Lovely and entertaining folklore and parables that can proudly stand beside others in their tradition.
Klein presents a collection of original Jewish parables for all ages, told in the tradition of rabbinic legends and folktales.
In “Yofiel,” one of the author’s contemporary rabbinic legends, archangels armed with colorful sticky notes flutter about and assign tasks among their brethren, ranging from stoking the Burning Bush to reminding geese which way to fly. Yofiel is an enthusiastic yet incompetent angel, not even to be trusted with a blade of grass, who nonetheless becomes the indispensable keeper of the Torah’s secrets. In “Jew,” a homeless man wipes away at the antisemitic graffiti with which a young boy has defaced the wall of a family-run shop; the swirls of his rag send the perpetrator and his classmate (who works there) into a world of glowing shields and laser rain, a living video game depicting crimes against Jews throughout the ages by Haman and the Nazis. In the title tale, another young boy sets off on a fantastical quest facing a giant and sea dragon— the only tools he will need to succeed are the modest hallmarks of Passover: a candle, a feather, and wooden spoon. The parables in this collection were inspired by the Torah, kabbalistic studies, and other Jewish teachings. The stories are short, yet deep and descriptive, with varied settings that span contemporary times, the forests and villages of European folklore, and the time of the Hebrew Bible. Approachable for adults yet told with children in mind, each story is full of wide-eyed curiosity and earnestness, along with comedy, light scares, and lessons on compassion, empathy, and acceptance of the marginalized or derided. Young minds may wonder, “How was Jonah’s journey for the whale?” or “What did children see during the Exodus?” These questions are enthusiastically explored, and each entry ends with simple yet insightful queries for the reader as well. Though primarily aimed at a Jewish audience, the book contains a small, helpful glossary of terms, and Klein’s approachable style and enthusiasm for storytelling will appeal to readers from all backgrounds.
Lovely and entertaining folklore and parables that can proudly stand beside others in their tradition.Pub Date: May 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780881233568
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Central Conference of American Rabbis Press
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
It's being called a novel, but it is more a hybrid: short-stories/essays/confessions about the Vietnam War—the subject that O'Brien reasonably comes back to with every book. Some of these stories/memoirs are very good in their starkness and factualness: the title piece, about what a foot soldier actually has on him (weights included) at any given time, lends a palpability that makes the emotional freight (fear, horror, guilt) correspond superbly. Maybe the most moving piece here is "On The Rainy River," about a draftee's ambivalence about going, and how he decided to go: "I would go to war—I would kill and maybe die—because I was embarrassed not to." But so much else is so structurally coy that real effects are muted and disadvantaged: O'Brien is writing a book more about earnestness than about war, and the peekaboos of this isn't really me but of course it truly is serve no true purpose. They make this an annoyingly arty book, hiding more than not behind Hemingwayesque time-signatures and puerile repetitions about war (and memory and everything else, for that matter) being hell and heaven both. A disappointment.
Pub Date: March 28, 1990
ISBN: 0618706410
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1990
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