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Elijah the Slave

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In this retelling of an ancient Jewish legend, Singer demonstrates all his skill.

In ancient times, in a distant land, there was a large city where many rich men lived. It had magnificent palaces, broad avenues, parks and gardens. In their midst wound a tiny street of broken down houses with narrow windows and doorways and roofs that leaked. In the simplest of these lived a holy man named Tobias with his wife Peninah and their three sons and two daughters. Tobias, a scribe, copied Torah scrolls to make his meager living. Tobias suddenly took ill and lost the use of his right hand. He could earn nothing. The family were hungry. His children had no shoes and could not attend school. But Tobias refused the help of others.

"Even while waiting for miracles, it is good to do something," his wife told him, and after borrowing a coat, sent him out to seek some luck. Tobias came upon a stranger, and mysteriously regained use of his hand to grasp the man's hand in greeting. The man introduced himself as Elijah and ordered Tobias to take him to the market and sell him as a slave. Tobias refused, calling himself Elijah's slave, but as Elijah was a messenger from God, Tobias had no choice but to heed him.

What do you suppose happened next? I cannot tell you. But the story honors Elijah's good name.

--- Alyssa A. Lappen

I read this book on the suggestion of a new acquaintance that said her favorite author was Isaac Bashevis Singer. Her only regret was that she could not read his books in Yiddish. She said to start reading him with his book "The Slave". In our library this was the only one I found that had "slave" in the title. I am sure she meant a different book but I was glad to start my acquaintance with Singer with this story. I too wish I could read it in Yiddish. What a great idea if they had it printed in both! The art work is curious but the story is curiouser. What does the story mean? What could be the point of this? There is a moral but I am not sure how to interpret it. That tells me the metanarratives must be very different than what I am familiar with. That encourages me to seek more.