Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt - A Spiritual Reappraisal, 1946-1955
by Isaac Bashevis Singer ; edited and translated by David Stromberg
A well-crafted anthology of musings from a giant of Jewish literature
The second volume of select Yiddish essays by Singer, translator and editor Stromberg focuses on a pivotal era of the writer’s intellectual development, from 1946 to 1955. Although The Family Moskat (1950) and other novels have driven much of the scholarly understanding of Singer during this period, Stromberg suggests that the writer’s lesser-known essays, published in the Yiddish newspaper Forverts under the pseudonym Yitskhok Varshavski, reveal a “total transformation,” as he questioned “everything he knew” about his Jewish faith and identity. This theme of “spiritual reappraisal” is seen throughout these essays, which blend an orthodox understanding of Jewish history and faith with frustration regarding contemporary Jewish movements and organizations, particularly among American Jews.