"Three Passover Tales" by Sholem Aleichem, translated by Steven Capsuto - Ebook
Sholem Aleichem—that iconic, versatile Yiddish writer—explores Passover themes in these three short stories, newly translated into English:
“An Early Passover” is a satire about a Hasidic refugee from Eastern Europe who finds himself living among middle-class Reform Jews in Germany. “A Village Passover” explores the idyllic friendship between a little Jewish boy and a Christian boy in the Ukrainian countryside during Passover. “The Lovebirds” is an oddity: a Passover horror fantasy involving food, death, and kidnapping.
It concludes with excerpts from the author’s Passover letters to family members, expressing his longing to have everyone together at the Seder.
I don’t usually translate from Yiddish because there are other people who do that far faster than I can. But business was quiet during lockdown and I had time, so I translated these wonderfully contrasting stories set around the Jewish holiday of Passover and I put them out as a short ebook.
BLURB:
Sholem Aleichem—that iconic, versatile Yiddish writer—explores Passover themes in these three short stories, newly translated into English:
“An Early Passover” is a satiric tale of a Hasidic refugee from Eastern Europe who suddenly finds himself living among middle-class Reform Jews in 1908 Germany, and must find a way to earn a living there.
“A Village Passover” explores the idyllic friendship between a little Jewish boy and a little Christian boy in the Ukrainian countryside, amid conflicts between their parents during Passover and Easter. It touches on themes of Jewish survival and on questions about what it means to be a Jew.
“The Lovebirds” is a genre unto itself: a Passover horror fantasy involving food, death, and kidnapping.
The book concludes with excerpts from the author’s own Passover letters to family members, expressing his longing to have “everyone, absolutely everyone, together at the Seder.”
