
Jewish Stories (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. If Not Higher, Domestic Happiness, In the Post-chaise, The New Tune, Married, The Seventh Candle of Blessing, The Widow, The Messenger, What is the Soul?, In Time of PestilenceBy Isaac Loeb PeretzLength11h 42m
About this audiobook
Jewish Stories gathers Isaac Loeb Peretz's finely wrought tales of shtetl life, Hasidic legend, poverty, faith, irony, and moral trial. Written in a supple modern Yiddish inflected by Hebrew learning and European realism, these stories transform folklore into literary art. Peretz moves between satire and mysticism, compassion and critique, situating Eastern European Jewry at the crossroads of tradition, modernity, and social awakening. Peretz (1852–1915), born in Zamość and later active in Warsaw, was one of the foundational figures of modern Yiddish literature. Trained in law and shaped by the Haskalah, Jewish communal work, and the upheavals of Russian-Polish Jewish life, he wrote with intimate knowledge of both learned culture and everyday hardship. His commitment to Yiddish as a serious literary language helped define a new secular Jewish canon. This volume is recommended to readers interested in Jewish history, modernism, folklore, and ethical fiction. Peretz's stories are brief but resonant, at once local and universal, revealing how dignity, imagination, and spiritual hunger endure under constraint. They remain essential reading for understanding the literary soul of Eastern European Jewry.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A comprehensive Introduction outlines these selected works' unifying features, themes, or stylistic evolutions.
- A Historical Context section situates the works in their broader era—social currents, cultural trends, and key events that underpin their creation.
- A concise Synopsis (Selection) offers an accessible overview of the included texts, helping readers navigate plotlines and main ideas without revealing critical twists.
- A unified Analysis examines recurring motifs and stylistic hallmarks across the collection, tying the stories together while spotlighting the different work's strengths.
- Reflection questions inspire deeper contemplation of the author's overarching message, inviting readers to draw connections among different texts and relate them to modern contexts.
- Lastly, our hand‐picked Memorable Quotes distill pivotal lines and turning points, serving as touchstones for the collection's central themes.
Audiobook details
GenreGeneral Fiction
Length11 hrs 42 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 18, 2019
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Jewish Stories (Annotated)
28The Yartseff Rabbi
2Introduction
29Lyashtzof
3Historical Context
30The First Attempt
4Synopsis (Selection)
31The Second Attempt
5If Not Higher
32At the Shochet's
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6Domestic Happiness
33The Rebbitzin of Skul
7In the Post-chaise
34Insured
8The New Tune
35The Fire
9Married
36The Emigrant
10The Seventh Candle of Blessing
37The Madman
11The Widow
38Misery
12The Messenger
39The Làmed Wòfnik
13What is the Soul?
40The Informer
14In Time of Pestilence
41The Outcast
15Bontzye Shweig
42A Chat
16The Dead Town
43The Pike
17The Days of the Messiah
44The Fast
18Kabbalists
45The Woman Mistress Hannah
19Travel-pictures
46In the Pond
20Trust
47The Chanukah Light
21Only Go!
48The Poor Little Boy
22What Should a Jewess Need?
49Underground
23No. 42
50Between Two Mountains
24The Maskil
51The Image
25The Rabbi of Tishewitz
52Analysis
26Tales That Are Told
53Reflection
27A Little Boy
54Memorable Quotes