cover image Sabbath

Sabbath

Josef Erlich, Yosef Ehrlich. Syracuse University Press, $24.95 (102pp) ISBN 978-0-8156-0590-4

The late Erlich's final novel aims to recreate the sacred ceremony of Sabbath in a typical observant Jewish family. Set in the late 1920s, the book explores life in the Polish shtetl of Wolobrom, where Erlich lived before emigrating to Palestine. The family, an idealized archetype, consists of Feivel; his wife, Yachet; and their four children. Erlich lovingly depicts their routine: trips to individual food vendors, prayers in the synagogue, the elaborate preparation of the Sabbath meal. The tender ritual of the days is vividly portrayed in great detail--the bright color of the beet jam; the shape of chunky potatoes in the cholent (a hearty stew); the infusion of cold air into the snug, modest house when a door opens; the warm glow of the Sabbath candle. Smells, too, are particularly evocative: the scent of soap and water, the hot kugel with raisins. As Erlich (The Best of the Land; The Mountain Folk) proclaims in the preface, this novel is a memorial for all the Jews whose simple daily lives and rituals were destroyed by the Holocaust. Photos of observant Jews in Polish shtetls are interspersed throughout the text, providing readers with visual reminders of a rich and multifaceted culture. Flashes of prescience disrupt the peaceful flow of the family's life, a rumor of a fellow Jew's beating, the cold eyes of an officer striding through the shtetl, the disdain of the Polish landlord's son whose presence throws a shadow over this merry house. But this is less a novel about a family within the context of the Holocaust than a meticulous, focused documentation of a sacred ritual that vibrantly encapsulates the warmth of prayer, family and community. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.