An Analysis of Singer’s Jewish themes in his Neighbors

郝建旭

Neighbors is a story about two old people living in the same building. One is Morris Terkeltoyb， another is Margit Levy， both of whom have a long spell of sickness. ‘Morris and Margit are friendly to me and are willing to read my books， communicate with me while their behaviors are somewhat weird. When they met in my house at the first time， they didn't leave a good impression to each other. So I guess they could not get on well after that. However， I heard that they live together because Margit was driven out of her apartment long after that. Meanwhile， Morris and Margit become companions in spiritual and literature. On account that Morris had a serious diabetes and prescribed insulin， Margit sent his writings to publishers instead of him； sometimes requested me to help， in order to continue his career.Finally， Morris and Margit died in succession.

Singer delineated Morris as “a lonesome old bachelor with a sick heart and one kidney”. The author implied that Morris was lonely both in mental and spiritual： as a migrant from Yiddish， perception of affiliation alienated him far away. He has to integrate American culture and stick to his own. Yiddish was his language， but he also spoke a broken English， faulty Polish. “He had no notion of syntax. He used commas and hyphens indiscriminately. Each sentence ended with three dashes.” It seems that Morris hasnt accepted fully American culture in his age without knowing where his root was. Without any relatives， he must learn how to survive in the cold American society and confront various kinds of difficulties.

Compared with Morris， his neighbor Margit faced the same perception. In reality， she is not a pure Yiddish- even she didnt recognize Yiddish， she pretended to behave as them. Once she criticized Morris： “Use your napkin. This is New York， not Klimontow.” From the surface， they were trying to integrate American life style； actually， they were confused by which kind of life they ought to seek.

Singers description emphasized on relationship changes and his observance towards these traditional Jewish people. In the beginning， both of them hated each other after their first counter. However， I don't think that is their true opinion， which is proved in the later. Otherwise， they wont live together later on. They have much in common： on one hand， both of them were immigrants from Jewish countries and lived in a loneness-they were lack of spiritual companions； one the other hand， their characters were the same： fond of boasting and longing to show their ridiculous dignity to others.

Singer once sited that： “one cannot be a Jew if one does not belong to Gods army and does not wear Gods stamp upon oneself. There is no such thing as a Jew without a bread and side locks， without a fringed ritual undergarment and a Gemara.”

Actually， Morris and Margit are strangers in gentile world- they neither belong to Jewish community nor enter into gentile world； that is to say， doubly outsiders. All in all， it is the society to be blame instead of them. Singer held a deep sympathy towards them and exclaimed social indifference and ruthless. The experience of Singers protagonists reveals the common state of human beings. The moral downfall and the temptation of secularism take human beings to the abyss of devil. All people in this world are undergoing spiritual puzzlement and identity crisis. Human beings are turning to some strength for attachment and consolation. Singer could feel strongly Morris and Margit were suffering great dilemma in spiritual： they struggled to shake off traditional legacies as well as to try to regain peace and happy though traditional classic and religions. The “secularism” of “this world” and the sacredness of the “other world” obsess human beings throughout our entire life.

People as Morris and Margit are worth sympathy. Singer feels responsible to help suffering mankind find religious basis and moral principles. Indeed， Singer believed that， the chief task of the modern writers is to find a religious faith that addresses the moral problems of our time. The doctrines of this faith will include the existence of free will and a God “who speaks in deeds， not in words”. Besides sacred， the faith will also allow man all possible pleasures， all the powers and knowledge that nature can grant him. Singer is such a writer who realizes the “sickness” of modernity and points out the only solution is through “God” to make them fit into our moral code.