re: #233 LudwigVanQuixote

Ludwig, did you know that the great Martin Buber wrote a novel?

It is all about Hassidim living in the shtetls in the age of the Napoleonic wars.

One of the protagonists believes that Napoleon is the Gog of the Bible and gets into all kinds of serious monkey business with sorcery and stuff, trying to bring about the advent of Mochiach.

His counterpart, the wise one, points out over and over again that the exile of the Jews and the sufferings of the diaspora are the result of baseless hatred, and without doing something about that, any attempts to force the hand of history are not only pointless, but blasphemous.

I read the book when I was a student in Germany. Buber wrote in German, but then usually translated his own works into Hebrew. It is available from Amazon in English translation.

Some of the characters are unforgettable.

What the rashas are doing now borders on trying to foment and fan the flames of a war that they hope will result in the Millennium, or Moshiach, or some kind of grand conflagration that they assume will bring about their little personal paradises.

I’m cryin’.