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BA Thesis English Language and Culture, Utrecht University.
Laurenza Gradenwitz 3111318
BA paper supervisor Derek Rubin
June 2011
Lost In Assimilation
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Table of contents:
Introduction
page 3
1. Jewish American Fiction: From Past to Present
page 5
2. Critical Reception
page 7
3. On The Frozen Rabbi
page 9
4. On The Outside World
page 11
5. Memory as a driving force
page 13
Conclusion
page 15
Works cited list
page 17
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Lost In Assimilation
Introduction
One of the most interesting developments within contemporary Jewish American literature is
a renewed interest in Jewish traditions. This recent revaluation of the Old World experience in
contemporary American society is illustrated very aptly by writer Tova Mirvis. Mirvis recalls
a photograph that provided inspiration for the novel The Outside World (2004). An excerpt
from The Outside World was published as part of an anthology, Lost Tribe: Jewish Fiction
from the Edge, edited by Paul Zakrzewski, and was entitled A Poland, a Lithuania, a Galicia
by Mirvis. The anthology features both stories as well as commentary by contemporary
Jewish American authors. In Mirvis’s commentary accompanying A Poland, a Lithuania, a
Galicia the author recalls: “I once saw a family portrait where the parents in the picture
looked suburban, thoroughly modern. The children, in their black hats and black jackets,
looked as if they had just stepped off the boat from a nineteenth-century Polish shtetl”
(Mirvis, A Poland, a Lithuania, a Galicia). European shtetl life, tradition, religion and
folklore, are familiar elements in contemporary Jewish American fiction, which is commonly
referred to as Jewish American New Wave writing. The shtetl experience was not a topic of
interest in earlier immigrant and post-immigrant assimilationist writing. Starting in the 1980s
and most noticeably so over the course of the last decade, many young writers have started to
explore their, sometimes previously unknown, Jewish roots and are drawing on traditional
themes to inspire their fiction. These themes enter Steve Stern’s recent novel The Frozen
Rabbi (2010) and figure prominently in Mirvis’s The Outside World, a novel that deals with a
marriage between members of two families who are very different in the approach they take
to their Jewishness.
On the surface The Frozen Rabbi is one family’s story of their journey from pre-world
war II shtetl life to assimilated life in suburban America, all laden with a hefty dose of humor
and magical realism. In reading between the lines it is possible to observe the toll that
assimilation has taken on the Karp family’s happiness and well-being. The novel thereby
suggests that perhaps assimilation is not the path to success and true value may well be hidden
in the tradition the family so eagerly shed in their willingness to fit in.
A similar theme is present in The Outside World. Mirvis’s novel deals with two
families whose lives become connected when their children meet by chance, fall in love and
decide to get married. There is an interesting contrast between the two families where one
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family embraces orthodox life with fervor, while the other family takes a more moderate
approach to Jewish living. Their children however decide this is not the life they had
envisioned for themselves and set out to realize their own ideals. When read closely, it is
again possible to see a clear contrast between the merits and faults of orthodoxy on the one
hand and assimilated life on the other.
The recent resurgence of interest in Jewish topics, be it religious or cultural, by Jewish
American authors provides an interesting field of study. Starting in the 1980s and most
noticeably so over the course of the last decade, many young writers have started to explore
their, sometimes previously unknown, Jewish roots and are drawing on traditional themes to
inspire their fiction. Instead of assimilating into the vast genre of American fiction,
contemporary Jewish American fiction is typified by an exploration of and return to Jewish
roots. The novels by Stern and Mirvis demonstrate the validity of the Jewish American
experience in present-day literature. Both stories emphasize on and dramatize the experience
of loss when assimilation takes place. The argument can be made that when assimilation has
taken place the characters in these books experience feelings of doubt, a longing for meaning
and a general feeling of unhappiness. There is a clear dichotomy to be observed between a
portrayal of assimilated life and traditional values in Jewish life where tradition inspires the
characters to reject assimilation. This rejection of assimilation is a relatively new topic in the
genre of Jewish American fiction where in the past, before the 1980s there was a surge of
assimilationist writing.
An overview of the developmental stages of Jewish American fiction will be
presented. Furthermore, a critical perspective on the validity of contemporary Jewish
American fiction will be highlighted and rebuted. Also, some background information is
needed to understand the traditional themes present in The Frozen Rabbi. In addition an
introduction to orthodox Jewish life as central in The Outside World in its different forms
(ultra orthodoxy versus modern orthodoxy) will be given. The aforementioned novels by
Stern and Mirvis will serve as examples of contemporary Jewish American fiction and
elements of style and content will be discussed. Moreover, the importance of memory as a
driving force will be examined. Finally from this information the conclusion will be drawn
that the dichotomy between assimilation and traditional values serves to argue in favor of
living a Jewish life within a Jewish community, be it orthodox or liberal Judaism, and a
rejection of assimilation into mainstream American culture.
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1.
Jewish American Fiction: From Past to Present
1881 marked the beginning of a major wave of Jewish emigration from Russia to the
United States. Tsar Alexander III rose to power in 1881 and enforced anti-Semitic policies
that restricted where Jews could live and work. A series of pogroms, outbursts of violence
against Jews, ensued and Jews suffered destruction of their homes resulting in endemic
poverty among the Russian Jews. Emigration to the United States seemed a viable solution to
many. Driven by both economic reasons, as well as a growing concern about personal safety,
many Jews left Russia and Eastern Europe for the USA, never to return.
These immigrants from Russia arrived in America with somewhat unrealistic
expectations. Many had imagined the USA as a country where the streets would be paved
with gold. Needless to say, upon arrival they often awoke to a harsh reality. Life in America
meant hard work in factories for a meager pay. It meant living in tenement buildings where
whole families were confined in single room apartments. Among these early immigrants were
some of the founders of Jewish American fiction. Abraham Cahan, Henry Roth and Anzia
Yezierska and many other writers were themselves immigrants and dealt with the Jewish
American immigrant experience extensively in their fiction. The Jewish immigrant writers
wrote in Yiddish or English and described the immigrant experience vividly, especially the
difficulty of acclimatizing to a foreign country, America.
The sons and daughters of these immigrants, the second generation Jewish Americans,
lived far more comfortable lives. Their parents had worked tirelessly in order to acquire a
place in American society and were now able to provide for their children what had not come
easily to them. Second generation Jewish Americans were raised in Yiddish households with
parents that knew struggle, persecution and abject poverty firsthand and were not inclined to
let their children grow up without being fully aware of these issues. The second generation
assimilated more easily within American society. They spoke the language without an accent
and they went to American schools. This however provided an interesting dilemma:
“The dualism into which they had been born brought personal and social
dissatisfaction. Life at home was unpleasant; whereas in the schoolroom they
were too foreign, at home they were too American. The immigrant fathers who
compromised most willingly in adjusting their outside affairs to the realities of
the workaday world were different persons in their homes” (Bender, 361).
Writers such as Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth were born to immigrant parents. Being
second generation Jewish Americans, they have concerned themselves mainly with the second
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generation Jewish American experience. This second generation writing is typified by themes
of assimilation as opposed to ethnic themes. Characters in Malamud and Roth’s work may be
Jewish, however they are above all American. It could be argued that their Jewish heritage is
merely circumstancial. As Malamud once famously stated: “All men are Jews, though few
men know it”(Malamud, 137). If there is nothing essentially Jewish, nothing that separates a
Jew from a gentile, then what would drive a person to call themselves a Jew? It is this
question that can be seen underlying much of the assimilationist work written until the 1980s.
The characters in these books are Americans alienated from their immigrant parents’
background yet they are not as firmly rooted in American society as they themselves would
wish. How can a person be rooted firmly in a society without feeling secure about their own
identity?
In short, what is important to note is that contemporary Jewish American writing has
emerged after a long tradition of immigrant writing and post-immigrant assimilationist writing
which tended to underplay any ethnic topic in favor of a quintessentially American
experience. Jewish American assimilationist writers sought to write fiction that did not set
itself apart from mainstream WASP literature while their characters remained Jews, even
though ‘Jewish’ became a concept that was hard to grasp.
The grandchildren of Jewish American immigrants have reclaimed their Jewish past.
Third generation Jewish American authors revisit the past in their work and feel secure
enough to claim their Jewishness. Though it can be argued that the writers of these works are
more American than their parents and grandparents, as each generation becomes more rooted
in American society and further removed from their immigrant ancestors’ pasts, perhaps
surprisingly they are settled enough to feel comfortable to answer to the pull of the past. An
interesting theory that supports this observation is the ‘Law of Third Generation Return’ as
proposed in a speech by professor Marcus L. Hansen in 1938. Hansen poses that: “When any
immigrant group reaches the third generation stage in its development, a spontaneous and
almost irresistible impulse arises which forces the thoughts of many people of different
professions, different positions in life, and different points of view to interest themselves in
that one factor which they have in common: heritage, the heritage of blood” (Hansen). Meyer
agrees in an article on Jewish American fiction dating between 1977 and 2002: “In terms of
the history of Jewish American fiction, Hansen's theory seems to apply very well indeed, as
long as we employ a liberal definition of the term "generation," considering it more in a
metaphorical than a biological sense (Meyer, 109).” This factor that binds third generation
Jewish Americans, heritage, has proven to be a fruitful source of inspiration for many young
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authors. As can be concluded from professor Marcus Hansen’s theory of third generation
return, the recent resurgence of interest in Jewish American topics can be explained on a
larger scale and is a natural result of the intergenerational immigration process.
On the whole, contemporary Jewish American fiction no longer strives towards
assimilation into the generic American fiction genre. It is often imaginatively narrated,
making use of literary tools such as magical realism which allow for elements of folklore and
tradition to spill into the modern Jewish American experience. Contemporary writers such as
Jonathan Safran Foer, Tova Mirvis and Steve Stern aptly deal with quintessentially Jewish
themes whilst refraining from writing fiction in an assimilationist fashion. At the same time,
the reality of living between two intersecting worlds, being Jewish on the one hand and
American on the other, is also not avoided. Tova Mirvis remarks on this topic in an essay
called Writing Between Worlds and explains how the outside world has undeniably affected
even the most Orthodox communities. Mirvis does not regard this as a recent phenomenon,
arguing that this has always been the case in Jewish culture and professing the viewpoint that
Jewish culture does not stem from that which is untainted, rather from an amalgam of
intersecting worlds (308, 309). To be a contemporary Jewish American writer is to write what
you know, to be able to move comfortably between the reality of mainstream American and
the Jewish community intersecting. It is to write with understanding about Jewish themes and
to feel comfortable about feeling comfortable being an American Jew. Freed from the
psychological hang-ups that prevented second generation Jewish Americans to be interested
in their cultural background, for the third generation it has become both socially acceptable as
well as interesting from a literary perspective to value cultural heritage.
2.
Critical Reception
Critics have focused largely on the supposedly unpromising future of Jewish
American fiction, thereby ignoring the recent surge of creativity that resulted in the revival of
the genre. Morris Dickstein reflects on these somber predictions in Never Goodbye Columbus
(2001). Dickstein mentions critic Ted Solotaroff, who expressed his concerns regarding the
efforts of young Jewish American writers, deeming their work sentimental and derivative.
Dickstein also recounts a statement by Israeli writer Aharon Appelfeld, who boldly stated that
there are no more Jewish writers (par. 1). Although both critics certainly present strong
opinions and speculate that contemporary Jewish American fiction is approaching its end as a
legitimate literary genre, the validity of their statements is questionable.
A more moderate opinion is presented by Stephen Wade, who in A Survey of Jewish-
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American Writing (2000), ably describes modern Jewish American writing as intellectual,
aesthetic and having a European sensibility. Wade does, however, go on to argue that these
aspects are threatened by a materialist and change-oriented cultural process and should
change (par.12). Although Wade could be clearer in exposing and illustrating the supposed
threats to modern Jewish American Literature, the current description of the genre still
provides a welcome positive outlook on the general quality of Jewish American contemporary
fiction.
Stern also comments on a critical view regarding Jewish American fiction. The critic
in question is Irving Howe, who Stern mentions, “predicted that with greater distance from
the immigrant experience and without some authentic connection to community, so-called
Jewish American fiction would become attenuated; “it must suffer a depletion of rescources, a
thinning out of materials and memories” (After the Law, 130).” Stern then continues and
recalls a Hasidic parable about a forest, a fire and a prayer.
“This is the one where the Baal Shem Tov, when he has a problem, goes to the forest,
lights a fire, says a prayer, and finds wisdom. The next generation has forgotten the
prayer, but they can still go to the forest, light the fire, or remember the prayer, though
at least they know the story about forest, fire, and prayer- and that must suffice. Then
along come the children of the children of the immigrants, so divorced from tradition
and community that they can’t even recall the story (131).”
It is not Stern’s intention to disprove Howe’s statement and consequently argue that there is
no truth to the notion of Jewish American fiction having approached its end-date.
Nonetheless, the story of the fable arguably does not seem to rhyme with the reality of the
contemporary Jewish American literary playing field. Many young writers, who should,
according to Howe and the fable be clueless to their own inherited tradition and community,
have instead proven to be thoroughly engaged and interested in Jewish topics. Stern himself is
a great example of a writer who grew up in a fairly secular setting “I grew up in a Reform
congregation that- but for some residual Hebrew in the liturgy- may as well have been
Methodist (131).” However, Stern bears no resemblance to those ‘children of the children of
the immigrants’ who can’t recall the story. Instead, a great storyteller emerged.
What these critics fail to acknowledge is the resurgence of Jewish American New
Wave writing. Starting in the 1980s and most noticeably so over the course of the last decade,
many young writers have started to explore their, sometimes previously unknown, Jewish
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roots and are drawing on traditional themes to inspire their fiction. The novels by Stern and
Mirvis demonstrate the validity of the Jewish American experience in present-day literature
and in doing so challenge critics’ notions of a grim future for Jewish American Literature.
3.
On The Frozen Rabbi
A book that is exemplary in demonstrating this trend of dissimilation from the
American mainstream within contemporary Jewish American fiction is The Frozen Rabbi by
the critically acclaimed author Steve Stern. The premise is as follows: in 1999 an adolescent
boy finds a frozen rabbi in the basement freezer. When he asks his parents what this rabbi is
doing in the freezer, they explain that the man is a family heirloom. The book contains two
story lines. One is the tale of the rabbi who lived in 18th century Poland. The other is the story
of the boy, Bernie Karp, who, prompted by the appearance of the mysterious rabbi, develops a
sudden interest in his own Jewish heritage. Meanwhile, the defrosted rabbi is quickly
corrupted by contemporary American culture and gladly assimilates into a modern, capitalist
society that lacks true mystique and religious aspects that the boy initially admires in the
rabbi.
The premise of the book is immensely imaginative. Eastern European Jewish, Yiddish
and folkloristic elements are abundant in the text. Derek Royal aptly describes the typical
elements of Stern’s work in the introductory section of an interview with the writer. In it,
Royal stresses the unusual narrative of Stern’s fiction. The uncommon is not unusual here:
“Rabbis take flight, the ghosts of dead writers literally haunt their readers, children trap
themselves in their own dreams, angels become petty thieves, and golems are created out of
the mish-mosh of forsaken alleyways” (139). Indeed, this is certainly the case in The Frozen
Rabbi. When Bernie Karp finds the frozen rabbi and asks his family about its origin, the
answer his father provides to his question is understated and highly unexpected: “Some
people got taxidermied pets in the attic, we got a frozen rabbi in the basement. It’s a family
tradition”(Stern, 1). Reality is pushed aside by imagination, tradition and memory, which
comes across as absurdist and comical. Stern succeeds in finding a unique, fresh and modern
voice in writing Jewish American fiction which is at the same time still thoroughly Jewish and
laden with tradition and folklore.
It is easy to observe Bernie as an unlikely hero. The fifteen year old boy is slightly
overweight and lethargic in nature until he comes across the family heirloom in the freezer.
However, almost immediately after the Rabbi defrosts Bernie assumes the identity of the
keeper of the family’s tradition, immersing himself in Jewish literature and gaining the power
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of flight, regularly being propelled out of his skin into an out-of-body experience. Bernie
seems to function as a moral conscience that the rest of his family no longer possesses. The
teenager almost seems overtaken by a feverish dedication to learn all about his family’s
tradition. Though the ice that preserved a rabbi-shaped kernel of tradition has melted, Bernie
has made it his mission to reignite the spark of wisdom that got quenched by the moral
perversion exerted by the outside world.
When observing the role of the rabbi in The Frozen Rabbi it could very well be
suggested that there is a parallel between the rabbi, himself an immigrant to the USA, and
Bernie´s ancestors, his parents and grandparents. Bernie´s family arguably went through a
similar process of assimilation. In the process of assimilating to American culture, the family
shed their cultural and religious practices, substituting them for all American identities and
customs. To go even further, stepping out of the fictional realm, many Jewish American
immigrants went through the same process. After few generations, the grandchildren of those
immigrants became fully Americanized. If there is a moral lesson to be extracted from The
Frozen Rabbi then it is to value cultural and religious practices, because what is lost in the
process of assimilation is not easily retrieved, especially so in a consumer-oriented society
which values easy money and quick satisfaction over tradition. Whereas Bernie experiences
tremendous self-growth due to his new-found interest in his Jewish heritage, the rabbi is
depicted in a far less favorable light. By disregarding his ethical, cultural and religious ways,
the rabbi becomes a lost cause. Contrasting the spiritual journey that Bernie undertakes, the
rabbi quickly realizes that there is a real market in the religious business exclaiming “Torah is
the best of merchandise (Stern, 88).” He sets up temple in a shopping mall and gathers a large,
admiring and predominantly female following, looking to study kaballah and spend good
money on spiritual merchandise. Moreover, the rabbi rather enjoys the attention his female
following turns out paying him. It is here that there is a clear contrast to be observed between
moral and immoral, good and bad, assimilation and reappreciation of Judaism.
This contrast points the reader toward a rejection of assimilation. Much emphasis is
placed on the struggles that generations of Bernie’s forefathers went through in order to
maintain a tangible connection to Judaism. They schlepped their precious frozen rabbi all the
way to America, always fearful of unintentionally melting the family heirloom.
Metaphorically speaking the fear of melting the frozen rabbi, encapsulated only by a
vulnerable layer of ice, quite convincingly hints toward the fear of losing touch with tradition.
The layer of ice at the same time creates a distance, although Bernie’s parents are aware of the
fact that they have a frozen rabbi stashed in their freezer, the significance of his existence
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surpasses their imagination. Unconcerned with religious observance they are clueless as to
where they come from and what forms of trouble and hardship their forebears went through in
order to land them comfortably in suburban America. It takes effort preserving a tradition as
Bernie seems to understand. The negative effects of assimilation, apathy, obesity, corruption
and moral bankruptcy are countered by the positive effects Bernie experiences from his
exaltation into his religious forays. Bernie loses weight, grows into a man and through his
concern of keeping the rabbi on the straight and narrow, becomes the moral conscience the
rest of his family lacks.
4.
On The Outside World
The Outside World by Tova Mirvis deals with a young Jewish American couple and
their families. Brian Miller, who later on goes by the name Baruch, and Tzippy Goldman
meet and fall in love. They come from different backgrounds, Brian is from a liberal
Orthodox household and Tzippy’s family is Ultra-Orthodox. When Brian makes a decision to
lead an Ultra-Orthodox lifestyle his parents are less than thrilled because they regard his
decision as a rejection of their lifestyle. Brian takes on his Jewish name Baruch and
temporarily moves to Israel to study. This is where he meets Tzippy, a girl from an UltraOrthodox household who longs for freedom from the strict religious obligations enforced
upon her by her family. Although the two might seem like an unlikely pair, the proverbial
spark is there and it does not take long before the two are planning their wedding. What
follows is an interesting portrayal of the difficulties of being religious in the modern world.
Moreover, both families have to find a way to deal with this new reality of their children not
following in their footsteps. Mirvis paints a picture of two young people reassessing their
system of beliefs and realizing their religious identities as Jews in America on their own
terms.
The Outside World deals with the modern Orthodox as well as the ultra-Orthodox
Jewish American community which differs in many respects from the liberal Jewish
community described in The Frozen Rabbi . The ultra-Orthodox have always held up the
opinion that Jewish life should be lived according to traditional, strict laws within a Jewish
community. Living under the constant scrutiny of your peers in this Orthodox society can feel
confining to some, as Tzippy experiences it. Brian however, grew up in a modern Orthodox
household and longs for more rules and regulations. He admires strictness, longs for the
certainty that can be found in religious absolutes and despises the hypocrisy of the
compromising nature of modern orthodoxy. When Brian and Zippy meet they draw from each
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other’s worlds and find their niche within Jewish American life.
Although the negative aspects of living a Jewish life in America are not skewed away
from, the general tone of the story is not at all negative concerning the subject of living a
religious life. The Outside World is a story of young people reassessing their belief system
and really coming to grasps with what it means to be Jewish in America. Arguably, their
parents lost this fervor and willingness to assess their religious identity and simply got
comfortable with the routine of how things are. Whereas the Millers value their connection to
Judaism, they also feel it’s best to compromise to the reality of the American way of life, and
certainly to enjoy the luxuries it has to offer. When Brian becomes Baruch and critiques this
way of life they feel threatened in their integrity.
Likewise, the very religious Shayna, mother of Tzippy, lets her Jewish identity be
defined by others. Shayna struggles to assimilate to the Orthodox world to which at times she
still feels like an outsider looking in. Shayna wants nothing more than to belong, and for her
child, Tzippy, to be included and accepted into this tight-knit community. When Shayna
observes her daughter shopping for her marriage wig she sees her dreams coming to
fulfillment “…Shayna saw what she had always hoped for. She wanted her daughter to be at
home in this world. When Tzippy walked with her friends, their long jean skirts flapping
against their legs, Shayna often searched for a sign that she didn’t belong. Could someone
look at this group of girls and pick out which one had a mother who didn’t grow up like
everyone else (Mirvis, 112) ?” She exerts all of her hopes and dreams onto her daughter and
this longing to belong “Now, with marriage looming, Shayna wanted her daughter to be like
the women she envied, women who said the right thing and were perfectly dressed and served
beautiful meals and always belonged. (112).” This obligation fit in and to assimilate to the
Orthodox community takes a toll on Tzippy. Tzippy feels confined by the struggle to be a
good girl, to meet up to other people’s expectations. The demands of assimilation are
countered by the sense of freedom Tzippy experiences when she starts living life on her own
terms. For Tzippy marriage signifies the freedom to shape her own future, when she goes to
college she dreams of the endless possibilities. She can be another person, however, knowing
the option of another life is there is enough for Tzippy “ She didn’t tell him how she sat in
class and imagined being someone else. He might think that she was unhappy with him, that
she regretted getting married. But it wasn’t that. She wanted to be where she was, and she
wanted to be somewhere else at the same time (224).”
Once again, this story serves as an excellent example for the hypothesis that
contemporary Jewish American fiction has as a key element the essentially Jewish themes of
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faith, community and cultural habits. It argues for living a Jewish life, juxtaposing the values
of this choice to the perils of American society as a whole and painting a generally more
favorable picture of the Jewish side of the coin.
5.
Memory as a driving force
The common thread that both novels share is the importance of memory within the
Jewish tradition. Ehud Zvi remarks on the process of remembering in Jewish tradition in a
review of Memory in Jewish, Pagan and Christian Societies of the Graeco-Roman World by
Doron Mendels and gathers that memory is a collective process in Jewish society. Memories
shape the identity of its people and sometimes the importance of memory surpasses reality
(Zvi, 598). In both novels, the concept of memory does indeed play an important part.
Memories serve as the linking factor that combines the modern Jewish American experience
with the Old World.
Baruch in The Modern World retrieves the tradition that has been discarded by his
parents and longs to remember and reinstate the ways of his ancestors. Mirvis argues in
Writing Between Worlds that to write about traditional Judaism presents a dilemma. Many
words and concepts are potentially unfamiliar to the writer, they are concepts that form the
writers’ native language and to explain them, or to simply skip over those problem areas,
would be to risk the authenticity of a novel being disturbed (308). Writing in translation is a
necessary compromise in order to invoke memories that are unfamiliar to the reader, and a
fitting one according to Mirvis.
“But perhaps that is the most fitting way to write about the traditional world when it is
transplanted to America. Because that world is lived in translation too. A Jew steeped
in ritual or texts is always something of an immigrant, in time, not just in space. No
matter how many generations one’s family has lived in America, to live according to
Jewish law is to live knowingly out of step with the outside world. It is to live in the
suburbs, in Teaneck or New Rochelle or Memphis, but to cast a glance back over the
shoulder at Babylonia and Yavneh, Vilna and Lublin. Sixteenth-century texts are not
history, not legend, not myth. They are alive and binding, a means of deciding what
may be eaten, what may be thought, what may be worn, during every minute, every
day ( 308).”
Perhaps that is what writers of contemporary Jewish American fiction can be regarded as, as
‘immigrants in time’. While these writers are firmly rooted in America, that connection to a
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European past is still theirs, waiting to be explored.
Bernie in The Frozen Rabbi is enlightened by the appearance of a sage rabbi, who
acts, in a way, as a time capsule. Stern mentions in After the Law how he regards Jews as “a
people for whom waiting has become a vocation (132).” Stern does however stress that for a
writer of fiction waiting only produces boredom and impatience. Inspiration for fiction is
found when ranks are broken, and legs are stretched (132).
“…sometime during the mid-1980s I took a walk, turned a corner at Poplar Avenue
and North Main Street in my hometown of Memphis, and stumbled quite
unintentionally out of history proper. I fell through the fabric of time- which is
especially thin around these blighted old ghetto neighborhoods- into a street populated
by ghosts. There, in a city remarkable for erasing its own past, was an immigrant
community of East European phantoms; in broad daylight they performed the timeless
rites of poverty and superstition they’d imported wholesale from the Old Country.
Naturally, being an orthodox spiritual bankrupt of a distinctly postmodern turn of
mind, I didn’t believe in ghosts, but seeing them was nonetheless eye-opening, and
their antics made for diverting stories (132-133).”
Stern once again touches upon the earlier mentioned concept of the ‘immigrant in time’.
Whether this account of events truly happened to the writer is irrelevant as fiction is
constituted from the imaginary. When one falls through ‘the fabric of time’ the possibilities
are endless. The possibilities and richness that lie within Jewish history are a valuable source
of inspiration to many contemporary Jewish American writers.
In both novels it is obvious that memories do indeed shape the identity of the
protagonists and the importance of memory surpasses reality. While history may be twisted
and rewritten and time travel can suddenly belong to the realm of possibility, both Mirvis and
Stern are respectful in their treatment of historical facts and universal elements in Judaism,
such as Jewish religious ideas and practices, shtetl folklore and the pogroms. Both writers
understand the value of these themes and let them serve as a narrative thread around which
other events take place. As Mirvis stresses, there is a dilemma when writing for an audience
that is not familiar with the Jewish communal memories, however, these contemporary
writers truly manifest their power in writing in translation. Between modern times and the Old
World past modern Jewish American fiction is born.
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Conclusion
Conclusively, the dichotomy between the portrayal of assimilation and Jewish culture
in contemporary Jewish American fiction is apparent. Assimilation has long been a prevalent
theme in Jewish American literature and only recently has this been countered by a voice
arguing against the loss of tradition. Third generation Jewish American writers were preceded
by first the immigrant writers who wrote about the immigrant experience and later by the
second generation Jewish Americans who felt disconnected from their cultural heritage as a
result of the anxiety of growing up between two worlds. Assimilation was the main focus of
many works of fiction by the second generation.
Observing how the interest in Jewish topics in fiction dwindled away after just one
generation led critics of Jewish American fiction to believe that the genre as a whole was to
disappear at lightning speed. Perhaps surprisingly, the opposite turned out to be true, many
third generation Jewish American writers have instead started exploring Jewish roots in their
fiction. As can be concluded from professor Marcus Hansen’s famous ‘Law of Third
Generation Return’, this can be marked up to an intergenerational process where the third
generation shows interest in that which the second generation discarded. Certainly, The
Frozen Rabbi by Steve Stern and The Modern World by Tova Mirvis are excellent examples
of books that demonstrate the validity of Jewish themes in contemporary American literature.
Moreover, aided by Hansen’s law they serve to challenge critics’ beliefs that Jewish
American literature has no future.
The negative effects of assimilation are a major theme in The Frozen Rabbi. Apathy,
obesity, corruption and moral depravity are character traits that serve well in order to describe
many of the characters in this book. Assimilation is offset by the journey into spirituality
which exalts Bernie. Bernie is arguably the moral conscience that his fully assimilated and
Americanized family lacks.
Likewise, The Outside World is riddled with attention towards the dichotomy between
assimilation and religion. Whereas assimilation in The Frozen Rabbi means conforming to
secular society, assimilation in The Outside World comes in two forms. For Baruch’s parents
assimilation means being Jewish, but not too Jewish. They feel it’s best to enjoy the best of
both worlds, on the one hand they value all the freedom that America has to offer and on the
other hand they like to observe Judaism in a modern way. Seeing their son become more
religiously observant than they themselves feel comfortable with is difficult to accept as it
comes across as a rejection of their way of life. The other form of assimilation is embodied by
Shayna who, raised as a secular Jew, looks up to frum women and wants nothing more than to
16
belong, to assimilate, to the strict Orthodox community. Shayna wants her daughter to have
the life that she didn’t have for herself and these expectations way heavy on Tzippy who feels
confined and restricted. Assimilation in The Outside World is embodied by people who define
themselves according to how the outside world perceives them. Baruch and Tzippy have
instead chosen to venture of the beaten path and have decided to assert their religious
identities on their own terms. In doing so, both experience freedom and a sense of happiness.
The importance of memory in Jewish tradition also plays a role in determining the line
between assimilation and tradition. Mirvis and Stern both emphasize the fact that history is
alive. Timetravel is possible for a writer, communal memories have constituted, and continue
to form, an important part of Jewish culture. They can be tapped into by treasuring them and
keeping them alive. Memory and tradition are what kept the Jewish religion and culture alive
throughout the centuries. With these elements serving as the stable, Jewish core of Jewish
American fiction, writers will continue to find imaginative, original voices that can carry the
genre of contemporary Jewish American fiction effortlessly through the foreseeable future.
In short, The Frozen Rabbi and The Modern World both offer compelling arguments to
value Jewish tradition and not discard it in the process of assimilation.
17
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