4. A thematic dialogue between several early Modern Jewish literature prose is this discussion of exile. This is perhaps unsurprising, given exile of the Jewish people is often a narrative framework for the Jewish way of life. The roots of this theme can be traced in to one of the inaugural Jewish literary prose authors, Medele Mocher Sforim, who writes in Shem and Japeth on the Train, “life in exile-this precious gift from God’s store- belongs only to Jews-His chosen people” (Sforim 35). In this story and in the Y.H. Brenner’s The Way Out Jews, how Jewish people live in exile is developed and displayed as an immense hardship, deleterious toward Jewish family and its future, and yields an unclear identity of what it means to be Jewish. First
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In The Way Out Brenner includes several descriptions of women and children in misery from the quote above. For example, in the opening of the story Brenner writes, “women and children who were chilled to the marrow and contorted with disease (Brenner 145),” and in during the end of the story he illustrates a sickly woman despairing about her dead child. These depictions of the dead women and children- those who can bear children and the next generation of Jewish society- can be understood as how exile is destroying the Jewish community and its future. Moreover, Brenner makes several mentions of the number of orphans in the refuge camp. Since there are many children without their parents they may not be able to learn the tradition of Judaism fully and carry it on. Similarly, in Sforim’s story, Reb Moshe’s daughter is unable to marry her Jewish fiancée due to the forced eviction and exile. This can also be interpreted as the separation Jewish family and thus Jewish communities. In this case, exile is keeping Jewish families from uniting and continuing their traditions. Also in Shem and Japeth On the Train, the family has another child while in exile. This child is born as a part of the exile, and is deprived of a true Jewish community and thus the future of Judaism is also
In The Way Out Brenner includes several descriptions of women and children in misery from the quote above. For example, in the opening of the story Brenner writes, “women and children who were chilled to the marrow and contorted with disease (Brenner 145),” and in during the end of the story he illustrates a sickly woman despairing about her dead child. These depictions of the dead women and children- those who can bear children and the next generation of Jewish society- can be understood as how exile is destroying the Jewish community and its future. Moreover, Brenner makes several mentions of the number of orphans in the refuge camp. Since there are many children without their parents they may not be able to learn the tradition of Judaism fully and carry it on. Similarly, in Sforim’s story, Reb Moshe’s daughter is unable to marry her Jewish fiancée due to the forced eviction and exile. This can also be interpreted as the separation Jewish family and thus Jewish communities. In this case, exile is keeping Jewish families from uniting and continuing their traditions. Also in Shem and Japeth On the Train, the family has another child while in exile. This child is born as a part of the exile, and is deprived of a true Jewish community and thus the future of Judaism is also