{"product_id":"the-tale-of-a-niggun-isbn-9780805243635","title":"The Tale of a Niggun","description":"\u003cb\u003eElie Wiesel’s heartbreaking narrative poem about history, immortality, and the power of song, accompanied by magnificent full-color illustrations by award-winning artist Mark Podwal. Based on an actual event that occurred during World War II.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It is the evening before the holiday of Purim, and the Nazis have given the ghetto’s leaders twenty-four hours to turn over ten Jews to be hanged to “avenge” the deaths of the ten sons of Haman, the villain of the Purim story, which celebrates the triumph of the Jews of Persia over potential genocide some 2,400 years ago. If the leaders refuse, the entire ghetto will be liquidated. Terrified, they go to the ghetto’s rabbi for advice; he tells them to return the next morning. Over the course of the night the rabbi calls up the spirits of legendary rabbis from centuries past for advice on what to do, but no one can give him a satisfactory answer. The eighteenth-century mystic and founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, tries to intercede with God by singing a niggun—a wordless, joyful melody with the power to break the chains of evil.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The next evening, when no volunteers step forward, the ghetto’s residents are informed that in an hour they will all be killed. As the minutes tick by, the ghetto’s rabbi teaches his assembled community the song that the Baal Shem Tov had sung the night before. And then the voices of these men, women, and children soar to the heavens.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e How can the heavens not hear?“A short nar­ra­tive poem with dev­as­tat­ing impact, beau­ti­ful­ly illus­trat­ed and accom­pa­nied by a help­ful glos­sary con­tex­tu­al­iz­ing ref­er­ences to his­toric rab­bis, cities, and con­cepts, includ­ing that of the nig­gun, a mys­ti­cal song that one rab­bi called ​‘the pen of the soul.’ ”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Jewish Book Council\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “The tale and its lesson are classically Wiesel. Human and beautiful, it empowers the powerless. It’s traditional for Jews to place stones on graves; this story, based on several examples from history, places a pebble on an already insurmountable pile of rocks. \u003ci\u003eThe Tale of a Niggun\u003c\/i\u003e is, of course, a Jewish book, but also not a Jewish book. Jewish stories, even in the present tense, are ancient stories, and the question and lesson central to the book are as present now as they’ve been since Eve left Eden . . . Frequent Wiesel illustrator Mark Podwal’s watercolor paintings are lovely.\u003cb\u003e”\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—New York Journal of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e “Accompanied by Mark Podwal's quietly haunting full-page illustrations, Wiesel’s spare language cuts to the heart of human loss while the rhythms of the poetry capture the sad, endless march of inhumanity through history. At the same time, this poem sings out the power of belief and community and love.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Kirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThe author of more than sixty works of fiction and nonfiction, \u003cb\u003eELIE WIESEL\u003c\/b\u003e was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor's Grand Cross, an honorary knighthood of the British Empire and, in 1986, the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University for forty years, until his death in 2016.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMARK PODWAL\u003c\/b\u003e has written and illustrated more than a dozen books, and has illustrated more than two dozen works by such authors as Elie Wiesel, Heinrich Heine, Harold Bloom, and Francine Prose. \u003ci\u003eKing Solomon and His Magic Ring\u003c\/i\u003e, a collaboration with Wiesel, received the Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators, and \u003ci\u003eYou Never Know, \u003c\/i\u003ea collaboration with Prose, received a National Jewish Book Award. His art is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Prague's National Gallery, and the Jewish museums in Berlin, Vienna, Prague, and New York, among other venues. Honors he has received include being named Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government, the Jewish Cultural Achievement Award from the Foundation for Jewish Culture, and the Gratias Agit Prize from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.A ghetto, \u003cbr\u003e somewhere in the East, \u003cbr\u003e during the reign of night, \u003cbr\u003e under skies of copper \u003cbr\u003e and fire. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The leaders of the community, \u003cbr\u003e good people all, \u003cbr\u003e courageous all, \u003cbr\u003e fearing God and loving His Law, \u003cbr\u003e came to see \u003cbr\u003e the rabbi \u003cbr\u003e who has cried and cried, \u003cbr\u003e and has searched \u003cbr\u003e darkness \u003cbr\u003e for an answer \u003cbr\u003e with such passion \u003cbr\u003e that he no longer \u003cbr\u003e can see. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e It’s urgent, \u003cbr\u003e they tell him, \u003cbr\u003e it’s more than urgent; \u003cbr\u003e it’s a matter \u003cbr\u003e of life or death\u003cbr\u003e for some Jews \u003cbr\u003e and perhaps \u003cbr\u003e all Jews. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Speak, \u003cbr\u003e says the rabbi, \u003cbr\u003e tell me all: \u003cbr\u003e I wish not to be spared. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This is what the enemy demands, \u003cbr\u003e says the oldest \u003cbr\u003e of the old Jews \u003cbr\u003e to the rabbi, \u003cbr\u003e who listens \u003cbr\u003e breathlessly. \u003cbr\u003e The enemy demands \u003cbr\u003e ten Jews, \u003cbr\u003e chosen by us \u003cbr\u003e and handed over to him \u003cbr\u003e before tomorrow evening. \u003cbr\u003e Tomorrow is Purim, \u003cbr\u003e and the enemy, \u003cbr\u003e planning to avenge \u003cbr\u003e Haman’s ten sons, \u003cbr\u003e will hang ten of our own, \u003cbr\u003e says the oldest \u003cbr\u003e of the old Jews. \u003cbr\u003e And he asks: \u003cbr\u003e What are we to do, rabbi? \u003cbr\u003e Tell us what to do. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd his colleagues, \u003cbr\u003e brave people \u003cbr\u003e though frightened, \u003cbr\u003e repeat after him: \u003cbr\u003e What are we to do, rabbi? \u003cbr\u003e Tell us what to do. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e We are afraid, \u003cbr\u003e says the oldest \u003cbr\u003e of the old Jews, \u003cbr\u003e afraid to make a decision—\u003cbr\u003e afraid to make the wrong decision: \u003cbr\u003e Help us, rabbi, \u003cbr\u003e decide for us—and \u003cbr\u003e in our place. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e And the rabbi, \u003cbr\u003e their guide, \u003cbr\u003e feels his knees weakening, \u003cbr\u003e the blood rushing to his face, \u003cbr\u003e his chest is ready to burst, \u003cbr\u003e and the room is turning, \u003cbr\u003e turning, \u003cbr\u003e turning around him, \u003cbr\u003e and so is the earth, \u003cbr\u003e and so are the skies, \u003cbr\u003e and soon, \u003cbr\u003e he feels, \u003cbr\u003e he will fall \u003cbr\u003e as falls the blind man, \u003cbr\u003e a victim of night \u003cbr\u003e and its prowlers. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe demands an answer, \u003cbr\u003e says the oldest \u003cbr\u003e of the old Jews, \u003cbr\u003e the enemy demands an answer; \u003cbr\u003e tell us what it must be, \u003cbr\u003e our duty is to guide \u003cbr\u003e just as ours is to follow. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e What should we do \u003cbr\u003e or say? \u003cbr\u003e ask the leaders \u003cbr\u003e of the ghetto \u003cbr\u003e somewhere in the East \u003cbr\u003e under forbidden \u003cbr\u003e and cursed skies; \u003cbr\u003e what can we do \u003cbr\u003e so as not to be doomed?","brand":"Schocken","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301512106213,"sku":"NP9780805243635","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780805243635.jpg?v=1767741767","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-tale-of-a-niggun-isbn-9780805243635","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}