Ništarija
The novel in the form of a monologue confession asks the question: is the escape from modernity into rigid fundamentalism salvation or a new kind of prison? Singer does not give a clear answer, but through Shapiro's passionate defense of penance, he criti
Joseph Shapiro, a wealthy American Jew of New York origin, comes to Israel in the 1960s as a tourist. He was once a successful businessman, enjoying a secular life, free love, luxury and materialism – the symbol of the American dream. However, after a series of moral crises, adultery, feelings of emptiness and deep spiritual suffering, he experiences a complete spiritual upheaval.
In the synagogue on Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, among ultra-Orthodox Jews, Shapiro meets the narrator (the alter ego of Singer himself) and confesses his past to him. He decides to return to the strict faith of his ancestors as a baal tshuva (penitent). He renounces the modern world, money, sexual freedom and individualism, and accepts the yoke of law, prayer, modesty and penance. He believes that the only true meaning of life is in complete submission to the will of God and the preservation of Jewish tradition.
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- A message of a personal nature
