In My Father's Court is one of Isaac Bashevis Singer's most affecting autobiographical works. The stories in it, published serially in the Jewish Daily Forward, depict the beth din in his father's home on Krochmalna Street in Warsaw. A unique institution, the beth din was a combined court of law, synagogue, scholarly institution, and psychologist's office where people sought out the advice and counsel of a neighborhood rabbi.
The twenty-eight stories gathered here, none previously published in English, show this world as it appeared to a young boy. In "A Guest in the Prayerhouse," a man who has converted to Judaism embarrasses the community with his extreme piety; in "She Will Surely Be Ashamed," a couple come for a divorce after forty years of marriage even though they are still in love; in the extraordinary "He Wants Forgiveness from Her," a jeweler apologizes to his former fiancée for abandoning her twelve years earlier, igniting the imagination of the young Singer, who dreams of writing stories about dark, eternal love. From the earthy to the ethereal, these stories provide an intimate and powerful evocation of a bygone world.
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Short concise excellent Singer:
These stories were originally published ,in serial form, in the Jewish daily Foward. They are short almost precise stories of IB singers youth in Warsaw and his Fathers "court',the BETH DIN, a combination court,synagogue ,advice for the lovelorn, place of talmudic debate,etc. The stories,vignettes drawn from memory,tell these so well. None of these stories are in the collected stories,so it makes the purchase of these 2 volumes essential{the other is IN MY FATHERS COURT]. From Old widows wanting to remarry,... more info
more stories from a master:
These are vignettes, really, scenes remembered from Singer's youth when he served as a messenger errand-boy for his father who conducted a beth din in Warsaw. Although often ambiguous and seemingly inconclusive, they are the works of a master who can effortlessly create a powerful scene in only four or five pages. He avoids all the popular flaws of the short-story genre. There is not a trace of vanity or judgment in his narratives. He is the perfect short story writer.
