All Questions
Tagged with yiddish-language satan-in-goray
13 questions
6
votes
2
answers
94
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Why does the band follow Rechele to the bathhouse before her wedding?
In the beginning of the second part of Satan in Goray, Rechele is followed to the mikveh (bathhouse) by a band when she visits for the first time before her wedding:
Chinkele the Pious daily for ...
- 27.2k
5
votes
2
answers
869
views
What does "haidamak" mean?
The first line of Isaac Bashevis Singer's Satan in Goray goes:
In the year 1648, the wicked Ukrainian hetman, Bogdan Chmelnicki, and his followers besieged the city of Zamosć but could not take it, ...
- 27.2k
5
votes
1
answer
336
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Why does the fool recite this depressing verse at the wedding in "Satan in Goray"?
In the beginning of the second half of Satan in Goray, at the wedding of Reb Itche Mates and Rechele, the following scene appears:
Before covering the bride's head he recited an interminable prayer. ...
- 27.2k
5
votes
0
answers
33
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Is there any significance to the dances that the girls perform in "Satan in Goray"?
Before Reb Itche Mates and Rechele's wedding, we have this scene, after the description of the "jester" for the wedding:
The girls nudged one another and giggled. They performed first the ...
- 27.2k
4
votes
1
answer
71
views
What does "pilpul" refer to in "Satan in Goray"?
In Satan in Goray, Rabbi Benish is frustrated that the young men are learning pilpul, and has tries to ban it.
They delved too deeply into things that were meant to be hidden, they drank too little ...
- 27.2k
3
votes
1
answer
93
views
Why are the peasants referred to as the "children of Ham" in "Satan in Goray"?
While describing the fairs that used to take place in Goray, Satan in Goray uses the term "children of Ham" to mean the peasants (i.e. non-Jews):
In those days the grain merchants' bins ...
- 27.2k
3
votes
0
answers
50
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Why does "Satan in Goray" mention that Levi supports Sabbatai Zevi so many times?
The first time that Satan in Goray tells us that Levi, Reb Benish's son, is a supporter of Sabbatai Zevi is in part 1, chapter 9:
Levi, the rabbi's son, invited him for supper, for in his controversy ...
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3
votes
0
answers
46
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What does "head cut off with no knife" mean in "Satan in Goray"?
When discussing Rechele and Itche Mates's failure to consummate their marriage, the ladies of the town use this phrase:
When the seventh day of the Seven Days of the Marriage Feast was passed, ...
- 27.2k
3
votes
0
answers
42
views
Why does Singer refer to the name of God in "Satan in Goray"?
Towards the end of Part One of Satan of Goray, there's this scene with Reb Itche Mates:
Meanwhile Reb Itche Mates waited in the dark room in Reb Godel Chasid's home. All day long he sat swaying over ...
- 27.2k
2
votes
0
answers
31
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How closely do the events in "Satan in Goray" mirror the actual Shabbtai Tzvi events?
In Satan in Goray, Isaac Bashevis Singer mentions several ways in which it's "proven" that Shabbtai Tzvi is the Messiah:
During the time Rabbi Benish still dwelt in Lublin he had heard ...
- 27.2k
2
votes
0
answers
48
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Why does "Satan in Goray" abruptly change in style at the end?
When I glanced at the Goodreads page for Satan in Goray by Isaac Bashevis Singer (translated by Jacob Sloan), part of this review caught my eye:
Unfortunately the ending did fall a bit short. It ...
- 27.2k
1
vote
0
answers
26
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Why is Levi pale with the "fear of punishment" that he and not Ozer is acting as Rabbi in "Satan in Goray"?
During Reb Itche Mates and Rechele's wedding in Satan in Goray, Levi, Reb Benish's son, acts as "master of the sacrament":
Levi, Reb Benish's younger son, he that belonged to the Sabbatai ...
- 27.2k
0
votes
1
answer
69
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Why are these biblical scenes mentioned in italics and title case in "Satan in Goray"?
In Isaac Bashevis Singer's Satan in Goray, this is mentioned in the descriptions of Levi, Rabbi Benish's son, and Nechele, Levi's wife:
Nechele never ceased complaining of how she had fallen into a ...
- 27.2k