Of a World That Is No More

By Israel J. Singer

Book Overview

Memoirs of a world that is no longer here This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571146856
• ISBN13: 9780571146857
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"

Customer Reviews

A Small Jewel

Here, the elder Singer writes the memoir of his youth. For fans of his younger brother, the contrast between his memoir, In My Father's Court, and Of a World That is No More, is stark. For both the elder and younger Singer, their father's rabbinical court is an arena to investigate human nature. But they both come away with different world views. For the younger, the past is enveloped in a mist of nostalgia, and characters come and go like stock figures in a dramatic comedy. The message is one of hope: despite the variety of people's failings, there is entertainment value and a moral edge to this all. The younger Singer flees his father's court, but remains there mentally and spiritually. For the elder Singer, this is essentially a dead world. One can't help but think he was pleased that this world no longer existed. Stifled by tradition, hamstrung by superstition, ground down by poverty, this book is an essential read for anyone with the illusion that the residents of shtetl were noble savages. If people can only advance as far as their social world, this memoir shows the danger of too small a human horizon.