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Reading the writings of Aleichem and Peretz was a pure pleasure. It was like walking in the wood decorated with all kinds of flowers blooming. Although the roads Aleichem and Peretz took were bit different, they both attempted to describe the beauty of the Jewish culture and the hidden treasures which it offers to the world. One would wonder how, in the world, can there be a humor in the midst of horrible suffering? Well, get ready to surprise.
Jewish culture without a humor is like a computer without a mouse. In another word, you can understand all the functions of computer with keyboard only, but it gets a lot easier if you have a mouse to with you. Understanding Jewish humors would help us what Jewish people think and feel of a world around them. The writings of Sholom Aleichem are good examples of the value of humor in revealing the heart of the Jewish culture. In Home, the conversation between Tevye and his wife reveals the value of Jewish people regarding the tradition. It also shows the role of a woman in a funny way. "What do I care about a metres?" she says. "We have a daughter to marry off.
And after her are two more almost ready. And after these two-three more-may the Evil Eye spare them!"Tut, " I say. "What's that? Don't you know, God, that our sages have thought of that also? There is a metres for that, too... " But she doesn't let me finish. "Daughters to be married off, " she says, "are a stiff metres in themselves. " so try to explain something to a woman! The story about the matchmaker, Menachem Mendel is also funny yet revealing very important feature of Jewish culture, an arranged marriage. I think Sholom Aleichem's humorous conversational style of writing can be compared as a sponge.
His writing is so easy to understand and definitely funny. The readers would agree with Menachem Mendel when he says, "Laugh, laugh... You have the right to laugh!" However, if we squeeze the story little bit, we soon realize the depth of truth hidden between the lines. Here is one example. Mendel who was away from home for long time visited home for passover, and his mother-in-law expresses her joy by saying, "Well, well! You mention the Message-and look who comes!
Here he is, my bird of Paradise... If he doesn't spoil, he " ll find his way home. Goats run away, chicken get lost, but men always come back. " On surface it can be considered as one of Aleichem's humorous way of explaining the typical Jewish mother-in-law. But there's more to it if we look deep enough. The Jews in shtetl were too weak and powerless to resist the harsh sufferings Gentiles put upon their shoulders. They knew their history as wanderers of the world, and accepted to play that roll once again.
However, they have had one hope based on the promise of God all along since the Babylonian captivity. That is God will bring His people back to Jerusalem from the four corners of the world through Messiah. As men always come back, the suffering Jews also will come back to their ancient home. This hope of future Israel gave a strength to endure all those horrible pogroms they went through. Aleichem carefully shows us what it means to be a Jew in State through the means of humor. I.
L. Peretz in another hand took a different road to reach the same goal. In his excellent literary work, Devotion without an End, he carefully told a story from a third person viewpoint. Comparing to the conversational style of Sholom Aleichem, Peretz's writing seems too plain and flat. But Peretz skillfully put this presupposition into shame by developing characters so well. Along with an interesting connection between different settings, the characters like Chiya, Chananiah, and Miriam were attractive enough to grab my undivided attention to the end.
The careful wording and elegant vocabulary used in his writing also help readers feel the culture of the high Jewish society. Here is a good example of Peretz style: "With the help of Him whose name is sweet I have planted a lovely garden in which many trees bear fruit (the students), and once the fruit ripens (the students who reach the age of marriage) I seek to find for it a worthy buyer (a good father-in-law) and tell him to say the blessing over the fruit (the wedding ceremony). And if God will look upon me with favor and show me a citron without blemish, that citron shall be for my beloved Miriam, long may she live. " There are huge differences in characters both authors used to lead the story. Aleichem's Tevye and Peretz's Chiya represent two different class of Jews. If Tevye represents the uneducated, poor Shtetl Jews who made his living by trading or farming, Chiya represents educated, rich Jews whom people respect and depend upon. Of course these stories based on two different time period.
Nonetheless, it still can be possible to compare these two characters for their zeal to retain the tradition of the old. Their knowledge of Torah, use of language, and the way of controlling himself are manifestly compared throughout the story. However, there are several similarities also. Both revere the Torah (although Chiya's was out of wisdom, and Tevye's was out of ignorance) very much, and also love to talk about it. And their attitude toward suffering was also very noticeable. When Chiya lost her beloved wife, he was willing to submit God's will, and seek the good out of it.
In similar way, when Tevye discovered his daughter's decision to leave for her husband and enter into a very risky and uncertain life, he was willing to accept it and leave it to the sovereignty of God. There many conflicts appeared in the stories of Sholom Aleichem and I. L. Peretz. But if we analyze those conflicts, we probably come up with couple main conflicts. One I found was the conflict between Tradition and New Ideas.
Aleichem and Peretz both begin their writings with the keeper of tradition, Tevye and Chiya. Then both also introduce the represents of the New Idea, Pertschik and Chananiah. Holda and Miriam would also represent the type of love. The main difference would be the conclusion. Peretz would wanted to see the victory of tradition over new thinking by Chananiah wrongfully used his wisdom and being condemned by the head of Jerusalem Yeshive. Finally, Chananiah himself become a very wise teacher of Torah.
In comparison, Pertschik who was educated in "new thinking" triumphed over Tevye by winning his favor and convincing Tevye of him marrying Holda without a matchmaker. It was unheard of and unthinkable to Tevye and all Jewish contemporaries to arrange marriage by themselves. Aleichem, by making Tevye yielding to Pertschik, expressing the need of cultural change that took place among Jewish people in Shtetl at that time. The Jews have to realize and adopt as a part of the world of changing. However, there is one thing that didn't change and couldn't change in Jewish culture or probably in all the other culture. That is love.
Both Aleichem and Peretz knew the value and importance of faithful, sincere, and sacrificial love. They depicted the beauty of this kind of love through the determination both Holda and Miriam made for their beloved husbands. I enjoyed both stories very much. It was an eye-opening opportunity to see the beauty and power of Jewish literatures. Literature plays important role in any culture in the world. I think Jewish people found the way to express their angers, sorrows, and hopes through the means of literature.
Sholom Aleichem and I. L. Peretz are two great examples of representatives of Jewish culture. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Literary Analysis Of Sholom Aleichem And Il Peretz
