Satan in Goraj

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Satan in Goraj (Yiddish: Der sotn in Goraj ) is the first novel by the Yiddish writer and Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer . The novel first appeared in Poland in sequels from January to September 1933 in the literary magazine Globus , which Singer published together with his friend Aaron Zeitlin .

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The action takes place in Stetl Goraj near Lublin in what is now Poland. The time dates to the middle of the 17th century after the pogroms perpetrated against the Jews under Cossack hetman Khmelnytskyi .

Life is slowly recovering and the surviving residents return to their deserted city. But the trauma of murder and expulsion has left its mark on the Jewish community: the old order is crumbling and the returned rabbi tries in vain to prevent the spread of Kabbalistic enthusiasm. Especially the followers of the "Messiah" Shabbtai Zvi are growing in number. Their leader, the slaughterer Reb Gedalja, first appears as a godly, almost holy man. He takes over the leadership of the community, but under his influence and fueled by a messianic expectation that increases to hysteria, the barriers of custom and law are gradually broken. Reb Gedalja takes Rechele, a young woman tormented by illness and prophetic visions, to live with her, although she is married to another man. Rechele falls for demons. It is possible to drive out the dibbuk that has taken possession of her, but she dies a few days later. The hoped-for return of the Messiah does not take place and the inhabitants of Goraj are disappointed before the ruins of their existence.

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Book editions:

  • The sotn in Goray. A mayseh fun fartsaytns and other dertseylungen. Farlag Matones, New York 1943.
  • Satan in Goray. Translation by Jacob Sloan. Noonday Press, New York 1955
  • Satan in Goraj. Novel. German by Ulla Hengst. Rowohlt, Hamburg 1969, ISBN 3-498-06073-2 . The translation is based on the English edition by Jacob Sloan. Paperback edition: rororo 5183, Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-499-15183-9
  • The sotn in Goray (דער שטן אין גאריי) Farlag YL Perets, Tel-Aviv 1992