During the First World War the family Zinger was suffering from hunger and deprivation
in German-occupied Warsaw, and Basheve eventually decided to take her children to the
safety and relative prosperity o f her own family’s home in Austrian-occupied Bilgoraj. In
1917 Yisroel-Yehoshue succeeded in obtaining visas for his mother and his two younger
brothers to travel to Bilgoraj. Yisroel-Yehoshue himself did not want to leave Warsaw,
where he was working for the Hebrew publication ““l’üTn”. Pinkhes-Mendl intended to go
back to Radzymin to stay with his rebe. Thus it was only Basheve with her two younger
children, the thirteen-year old Yitskhok and his little brother Moyshe, who travelled to
Bilgoraj in the summer o f 1917.^^ By the time Yitskhok arrived in Bilgoraj, his
grandfather, R. Yankev-Mordkhe, the awe-inspiring rabbi o f the town, was no longer
alive, and his uncle Yoysef had become the new rabbi. But the influence o f the “deceased
Ibid., 252 f.
sage” could still be felt in Bilgoraj.^"^ During the years o f R.Yankev-Mordkhe’s strong
rabbinical presence in the town, he had succeeded in suppressing all modern Jewish,
enlightened ideas, which only very slowly found their way into Bilgoraj under his much
weaker successor, Basheve’s brother Yoysef.
Although at first Yitskhok was fiustrated by the fact that he did not have easy access to
modem secular literature or learning, as he had had in Warsaw, his experience o f the old-
fashioned Jewish life o f a shtetl, far-removed fi*om the “corrosive influences o f
modernity”, provided him with an “imaginative and spiritual nourishment”, which
sustained him in his later life and in his writings.
In his memoirs Yitskhok Bashevis states that in his early days in Bilgoraj he could not
find any secular books. Sitting in the hasidic shtibl in Bilgoraj, Yitskhok did not want to
confine his studies to the Talmud and turned to Jewish philosophical works, like
Maimonides’ rtUD {The Guide o f the Perplexed) and Judah Halevi’s nriD (Kuzari),
and to the “Dn3D-n'73p“ (kabbalistic works), which could be found on the shelves in the
shtiblP
In Bilgoraj Yitskhok experienced an ancient form o f Jewishness and the unchanged
traditional Jewish life o f a shtetl, with all its customs, superstitions and solemn
celebrations o f the festivals, as it had been centuries ago. Even the language spoken there
seemed to him to be an older, uncormpted form o f Polish-Yiddish than he was used to.
In this world o f (“old Jewishness”) Yitskhok found a
(“spiritual treasure trove”), and for the benefit o f his Yiddish reader Yitskhok Bashevis
adds: p a na dxt axn T’a px p'px” (Everything inside me said: This
Cf. C. Sinclair, The Brothers Singer, 23.
” 326, 337, 354. Cf. In My F ather’s Court, 277, 287, 302.
Ibid., Yiddish: 336-340; English: 286-290. Cf. also: Edward Alexander, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Boston: Twayne, 1980, 17.
7T-;7’J, 336. Cf. In M y Father’s Court, 286 f. Cf. also: :ûi'?dht-d^dwd,i, 151 f., where several kabbalistic works are mentioned.
must be described...)-^*
Thus Bashevis described Bilgoraj in his memoirs, and thus it served as a model for the
town o f Goraj in his first novel ps isn (Satan in Goray), which, in fact, was an
actual town in the vicinity o f Bilgoraj. In one o f his interviews he stated that he could
have written The Family Moskat ‘Svithout having lived in Bilgoray”, but that he could
never have written Satan in Goray or some o f his other stories “without having been
there”.^^
His severe grandfather may have served as the model for the “Orthodox patriarch” Rabbi
Beynesh Ashkenazi in ”‘7XJ The conflicts within Rabbi Beynesh’s
household probably reflect the conflicts within the household o f Yitskhok’s grandfather,
the constant tensions between his two uncles Yoysef and Itshe and their femilies.^^
Yitskhok’s aunt Rokhele, Itshe’s wife, who believed in magic, in ghosts and in the Evil
Eye and whose spirit seemed to live in medieval times, might have influenced Bashevis’s
portrait o f Rekhele in the novel, together with his sister’s colourful personality and
psychological make-up. Yitskhok’s study o f the Kabbalah in the atmosphere of
Bilgoraj’s old Jewishness manifested itself in the “special apocalyptic and messianic
world” o f ”*7^ p\t^ W7, saturated with ideas and images from Lurianic Kabbalah.
Yitskhok Bashevis states in the second volume o f his memoirs that modem Yiddish
literature has focused on the Jewish life o f the shtetl in the last decades o f the nineteenth
and the beginning o f the twentieth century, but that the shtetl life o f earlier centuries has
n m P7-n'>J, 337, 340. Cf. In My F ather’s Courts 287, 290. The last sentence from the Yiddish text is omitted in the English translation.
Cf. Joel Blocker and Richard Elman, ‘An Interview with Isaac Bashevis Singer’, in: Commentary 36 (November 1963), reprinted in: G. Farrell (ed.). Conversations, 13.
Cf. Irving H. Buchen, Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Eternal Past, New York: NYU Press, 1968, 9. - In the second volume o f his memoirs Bashevis devotes an entire chapter to his grandfather: xn^X}Ht-D'>DW?2n, 125-131, On his grandfather’s influence in Bilgoraj, see: mov; p7-n'>i, 326, 336 f., 354; In M y Father's Court, 277, 286 f , 302.
On these conflicts in the household o f the Bilgoraj rabbi, see: mww p7-n^, 264 f.; In M y F ather’s Court, 217 f. Cf. I. H. Buchen, Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Eternal Past, 9.
been completely neglected. He reminds his readers of the influence o f the Shabbatai Zvi
movement and the movement around Jacob Frank in the small Jewish shtetlekh. The
Msidic movement likewise exerted a considerable influence, and the “mT’On ibVT ”
(pillars o f Hasidism) lived mainly in the small shtetlekh.^^ For Yitskhok Bashevis the
Jewish life o f earlier centuries in the small shtetlekh o f Poland, with all its ancient
customs and superstitions, and the influence o f mystical mass movements, like
Shabbateanism and Frankism, as well as Hasidism, on Jewish shtetl life, became a major
interest o f his literary work. Thus he devoted his first novel, ”*7^ ;’>f 7J^7, entirely to
the subject o f Shabbatean influences on a small shtetl in Poland in the seventeenth
century. In his second novel, iÿp^7rr 1V7 (The Sinful Messiah), which has never been
translated, he focuses on F ran k ism .A p art from these two novels, describing Jewish
messianic mass movements, in some o f his other novels and many o f his short stories
Bashevis focuses on the Msidic life o f the small shtetlekh, with all its ancient customs
and superstitions, which he had experienced in Bilgoraj.
Nevertheless modem Jewish ideas and movements did eventually penetrate Bilgoraj’s
immutability, and through the influence o f some o f his new friends, as well as the town’s
watchmaker Todros, px nbJlz/n “lyT po X” (a pillar o f the Enlightenment in
Bilgoraj), Yitskhok soon acquired access to secular learning and literature. Motl Shur,
one o f Yitskhok’s new friends, provided him with a Hebrew grammar, textbooks and
various volumes o f Hebrew prose and poetry, and Yitskhok wrote his first poem in
Hebrew. He also became a teacher o f Hebrew, running evening classes for young
secular Jewish men and women.^^
From a series o f booklets for the study o f the Polish language Yitskhok taught himself
Polish, and was eventually able to read world literature in Polish translation. He also read
:ûi'?üST-Dmwnn, 132.
rrwD ivp'*7271V7 was serialized in the Yiddish ODijniiSDin N ew York in 1935-36. p7-n>2, 338, 349, 359. Cf. In M y Father’s Court, 288, 297, 306.
literature in German and was particularly influenced by Knut Hamsun. He began writing
both in Hebrew and in Yiddish, trying to imitate Knut Hamsun’s style, but he was far
from pleased with his first literary ventures.^^
With Todros, the watchmaker, Yitskhok discussed God, nature, the First Cause o f
existence and other maskilic subjects, and from him he also borrowed an old German
textbook o f physics. As the hasidim were getting more and more enraged by the feet
that the grandson o f the Bilgoraj rabbi was becoming “J7‘’'7Np” (corrupt), Yitskhok
realized that the Haskalah in Bilgoraj was about a century late.^^
Eventually a Yiddish library was opened in a private home in Bilgoraj. Yitskhok’s
friends provided him with both secular Hebrew and Yiddish literature. In addition to
this, many volumes o f European literature in Yiddish translation arrived from America.
Among the volumes sent from America Yitskhok also found a book by Hilel Tseytlin
on the history o f world philosophy and Jewish philosophy, entitled DüU pD DS7
;w (“The Problem o f Good and Evil“), as well as a volume by Stupnicki on
Spinoza’s philosophy.
Yitskhok’s father had cursed Spinoza and said that he had not discovered anything new.
Concerning the relationship of God and the world, Spinoza’s ideas were similar to those
o f the Baal Shem Tov, who had reportedly stated: “D*7iy xin '7X1 bx xin oPiy - 0*7137 *7X”
(God o f the world - The world is God and God is the world). O f course, the Baal Shem
Tov had lived after Spinoza, but Pinkhes-Mendl argued that Spinoza had drawn from
ancient kabbalistic sources. Yitskhok, who had already read a considerable amount of
kabbalistic literature, immediately fell under the spell o f Spinoza’s philosophy. Towards
the end o f the first volume o f his memoirs, Yitskhok Bashevis adds that at the time
when he was writing, he was already more critical o f Spinoza’s ideas, but in his youth
xn^am-D^Dmn, 158,1 6 0 ,1 6 3 .
mow pi-mn, 350 f. Cf. In My F ather’s Court, 298 f. Ibid., Yiddish: 356 f.; English: 303 f.
he was completely intoxicated by Spinoza’s philosophy, “D'T’T’OXiS’n ""ii” (as if under
hypnosis), and this hypnosis lasted for many years.^^
In a chapter o f his W^JDSr-D^Dlz^^n Bashevis remarks that he had been interested in
,DrrbD"'5 ,î7‘>DXDNb’ô“ (philosophy, mysticism, soul-searching) since
his childhood/^ But comparing Spinoza’s philosophy with the teachings o f the
Kabbalah, he had to admit that Spinoza’s God was too cold for him, his world too
meaningless and his human being too insignificant. In the Kabbalah, on the other hand,
he found knowledge, understanding, beauty, meaning, greatness and exaltedness. While
Spinoza ridiculed everything, the Hebrew Bible, the Tahnud and the Kabbalah focused
on the lofty, the pure, the exalted and the miraculous in God’s creation. According to the
Kabbalah, even the ri9'’*7p {Klipah - the power o f evil) was X üxn oxn 037537 X”
“I’T X px (an entity, something which has a purpose and a meaning).^' Studying
kabbalistic works and Spinoza’s philosophy in Bilgoraj, the adolescent Yitskhok felt
that he was everything at the same time: ,Dl'ip''SX IX X ,üD’Txr3U7 x“
“mnwno 370iX'>o px px I37p]xi37: 37r’’U7 px ]X037Hp"ix (a Spinozaist, a Kabbalist, a heretic,
religious, occupied with beautiful thoughts and with ugly ideas).^^
This characterization is reiterated, when Yitskhok Bashevis describes his adolescent
attempt to return to Warsaw, to study at a rabbinical seminary, which had not even been
established yet. At the time o f his journey from Bilgoraj to Warsaw, he saw himself both
as a Kabbalist and as a foolish boy, both as a dreamer and as a candidate for a rabbinical
seminary.^^ In Warsaw he was accepted at the Takhkemoyni Rabbinical Seminary, but he
had to return to Bilgoraj until the opening o f the seminary. Two years later, in 1922,
Ibid., Yiddish: 357 f.; English: 305. The statement attributed to the Baal Shem Tov is not fully quoted in the English translation. :ûibDHT-D^DW^n, 151. Ibid., 152. Ibid., 152. Ibid., 227. Ibid., 236, 276 f.
Yitskhok had already spent several months in Warsaw, studying at the seminary and
suffering from hunger and deprivation. He had returned to Bilgoraj, but when his father
had been offered a rabbinical post in a tiny shtetl in Galicia and was preparing to move
there with his family, Yitskhok decided to return to Warsaw, where his older brother
Yisroel-Yehoshue was living once more. Yisroel-Yehoshue had left Bolshevik Russia,
had published a drama and was beginning to establish himself in Warsaw. With his
brother and his family Yitskhok stayed at a dacha in Miedzeszyn outside Warsaw during
the summer months. His brother introduced him to various modem Yiddish writers, and
through his brother Yitskhok eventually had the opportunity to visit the famous Yiddish
(Writers’ Association) on Tlomackie 13 in Warsaw.
At his brother’s dacha Yitskhok also wrote a booklet, entitled n px XTXrsï?”
(Spinoza and the Kabbalah), in which he compared Spinoza’s philosophy with the
teachings o f the Kabbalah. The main purpose o f this booklet was to demonstrate that
Spinoza had not broadened and enriched the ideas o f the Kabbalah. On the contrary:
pô pô yyi’x n .p n n u x •’■’ns dxtxtsu; ■’n nya nvT’ôo n ”
" .m ô x m i pô DÎ7SX19 uvi :ai"iï7'7pô’’ix px pt o'»: ,mm3 yiyr^’x n pô raisonu^ipx
(The ten Sfirot are more than Spinoza’s two attributes. The idea o f Zimzum, o f the
Divine contraction o f God’s own powers, provides meaning and elucidation to the
process o f creation.). Yitskhok held that the Kabbalah was the greatest philosophy, the
highest metaphysics, the most developed religious system. Spinoza’s philosophy was
nothing else than a “nbinp yiysaiiiz/yjupx px yü2"i’p“ixô” (abbreviated and contracted form
ofKabbalah)/^
Although Yisroel-Yehoshue was impressed by the language and the logic o f his brother’s
booklet, Yitskhok was not able to find a publisher for his manuscript and threw it away
Ibid., 279, 285-295, 307-312. Ibid., 297 f.
in despair/^
Yitskhok’s years in Bilgoraj provided him with the opportunity to experience the
ancient customs and superstitions of Jewish shtetl life, as well as to further his studies
o f both mystical, kabbalistic literature and modem secular literature. As he established
himself as a Yiddish writer in Warsaw, he could draw on his experiences o f shtetl life
as well as on his kabbalistic studies in Bilgoraj.
2.5. Bashevis’s Sources. Informing His Treatment of Jewish Mysticism and Mystical