Franz Kafka (1883-1924) wrote his powerful, enigmatic short story “The Judgment” during a single all-night session on the eve of Yom Kippur in 1912. An acculturated Czech Jew who was not observant in any traditional sense (though drawn to Zionism, the Yiddish theater, modern Hebrew, and mysticism), Kafka described the writing session as if it … More »
Wolves and Sheep: Jewish Tax Collectors in Yiddish Literature
March 1, 2013
One of the very first sounds heard in modern Yiddish literature was a cry of anguish over the injustice of arbitrary taxation. The year was 1869, and the pioneering Yiddish and Hebrew writer Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh (aka Mendele Mocher Seforim) wrote a play denouncing corrupt Jewish tax collectors whose sole purpose in life was to … More »