{"id":40155,"date":"2022-12-09T02:07:03","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T10:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=40155"},"modified":"2022-12-08T18:28:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T02:28:23","slug":"continuing-chelm-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2022\/12\/09\/continuing-chelm-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuing Chelm tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been eight years or so since I reviewed Mark Binder\u2019s The Brothers Schlemiel<\/em>, which recently has been reissued by Light Publications with the title The Village Twins<\/em>, and written under Binder\u2019s pen name, Izzy Abrahmson. I knew this story of Chelm would withstand the test of time for two reasons. First, we regularly publish a Binder\/Abrahmson story in our holiday papers. Second, the stories are written in the style of Yiddish folk tales, which have proven staying power.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>As Abrahmson explains in The Village Twins<\/em>, Chelm is \u201ca tiny settlement of Jews known far and wide as the most concentrated collection of fools in the world.\u201d According to The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe<\/em>, the \u201cfirst publication of Chelm-like stories appeared in Yiddish in 1597, and were tales of the town of Schildburg, translated from a German edition. Hence, these stories first entered Jewish culture as Schildburger stories, and it is unclear when they became connected to the town of Chelm. During the 19th century, a number of other Jewish towns figured as fools\u2019 towns, including Poyzn. Over time, however, Chelm became the central hub of such stories, the first specific publication of which occurred in an 1867 book of humorous anecdotes, allegedly written by Ayzik Meyer Dik. Later, particularly in the early 20th century, dozens of collections of Khelemer mayses<\/em> (Chelm stories) were published in Yiddish, as well as in English and Hebrew translations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Village Twins<\/em> is one of the latest such collections, and it does honour to its literary ancestors, providing wisdom in the guise of absurdity. The novel can be read on many levels, including as pure entertainment, as the story of a particular family living in a particular era and as a series of parables (it\u2019s 414 pages long, which, I admit, was a bit lengthy for me). It is part of Abrahmson\u2019s Village Life series, which includes several publications and a podcast, but can be read as a standalone novel. I am proof that a person might enjoy, but does not have to, read or listen to the other stories to follow this tale of the Schlemiel family that is centred around twins Abraham and Adam, who cause trouble from the day they are born.<\/p>\n

The brothers make full use of their physical similarity throughout their life, from incidences as harmless as pranks around town to more serious situations, such as avoiding being drafted into the Russian army. What I wrote in my 2014 review still stands: Abrahmson \u201chas created characters with whom we empathize\u2026. He ably manages some fine balances: writing about silliness without the story becoming stupid, and evoking sentimentality while not becoming saccharine\u2026.. As well, through the vehicles of comedy and fantasy,\u00a0[it]\u00a0touches on many serious topics, from poverty to racism, to ethics in business, to whom people choose to be, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the press release, The Village Twins has been updated and revised, though I can\u2019t speak to how, as my copy of The Brothers Schlemiel has long since been passed on. Along with this reissue came Binder\u2019s pen name \u201cto distinguish the series from his other work. By combining his Hebrew name, Isaac, with his father\u2019s Hebrew name, Abraham \u2026 Izzy Abrahmson was born.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an editor, dealing with a writer with two names is a little unwieldy and I sometimes feel like the villagers of Chelm, who, for \u201cmany, many years\u201d couldn\u2019t tell Abraham from Adam. But that doesn\u2019t diminish my enjoyment of Abrahmson\u2019s \u2013 or is it Binder\u2019s? \u2013 storytelling. He has won multiple awards for a reason. Anyone who likes a good folk tale will delight in The Village Twins<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been eight years or so since I reviewed Mark Binder\u2019s The Brothers Schlemiel, which recently has been reissued by Light Publications with the title The Village Twins, and written under Binder\u2019s pen name, Izzy Abrahmson. I knew this story of Chelm would withstand the test of time for two reasons. First, we regularly publish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[2648,7624,21989,21990,4345,21991],"class_list":["post-40155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-chelm","tag-folk-tales","tag-folklore","tag-izzy-abrahmson","tag-mark-binder","tag-the-village-twins"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}