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תהלה
סיפור מופלא על ירושלים שבין החומות, שגיבוריו הם בני היישוב הישן. הספר כולל גם את הסיפורים "עגונות", "השנים הטובות" ו"המלבוש".
הערות וביאורים: שולמית ומשה יקיר; שמואל גדון ונפתלי גינתון.
הערות וביאורים: שולמית ומשה יקיר; שמואל גדון ונפתלי גינתון.
98 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
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About the author
S.Y. Agnon
125 books104 followersalso known as Shai Agnon
Dramatic novels in Hebrew of Polish-born Israeli writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon include A Guest for the Night (1939); he shared the Nobel Prize of 1966 for literature.
"For his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people," he shared this award with Nelly Sachs. He died in Jerusalem, Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmuel_...
Dramatic novels in Hebrew of Polish-born Israeli writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon include A Guest for the Night (1939); he shared the Nobel Prize of 1966 for literature.
"For his profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people," he shared this award with Nelly Sachs. He died in Jerusalem, Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmuel_...
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 8, 2025
S.Y. Agnon’s תהילה (Tehilla) is a luminous, enigmatic novella that weaves together the sacred and the mundane, the tragic and the comic, in a manner that feels both timeless and urgently contemporary.
Agnon, a Nobel laureate whose work straddles the fissures of Jewish tradition and modernity, crafts a tale that is as much about the act of storytelling as it is about the story itself. An unnamed narrator, encounters Tehilla, an elderly woman in Jerusalem, whose life becomes a prism through which the complexities of faith, memory, and human frailty are refracted. Agnon’s prose, with its Talmudic cadences and modernist fragmentation, invites readers into a world where every detail feels weighted with significance. As Tehilla recounts her life, the boundaries between past and present blur, and the reader is left to navigate a collection of half-truths, myths, and revelations.
Tehilla’s recollection of her husband’s mysterious disappearance, her poignant interactions with the narrator, her struggle to maintain dignity in the face of poverty, and her enigmatic relationship with a young girl named Miriam are arrestingly described.
One particularly striking scene involves Tehilla’s description of a Sabbath meal, where the simple act of breaking bread becomes a moment of profound spiritual communion. Another scene, where she recounts a dream of her husband returning as a beggar, is suffused with a haunting ambiguity full of folkloric allusions.
Agnon’s use of irony is masterful; for instance, when Tehilla declares, “I have no complaints against the Almighty,” the reader senses the unspoken weight of her suffering. The digressions and recursive loops hook you in and confound you with their depth. Reading Tehilla feels like wandering through the ancient city of Jerusalem, where every alleyway holds a story, and every story holds a mystery.
Agnon’s work is a meditation on the act of bearing witness, both to the divine and to the human. The novella’s title, Tehilla, meaning “praise,” is deeply ironic, as the protagonist’s life is marked more by loss and longing than by triumph. Yet, in her resilience and her refusal to succumb to despair, Tehilla embodies a kind of quiet heroism. Agnon manages to infuse even the most mundane moments with a sense of the sacred where each word carries the weight of thousands of years and multiple perspectives. As such, Tehilla is a book that demands to be read slowly, savored, and revisited to truly appreciate the genius art of storytelling.
תהילה של ש"י עגנון היא יצירה שמתעלה מעבר לסיפור פשוט והופכת למסע אל נבכי הנפש האנושית והמסורת היהודית. דרך דמותה של תהילה, אנו נחשפים לעולם של אמונה עמוקה לצד שאלות קיומיות שמערערות את הוודאות. עגנון, בסגנונו הייחודי המשלבת בין מסורת למודרניות, יוצר טקסט שמזמין את הקורא להרהר לא רק בגורלה של הגיבורה, אלא גם במשמעות החיים עצמם. הספר, עם כל מורכבותו, מציע קריאה מרתקת ומעוררת מחשבה, שמשאירה את הקורא עם תחושה של יראת כבוד כלפי המורכבות האנושית וכלפי הכוח של הסיפור לעצב את המציאות.
Agnon, a Nobel laureate whose work straddles the fissures of Jewish tradition and modernity, crafts a tale that is as much about the act of storytelling as it is about the story itself. An unnamed narrator, encounters Tehilla, an elderly woman in Jerusalem, whose life becomes a prism through which the complexities of faith, memory, and human frailty are refracted. Agnon’s prose, with its Talmudic cadences and modernist fragmentation, invites readers into a world where every detail feels weighted with significance. As Tehilla recounts her life, the boundaries between past and present blur, and the reader is left to navigate a collection of half-truths, myths, and revelations.
Tehilla’s recollection of her husband’s mysterious disappearance, her poignant interactions with the narrator, her struggle to maintain dignity in the face of poverty, and her enigmatic relationship with a young girl named Miriam are arrestingly described.
One particularly striking scene involves Tehilla’s description of a Sabbath meal, where the simple act of breaking bread becomes a moment of profound spiritual communion. Another scene, where she recounts a dream of her husband returning as a beggar, is suffused with a haunting ambiguity full of folkloric allusions.
Agnon’s use of irony is masterful; for instance, when Tehilla declares, “I have no complaints against the Almighty,” the reader senses the unspoken weight of her suffering. The digressions and recursive loops hook you in and confound you with their depth. Reading Tehilla feels like wandering through the ancient city of Jerusalem, where every alleyway holds a story, and every story holds a mystery.
Agnon’s work is a meditation on the act of bearing witness, both to the divine and to the human. The novella’s title, Tehilla, meaning “praise,” is deeply ironic, as the protagonist’s life is marked more by loss and longing than by triumph. Yet, in her resilience and her refusal to succumb to despair, Tehilla embodies a kind of quiet heroism. Agnon manages to infuse even the most mundane moments with a sense of the sacred where each word carries the weight of thousands of years and multiple perspectives. As such, Tehilla is a book that demands to be read slowly, savored, and revisited to truly appreciate the genius art of storytelling.
תהילה של ש"י עגנון היא יצירה שמתעלה מעבר לסיפור פשוט והופכת למסע אל נבכי הנפש האנושית והמסורת היהודית. דרך דמותה של תהילה, אנו נחשפים לעולם של אמונה עמוקה לצד שאלות קיומיות שמערערות את הוודאות. עגנון, בסגנונו הייחודי המשלבת בין מסורת למודרניות, יוצר טקסט שמזמין את הקורא להרהר לא רק בגורלה של הגיבורה, אלא גם במשמעות החיים עצמם. הספר, עם כל מורכבותו, מציע קריאה מרתקת ומעוררת מחשבה, שמשאירה את הקורא עם תחושה של יראת כבוד כלפי המורכבות האנושית וכלפי הכוח של הסיפור לעצב את המציאות.
October 5, 2019
אהבתי רק את הסיפורים תהלה והמלבוש. באופן כללי אני פחות מתחבר לעגנון כך שזה לא מפתיע אותי ואין בציון שלי להעיד על איכות הסיפורים אלא על אופן הנאתי מהם.
April 25, 2024
Classic modern Hebrew literature. It's good stuff this Agnon guy. Lots of biblical references though so you kinda need to know it.
July 21, 2020
An interesting excursion into early modern Hebrew literature, larded (excuse the expression) with liturgical references and texts, and using the biblical pronominal endings on verbs. Tehila is touching and lovely. Agunot haunting and allegoric; ha-Malboosh folklorish. I'm glad we read it, and that it is short.
May 31, 2025
NOTE: I suspect that I didn’t read a full version of this novella, considering the absence of some elements mentioned in another review - where is Miriam, where is the shabbat meal, the dream of her husband? And where is the literary modernism, the main reason I was dying to read this book?
French translators are not to be trusted. Trust me on that: I am a French translator.
That being said, whatever version of Tehila I read was a charming, bittersweet tale that reminded me of so many adorable old Jews I know. The prose itself is imbued with the colours of Jerusalem.
French translators are not to be trusted. Trust me on that: I am a French translator.
That being said, whatever version of Tehila I read was a charming, bittersweet tale that reminded me of so many adorable old Jews I know. The prose itself is imbued with the colours of Jerusalem.
April 23, 2021
Fantastic book. I read this in an attempt to improve my Hebrew and it's the first Hebrew book I ever finished!
Really enjoyed. Agnon is an amazing writer and I like his stuff so much more in its original Hebrew. My favorite story was the last one, HaMalbush (The Garment). It felt kafkaesque in a way and I love the way it portrayed procrastination.
Really enjoyed. Agnon is an amazing writer and I like his stuff so much more in its original Hebrew. My favorite story was the last one, HaMalbush (The Garment). It felt kafkaesque in a way and I love the way it portrayed procrastination.
April 26, 2018
קראתי את הסיפור 'תהלה' בפעם הראשונה אתמול. הוא כתוב בעברית ישנה ועשירה, מלאה בביטויים יפהפיים שעל חלק עבר זמנם (ולכן מתורגמים לטובת הנוער הקורא אותו כיום). חיבבתי את הסיפור; הוא היה מעניין ומרתק.
December 11, 2022
קראתי את הסיפור תהילה כחלק משיעורי ספרות. מאוד נהנתי לקורא על דמות מיוחדת זו ואהבתי את הכתיבה הקלאסית
October 7, 2023
שפה גבוהה, בקושי הבנתי משהו
January 11, 2015
הסיפור מסופר על ידי סופר שחוזר לירושלים. שם הוא פןגש את תהילה, אישה זקנה שיש מאחוריה תעלומה.
הסיפור עצמו הוא קצת מוזר, אבל הדרך ששי עגנון כותב היא מדהימה.
הסיפור עצמו הוא קצת מוזר, אבל הדרך ששי עגנון כותב היא מדהימה.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews