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cantoresq, I’d never even heard of IJ Singer–I thought you mistyped his brother’s name.
Anon for this, having read both, I think I.J. was the better writer of the two. Two professors of Jewish studies, one of them an accomplished scholar of Shakespeare as well, agreed with me.
Squeak and his gang are just amazing. When someone recommends philosphical readings about Torah instead of light fiction, he blows a gasket because the recommended books don’t come from his preferred flavor of Orthodox Judaism.
Showing disrespect (bordering on sinah) towards ehrlich frum Jews (and even talmidei chachomim) who follow a different derech than yours, does not make you more frum. Instead it turns Torah and shmiras hamitzvos on its head.
To stay on topic, let me suggest a classic: The biography of Reb Aryeh Levin (A Tzaddik in our Time) is an amazing read. Besides being inspired by his tzidkus and ahavas Yisroel, you will get a good sense of the history of pre-state Israel.
Dd jsut reminded me of another nice set of books about pre-state Jerusalem; the Heavenly City, which I believe was originally entitled Yerushalayim Shel Maaloh. It a wonderful collection of anecdotes and vignettes from the chareidi community of Jerusalem pre-1948. It captures all their poverty, dignity, piety and simplcity of life; the humor is touching. As opposed to current writings which all present such people as “ossified statues of petrified holiness” this book renders them as touchingly human. Although the English version was very poorly proofread, the typos actualy add to the work’s charm.
this thread has gone too far off the topic to even attempt to bring it back on. This thread is closed.
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