STORY TELLERS OF AND FOR THESE TIMES
The works of two celebrated authors resound with tales of the shtetl,
narratives of communal European life harboring misfortune and joy, and
stories of Jews' generational unfolding in America. Both are also literary
historians who resurrect a buoyant, sensual and endangered society, since
extinguished. Singer and Malamud, while sometimes writing from
different moral perspectives, came together in their sympathy for the
human dilemma, for characters struggling to make their lives better in a
world of bad luck. In so doing, they testify to a great truth: courage is the
daily broth nourishing the spirit.
ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER
(1904-91) b. Radzymin, Poland He is accepted as
the greatest contemporary short story writer and
novelist composing in Yiddish, a teller of tales
who movingly wove fantasy, mysticism and
eroticism into much of his fiction. Singer was
born to a family of Hasidic rabbis and attended a
rabbinical seminary, but forsook his education for
a writing career. His older brother, Israel Joshua
Singer (1893-1944), entered the same profession and is best known for his
generations "to give them a better
One of Hussein's strongest interests
epochal novel, The Brothers Ashkenazi.
chance, to give them a better life, to
seemed to be creating open exchanges
Singer published his first novel, Satan in Goray, shortly before
give them what they deserve, long
of ideas and opinions, an interest he
emigrating to New York City in 1935. Once here, he joined his brother--
after we are gone."
exercised at every meeting with
who came the year before--as a journalist with the Jewish Daily Forward
He then immediately opened the
American Jews.
in which many of his works appeared. His writings were routinely
floor to questions "to start a dialogue."
Gail Pressberg, a consultant for
translated
into English under his personal guidance and gained wide
It was a good exchange,"
Americans for Peace Now, had her first
popularity and critical acclaim.
recalled Lawrence Rubin, executive
of several audiences with the king in
The prolific author also published autobiographical works and
vice chairman of the
was filmed in 1989.
1986. At a subsequent
Jewish Public Affairs
numbers of children's books; Enemies: A Love Story
The
Family
Moskat (1950),
lunch with him and Queen
Council, an umbrella
Perhaps his greatest novelistic triumphs were
Above,
left
to
right:
Noor on the patio of his
(1970), a trilogy tracing the wrenching
organization.
AJC's Theodore Mann,
The Manor (1967) and The Estate
private residence, Pressberg
changes
in
Polish-Jewish
family
life
during the late 19th and Early 20th
role
as
Hussein's
Malcolm Hoenlein of
recalled, they debated differ-
centuries.
In
short
stories
rich
in
messianic
legends, fables and folklore,
peacemaker
re-emerged
Presidents Conference,
ent aspects of Israeli society.
with tormented characters wrestling with temptation, he spun magical tales
with new vigor after
Phil Baum of AJC.
"He thanked me for
the Gulf War, during
of the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry and the newfound world
engaging him in discus-
which the king had
of America.
The
sion," said Pressberg.
remained neutral, failing to join the
Among others of his best works are Gimpel the Fool (1957),
"When you talked to him," she
Lost
in
(1961),
American-led coalition against Iraq,
Magician of Lublin (1960), The Spinoza ofdarket Street
which
won
added, he wasn't interested in there
A
wn
of
Feathers
which was launching Scud missiles
America (1981), The Penitent (1983) and
just being ideas. There had to be a
a National Book Award in 1973. Singer was also accorded the 1978 Nobel
against Israel.
practical basis for them."
Phil Baum, the executive director of
Prize for Literature.
In January 1994, months before he
the AJCongress, was among the dele-
BERNARD MALAMUD
signed a peace treaty with Israel,
gation that met with Hussein in 1986.
(1914-86) b. Brooklyn, NY Other than in his
Hussein addressed a select group of
He met again with the king and
first novel, The Natural, a baseball fantasy
30 Jewish leaders in Washington at a
queen shortly after the end of the
adapted for a 1984 motion picture starring Robert
meeting organized by Project Nishma,
Gulf
War.
Redford, Malamud's themes were informed by the
an educational project on Israeli secu-
"We had lunch with him at the
predicaments of European and American Jewish
rity and the peace process.
palace," he said. "He took pains to
men and women. The former factory worker,
Introduced by Mann, who then co-
make sure the food was kosher. It was
store clerk and high school teacher found his
chaired Project Nishma, Hussein
haimish," said Baum, using a Yiddish
calling as a "Jewish Writer" largely in outrage
delivered some brief remarks stressing
word meaning friendly and warm. E.
against the Holocaust, and gave a modern voice to fables and parables as
the leaders' duty to think about future
vehicles for moral lessons. The respected critic Robert Alter said his
stories will be read "as long as anyone continues to care about American
fiction written in the 20th century."
The Magic Barrel (1958), Malamud's spellbinding first collection,
"He was an enemy who realized
Washington
won a National Book Award--as did The Fixer which earned a 1966
there is another way," she said.
At the Jordanian Embassy in
Pulitzer Prize as well. Set in czarist Russia, it relates the tragedy of an
"Once he turned onto that path, he
Northwest Washington on Sunday, a
innocent Jewish handyman imprisoned for ritual murder: an allegory
kept walking."
cold drizzle turned the adjacent con-
crafted with Malamud's deep compassion for Jewish life. The author's
She described an emotional connec-
is about an aged Jewish grocer
struction sites into mud holes; a large
tion to the late king shared by her fel-
most acclaimed novel, The Assistant (1957),
portrait of King Hussein was streaked
terrorized
by
a
young
Italian
hoodlum;
it
too
is a morality play, but in a
low Israelis from across the spectrum,
with rain.
despite his mixed record of peacemak-
spiritual rather than in a cultural sense.
Still, a steady procession of
Love, sacrifice and wisdom gained through affliction--mellowed
ing. "What made him special weren't
mourners entered the blocklike
by wry wit--season Malamud's novels and short fiction which also include
his words and deeds, but the fact that
Mediterranean-style building and
(1979) and Idiot's
he was a king for 47 years and still was
the highly praised The Tenants (1971), Dubin's Lives
waited in an elegantly stark room to
so human to so many people," she
First (1963).
sign a condolence book. Limor
-Saul Stadtmauer
said. "That's why people like me feel
Condolences'On Embassy Row
Hasson, who works a few doors
away at the Israeli Embassy, was one
of the first.
the loss so deeply.
),
— James Besser
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