Lessons in the Fable of Short Friday

            Religion is the key aspect of Issac Bashevis Singer’s short story Short Friday.  In the story, a Jewish elderly couple, Shmul-Leibele and his wife Shoshe, are living in the village of Lapschitz who work with honor and diligence to serve their God and treat each other with love and respect.  Shmul-Leibele is portrayed as a simpleton and inefficient in his trade, although he works with integrity, such as using only the strongest threads and how none of his seams ever gave. Shmul-Leibele and his wife are committed to doing the right thing.  Although Shmul-Leibele was not the most intelligent person, his obligation to his religion was solid.  The children in the synagogue made fun of the elderly couple, because the children have received a formal education in Hebrew and the Torah and the couple has not and are therefore perceived as unintelligent; however, the couple’s dedication to Judaism and its traditions make the formal education irrelevant at the end of the story.  , the couple’s honor, dedication, and kindness towards their religion, each other, and others makes them eligible to go to Paradise in the end.  It makes this story a sort of fable or a parable to treat others kindly, to be honorable in all that you do, and to have religion be the center of your life and then you have nothing to fear after death. 

            What makes the “lesson” or point of this fable so interesting is how most religions these days are all about learning the words of the Holy Books and getting an education and damning everyone to Hell and getting caught up in politics, whereas this simple story is just about honoring the traditions, being honorable, and being kind to one another and then you will go to Paradise.  Most religions these days are in the news for some sort of controversy or for being back in the “dark ages” or for arguing with another religious entity and I think this story can teach something to everyone, regardless of their religion.  You don’t have to be the most intelligent, or the richest, or have the best education.  Just be kind and be honorable, and then you don’t have to worry about what happens after death.  Do not mock or hate, just honor and respect everyone and you should be fine.  Maybe it’s not even talking about death- it might just be talking about life.  If you are honorable and kind in all that you do, you can go on to lead a better life.  

Sarah Callanan

Short Friday

Short Friday, by I.B. Singer, is a short story describing the life of Shmul-Leibele and his wife, Shoshe. They are both devout members of the Jewish faith and follow the teachings of their religion to a t. While most of the story concentrates on the couple’s religious practices, there is a steady focus on the preparation and eating of food that the two reserve for the Sabbath. A considerable amount of the setting and action of Singer’s story follows this in great detail. Singer does this in order to create irony in the story. The couple so devoutly follows the Jewish religion and makes an effort to live their lives by the Jewish faith that it is ironic and strange to see them put so much effort and hard work into a meal that they eat on the day of rest. The amount of effort that Shoshe puts into finding the food and preparing meals that take “Shmul-Leibele’s breath away” (71) is intriguing. They live their lives based on prayer and skimp on meals through out the week to save for the extravagant meal on the Sabbath. It is as if Shmul-Leibele and Shoshe reward themselves with a fanciful feast for the good job that they do in following their faith so closely. They try to purge themselves of sins and temptations but then weigh themselves down with a huge meal that is laborious to make. The irony is continued at the end of the story. It is a short Friday and the Sabbath dinner has been consumed and Shmul-Leibele and Shoshe have gone to bed already, full and content from their meal of pike, whiskey, chicken soup, and dessert. Shmul-Leibele awakes, overcome by a desire for his wife. They do what married couples do and are about to fall back asleep when Shoshe is “afraid something is burning in the oven.” (73) She wants to go check on this but her husband discourages her. They go back to sleep and they wake up after a terrible nightmare to find that they are both dead and buried together. The irony that comes into play here is that they both are killed by the food that they work hard to make and indulge in. The food that they look forward to every week ultimately caused their demise. 

She's Out of Your League

She’s Out of Your League

There are always couples that make people stop and scratch their heads. Couples that do not fit together in the perfect way society expects them to.  One may be beautiful while the other is plain, or one successful while the other is not.  The saying “she is out of his league” could easily be applied to “Short Friday.”  In “Short Friday,” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, a woman marries a man who is considered by all far beneath her in looks and capabilities, but she does it for love.  Shoshe is a beautiful and godly woman, and many men wanted her as a wife.  Her husband, Shmul-Leibele, is a poor tailor and a simpleton, but he is a devote Jew and that is what brings them together.  In modern day, this story could go very differently. 

In an urban ghetto their story would change.  With social media, cell phones, and with other media it would be much harder for Shoshe to turn “a deaf ear” to the townswomen who believe she should divorce her husband (67).  She would be in constant reminder of the shortcomings of her spouse, and it would be much harder for her to remain unwaveringly devoted.  She would be more likely to notice the differnces between her and her husband, as they would be evident through social media.  Pictures in which “Shoshe towered over him by a head” would be laughed at, and she might become  self aware of their differences (67).  It would also be harder for her husband to shake off the snide comments of those around him.  If when the “wags saddled him with a variety of nicknames and made him the butts off all sorts of pranks” they were messaged to him or in writing it would be harder for him to forget them (67).  When things are put on the Internet or shown in writing, it is more difficult to forget about them than when they are just said.  Shmul-Leibele would be much less amiable in a modern ghetto due to the constancy of the cruel comments.

Many other parts of their story would be altered in a modern setting.  People would be less likely to understand the seriousness of their devotion to their faith, and the preparation of food would be seriously altered.  The wife would not need to spend all day preparing food, which is an act that she preforms in devotion to her husband. Without the ritual of the hours spent plucking geese or kneading dough, she would have more time to do things for herself, further removing herself from her husband. Lastly a difference would be the background noise.  There would no longer be a cricket chirping while Shoshe cooked, instead it would be replaced with the sound of people (69).  That change in the mood, from peace to hustle and bustle perfectly symbolizes the difference there would be if the story were told in a modern day setting.

Impact of Shmul-Leibele's faith on other areas of his life

In narrative fiction, there are many character details that the author includes that may seem unimportant to the reader but in actuality are essential to a character's development. Singer begins the piece by laying the background of the two characters, Shmul-Leibele, and his wife Shoshe. The married couple are very religious, and the description of Shmul's job serves as an analogy of his spiritual relationship with God. Singer goes to considerable lengths to foray into the nuances of Shmul-Leibele's occupation as "half tailor, half furrier, and a complete pauper" to illustrate his complete devotion to his religion. Shmul is a tailor, and is described as having "never mastered his trade" and being slow and inefficient with his work. However, "despite his shortcomings, it must be said that Shmul-Leibele was an honorable man. He used only strong threads and none of his seams ever gave." (p 67). Singer's portrayal of Shmul's commitment to doing the right thing by giving his best effort and using the best materials parallels his commitment to his faith because while he may not always be the most knowledgeable, etc. when it comes to religion ("although Shmul-Leibele was a poor scholar, unable to memorize a chapter of the Misnah, he was well-versed in the laws") his effort and dedication is unwavering (p 68). He tries to live his life in the manner his faith instructs him to, and this is reflected in his commitment to tailoring, his kindness to those who ridicule and mock him, and also his commitment to his wife. His love for Shoshe is consistently demonstrated throughout the story, whether through bits of dialogue, "God forbid! You must remain in good health. I'd rather rot in Gehenna" (p 69) or his physical affection for her "How was it possible, he would think, that he, Shmul-Leibele, should have such a treasure all to himself?"(p 72). While Shmul and Shoshe are made fun of by the young children at the synagogue who go to "cheder" and receive formal education in Hebrew, the Bible, and prayers, the couple tries to live in a virtuous and holy manner. When they both die at the end of the story, they are taken to Heaven together, as a reward for living a life of unwavering dedication to their faith and each other. Singer shows that it is not just how many times a week one goes to synagogue, or how many times a day that they pray, but rather the intent and meaning behind those actions. This, and whether one treats another in the manner their faith instructs, ultimately determines if one will go to Paradise when they die.

A Balance between Life and Death

Why does the action and setting turn so much on food and food preparation? What is the connection between food and the other concerns of the story, such as religion, incompetence, marriage, and death?

In Short Friday, in the village of Lapschitz—a small town in Poland—there lived an elderly man and woman who so dearly loved one another very much. The man went by the name Shmul-Leibele and the woman went by the name Shoshe. Shmul-Leibele was a small, clumsy, slow worker, yet an honest and honorable man; Shoshe was a beautiful, honest, diligent, and hard-working woman. They both were very fortunate to have one another, and together, they created a life, and a home devoted to the observance of Jewish rituals. They did not have any children, but that did not keep them from loving one another (Singer 67).
           One Friday, of which was considered the shortest day of the year since the town was snowed in, and no one knew what time of the day it was, the husband and wife enjoy a feast together after the husband got home from church(Singer 69). After ravenously devouring all the food, Shoshe and Shmul-Leibele fell asleep together, and never woke up again. They had suffocated from the fumes of the stove and died.

In this short story, food played an important role in it. Food was used as a metaphor, a balance between life and death. It demonstrates how death comes knocking when food is consumed without restraint. Food is a necessity for survival, but at the same time, food can play a dark role, for it is a pathway between life and death, just like it was a pathway that lead Shoshe and Shmul-Leibele to Paradise. The food had left them so full and exhausted that they were unable to wake themselves up and prevent their own death and thus were guided into Paradise by an angel of God (Singer 74).

Works Cited:

Chatman, Seymour and Brian Attebery. "Short Friday by Isaac Bashevis Singer."  Reading 

            Narrative Fiction. New York: Macmillan, 1993. 66-74. Print.