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Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust
by
Yaffa Eliach
Derived by the author from interviews and oral histories, these eighty-nine original Hasidic tales about the Holocaust provide unprecedented witness, in a traditional idiom, to the victims' inner experience of "unspeakable" suffering. This volume constitutes the first collection of original Hasidic tales to be published in a century.
"An important work of scholarship and a ...more
"An important work of scholarship and a ...more
Paperback, 267 pages
Published
June 1st 2011
by Vintage
(first published October 14th 1982)
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Readers Interested in the Holocaust & Religious Responses To It
I believe that this collection of tales was one of the first Hasidic responses to the Holocaust to be published. It was most certainly the first (and to date, only) I have read, and therefore holds a unique place on my Holocaust studies "shelf." Collected by Jaffa Eliach, an English professor from Brooklyn who was not herself Hasidic, these are stories of devout Jews who managed, extraordinarily, to keep their faith in the midst of the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust.
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I don't enjoy reading books about the Holocaust, as my book group well knows. But, 20 years ago a good friend loaned me this book and assured me that, hard as it may be to believe, these were uplifting stories. And it's true. This book is one-of-a-kind--a collection of testimonies to faith and miracles despite terrible adversity.
wonderful "stories"... collected from survivors and beautifully embellished by the author,... inspiring... a great counterpart to the no-hope angle of other Holocaust literature (notably Borowski,..)
I really enjoyed this book. It includes spiritual experiences of Jews who survived the Holocaust.
Great stories but heavy on the devine explanation.
The author of this book is not Hasidic herself, but in producing it, she interviewed many Chassidim about their experiences in the camps. She also stuck to the main concept of a Hasidic story, which is that it must end on a positive note. How is that possible with the Holocaust? Leave it to Hasidic Jews to remember G-d in the darkest of circumstances. Especially inspiring are the stories of Rebbetzin Bronia, who later married the Bluzhover Rebbe, and his words of Torah introducing the book lite...more
gut-wrenching personal stories recounted through filters of magic realism and hasidic mysticism.
if you are doing holocaust studies at any point, read a tale from here every night to inoculate yourself from complete despair. this pulled me out of a slump while i was doing just such a study.
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