Skip to content
Description
By: Steve Stern
In the ruins of postwar Europe, the world's leading expert on the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism goes on a hair-raising journey to recover sacred Jewish books stolen by the Nazis . . .
At the end of the Second World War Gershom Scholem, the magisterial scholar of Jewish mysticism, is commissioned by the Hebrew University in what was then British-ruled Palestine to retrieve a lost world. He is sent to sift through the rubble of Europe in search of precious Jewish books stolen by the Nazis or hidden by the Jews themselves in secret places throughout the ravaged continent.
The search takes him into ruined cities and alien wastelands. The terrible irony of salvaging books that had outlasted the people for whom they’d been written leaves Dr. Scholem longing for the kind of magic that had been the merely theoretical subject of his lamplit studies.
Steve Stern's A Fool’s Kabbalah, a novel featuring numerous real-life historic figures, reimagines Gershom Scholem’s quest and how it sparked in him the desire to realize the legacy of his bosom friend, the brilliant philosopher Walter Benjamin, who died prematurely by his own hand.
At the heart of that legacy was the idea that humor is an essential tool of redemption. In a parallel narrative, Menke Klepfisch, self-styled jester and incorrigible scamp, attempts to subvert, through his antic behavior, the cruelties of the Nazi occupation of his native village.
As Menke’s efforts collide with the monstrous reality of the Holocaust, we see—in another place and time--evidence that Dr. Scholem, in defiance of his austere reputation, has begun to develop the anarchic characteristics of a clown.
A Fool’s Kabbalah intertwines the stories of these 2 quixotic characters, who, though poles apart, complement one another in their tragicomic struggles to oppose the supreme evil of history, using only the weapons of humor and a little magic.
In the ruins of postwar Europe, the world's leading expert on the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism goes on a hair-raising journey to recover sacred Jewish books stolen by the Nazis . . .
At the end of the Second World War Gershom Scholem, the magisterial scholar of Jewish mysticism, is commissioned by the Hebrew University in what was then British-ruled Palestine to retrieve a lost world. He is sent to sift through the rubble of Europe in search of precious Jewish books stolen by the Nazis or hidden by the Jews themselves in secret places throughout the ravaged continent.
The search takes him into ruined cities and alien wastelands. The terrible irony of salvaging books that had outlasted the people for whom they’d been written leaves Dr. Scholem longing for the kind of magic that had been the merely theoretical subject of his lamplit studies.
Steve Stern's A Fool’s Kabbalah, a novel featuring numerous real-life historic figures, reimagines Gershom Scholem’s quest and how it sparked in him the desire to realize the legacy of his bosom friend, the brilliant philosopher Walter Benjamin, who died prematurely by his own hand.
At the heart of that legacy was the idea that humor is an essential tool of redemption. In a parallel narrative, Menke Klepfisch, self-styled jester and incorrigible scamp, attempts to subvert, through his antic behavior, the cruelties of the Nazi occupation of his native village.
As Menke’s efforts collide with the monstrous reality of the Holocaust, we see—in another place and time--evidence that Dr. Scholem, in defiance of his austere reputation, has begun to develop the anarchic characteristics of a clown.
A Fool’s Kabbalah intertwines the stories of these 2 quixotic characters, who, though poles apart, complement one another in their tragicomic struggles to oppose the supreme evil of history, using only the weapons of humor and a little magic.
You may also like
熱銷中 Top Trending
Press Start! #15 Mega Mole Girl Digs Deep! (Branches)
Sale priceHK$47.00
Regular priceHK$98.00
In stock
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (US)(Paperback)(Roald Dahl)
Sale priceHK$59.00
Regular priceHK$90.00
In stock
Legends of Lotus Island #01 The Guardian Test (Christina Soontornvat)
Sale priceFrom HK$67.00
Regular priceHK$112.00
In stock
Brown: My Alter Ego Is A Superhero Book 1 (Håkon Øvreås)
Sale priceFrom HK$64.00
Regular priceHK$80.00
In stock
The Epic Guide to Dragon Masters: A Branches Special Edition (Dragon Masters) (正版) (Tracey West)
Sale priceHK$75.00
Regular priceHK$120.00
In stock
Bizzy Bear Jobs Bundle (8 Board Books with QR code Audio)
Sale priceHK$289.99
Regular priceHK$349.00
In stock
Maisy's (正版) Holiday Picture Book Bag Collection (Lucy Cousins)
Sale priceHK$175.00
Regular priceHK$504.00
In stock
Press Start! #14 Super Game Book! Special Edition (Branches)
Sale priceHK$48.00
Regular priceHK$80.00
In stock
Disney/Pixar Inside Out 2: Go to Sleep, Anxiety!
Sale priceHK$115.00
Regular priceHK$180.00
In stock
