Some Laughter, Some Tears: Tales from the Old World and the New

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1968. Fine condition in a Near Fine dust jacket (only light edgewear). NOT price clipped ($5.95). NO fading. NO owner's name or bookplate. NOT a library discard. NOT a remainder. Inadvertent dog ear to two leaves. Pages are otherwise crisp, clean and unmarked. Selected and Translated, with an Introduction by Curt Leviant. Glossary. Bound in the original gilt-stamped maroon cloth. Complete with dust jacket. From a review by Inna Tysoe: "This is a wonderful collection of short stories, most of them, set in mythical Jewish villages (shtetls) in Eastern Europe. These stories describe the lives of the Jews there: the rich man's son, the wealthy family, the Jew who tries to assimilate, the children in a religious school (the kheder), the lives of the poor. Especially, these stories are about the lives of the poor. These wonderful stories (all told in the first person) show once again why Sholom Aleichem is often considered the pre-eminent Jewish writer. The stories are not complicated. They are about greed and jealousy and cruelty and pranks and theft and a guilty conscience. But they grab you because they don't moralize. Which is not to say that they don't judge. Sholom Aleichem most certainly judges: he judges the kheder teachers and the endless arguing of the intellectuals and the way the wealthy men keep watch over their money. In 'The Little Redheaded Jews' for example, he shows how without a land of their own the Redheaded Jews became quite miserable, most of all to each other. How they persecuted one another--and how (ironically) it was a pogrom that woke those Jews to the need to be like other peoples. And he judges organized religion too. Take this passage from 'Velvel Gambetta': 'I know that as soon as you hear blows being exchanged -- Jewish smacks, that is -- you immediately think of a shul, trustees, shamoshim, and various synagogue honors. You might ask, where else can a Jew beat one another if not in a holy place?' So the charge that these stories are secular stories; that they are about Jews not Judaism is true. But also perhaps not true. For the traditions that Sholom Aleichem mocks (and takes for granted) are rooted in religion. And while Sholom Aleichem does not love organized religion, he loves his people--especially the poor, especially the poor children--and since his people are defined by their traditions, he loves the traditions also. And these traditions--destroyed by the Holocaust and assimilation--are perhaps best preserved now in Sholom Aleichem's stories. And so I recommend this book. For its kindness, its good humor, and for a glimpse of a world that has been destroyed.". First Printing of the First Edition. Hardcover. Fine condition/Near Fine dust jacket. Illus. by NOT a library discard. 8vo. 254pp. Great Packaging, Fast Shipping.