The Dawning of the Day: A Jerusalem Tale - Softcover

Sabato, Haim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592641415 ISBN 13: 9781592641413

Publisher: The Toby Press, 2008

Synopsis

Ezra Siman Tov is a simple storyteller who captivates his friends in the Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem. His professor brother-in-law gives him grudging respect, Torah scholars listen to him surreptitiously, and a famous author bases his work on his tales. But Ezra has a secret that overshadows his family life and refuses to leave him. In this colorful novel, Sabato creates a world in which faith provides a framework and a deep source of comfort in life.

About this title

Review

With a keen eye for custom, award-winning Sabato (Aleppo Tales) beautifully captures the daily rhythms of an Israeli Sephardic community. Ezra Siman Tov has worked in the same laundry next to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehudah market for 50 years, cleaning and pressing prayer shawls to adorn a bevy of grooms as they await their brides under the bridal canopy. But Ezra is also a storyteller, and the characters at his command include a blind violinist whose plaintive tunes melt even the hardest of hearts; a frustrated scholar who pulls a prank and pretends his own verse is really the creation of a famous medieval poet; a yeshiva student whose planned treatise on the Talmud is threatened by writer's block; and a judge whose sight is miraculously restored after its loss is falsely rumored to be divine punishment for taking bribes. A pious, simple man who is generally content with his lot in life, Ezra must contend with the gentrification that threatens the laundry and with his beloved daughter's defection to Christian missionaries. His measured response conveys a community's timelessness. --Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

Synopsis

A humble man and a religious man, who worked as a presser in a laundry, Ezra Siman Tov was also a teller of stories, stories that enthralled and captivate his friends in their old Nachlaot neighbourhood of Jerusalem. His brother-in-law, Dr Tawil, gives him a grudging respect, the Torah scholars listen surreptitiously and the Great Writer - SY Agnon - took his stories and gave them form. But along with his stories, Ezra also has a shame and a secret, which overshadowed his family. And his secret suffering never left himquite free.Haim Sabato, the award winning writer, recreates a lost world in which faith provides a framework for life and a deep source of comfort. A bestseller in Israel among both secular and religious readers, "The Dawning Of The Day" is a solace and comfort for all. It has been translated by Yaacob Dweck from the original Hebrew.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Toby Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1592641415
• ISBN 13: 9781592641413
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168