Goray," set at
the time of Sabbatai Zevi,
the false messiah, is consid-
ered a classic.
In addition to many
novels and stories, Singer
authored children's stories,
memoirs, and wrote articles
on various subjects. His
short story "Gimpel Tam"
(Gimpel the Fool), trans-
lated by Saul Bellow, is con-
sidered "the capstone" of his
achievements.
It is noteworthy that the
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and guarded for doer's need.
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