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Book Review | A Rebbe with a Fiddle and No Followers

JL;DR SUMMARY Howard Langer's debut novel, "The Last Dekrepitzer," follows Rebbe Shmuel Meir Lichtbencher, the lone survivor of a fictional Hasidic sect destroyed in the Holocaust. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

IdentityHolocaustMusicFaithAmericaSurvivalHistorical FictionHasidicRace RelationsCross Cultural

Places mentioned

Lesser Poland, Poland
"When he returns to his shtetl in the southern mountains of Poland, all he finds is Shoah-wrought death and destruction."
Naples, Italy
"Eventually, the rebbe finds his way to Naples, Italy, where he plays music with Black American soldiers."
Mississippi, United States
"lives for some years among the Black inhabitants of the rural Mississippi Delta, where he goes by the name of Sam Lightup."
New York, United States
"But Langers novel also conjures up the rebbes odyssey in the America of the late 1940s and 1950s. He falls in love with a Black woman named Lula, who embraces Judaism and, under Jewish law, which he himself administers, marries her, though the marriage is illegal under Mississippi law."
Harlem, New York, United States
"Sam flees alone to New York, lives in Harlem and plays his violin at the Columbus Circle subway station."
San Francisco, California, United States
"Michael Krasny is an award-winning journalist and the former host of the talk show Forum for public radio station KQED in San Francisco."

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Retrieved 2024-12-05 05:31:06 UTC
Curated 2024-12-05 08:31:00 UTC