MARSHA SCHIFFMAN makes a point during a discussion of S. Ansky’s “The Dybbuk” last month at the Hillsdale Library.
Whoda thunk talking at the library would be a hit?
By Amy R. Kaufman
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The race is on—the last three events are sold out! People on the waiting list have a chance, though—and a new series starts Jan. 8.
Who would have thought a reading and discussion program at the library would be so popular?
“Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature,” a national program that aims to expand audiences for Jewish literature, is a great success in Portland.
On Oct. 16 the group discussed “The Dybbuk” by S. Ansky, the four-act drama that became the 1937 Yiddish film classic.
Set in an ancient synagogue in Russia of the 1860s, the play was written in Russian between 1912 and 1919. Ansky fled after the Russian Revolution and died in 1920, before he could see a professional production of his play.
In her introduction, Leibman said the class was studying the Yiddish translation of the play, and she mentioned the differences in the Russian and Hebrew translations.
Why wasn’t the play written in Yiddish? Did Ansky believe it would reach a wider audience in Russian? Why did Constantin Stanislavky, the famous director of the Moscow Art Theatre, persuade Ansky to add a character? Why is the shofar blown at the time of the exorcism?
These questions opened a discussion not only of the play but of the vanishing Judaism of the East European shtetls.
“The Dybbuk” tells of a young yeshiva student whose soul cannot rest until he is united with his intended, and he dies before her arranged marriage.
On her wedding day the unhappy bride speaks in a trance: “When a person dies before his time, his soul returns to complete the span of life he was given on earth, to finish the work he began.” She has already been inhabited by the spirit of the young student to whom she was promised at birth.
The dybbuk of Jewish folklore is defined as an evil spirit or restless soul that enters at random into a living person. Ansky’s was the first dybbuk to dwell within the beloved stolen from him in life. With this leap of imagination, Ansky spun an immortal tale.
“Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel” is the theme of the next five-part series to be held at the Hollywood Library. It begins Tuesday, Jan. 8, with a discussion of “A Contract with God” by Will Eisner, considered the originator of the graphic novel.
“The Complete Maus,” by Art Spiegelman, which received special recognition by the 1992 Pulitzer Prize committee, will be discussed Tuesday, Feb. 12. This graphic novel traces the ordeal of the author’s parents, who survived the Holocaust.
On Tuesday, March 11, readers will consider Ben Katchor’s “Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: Stories,” and on Tuesday, April 8, the book is “The Quitter” by Harvey Pekar.
The series ends on Tuesday, May 13, with “The Rabbi’s Cat” by Joann Sfar, set in Algeria and Paris in the 1930s.
Sessions in both series are from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Hillsdale Library is at 1525 S.W. Sunset Blvd. in Southwest Portland. The Hollywood Library is at 4040 N.E. Tillamook Street, Portland. To register or to sign up for the waiting list for either series, call 503-988-5234 or visit www.multcolib.org/events/jewishliteraturemm.html.
There is no cost for the series, but it is necessary to register for each session individually. Registration opens Nov. 23 for “Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel” at the Hollywood Library.
Registered participants may pick up a copy of the book to be discussed at the reference desk and return it after the class.
The Jewish literature series is co-produced by the American Library Association and Nextbook in hundreds of libraries throughout the country.