I.L. Peretz was a major Yiddish author, playwright, and prominent Jewish radical devoted to both socialism and the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment). In the 1950s, Rav Soloveitchik addressed the secular Yiddishist Workmen's Circle, opening with a poignant question: "How do I, a Gemara Jew, come to speak about Peretz, a radical, a maskil, a heretic? It is a good question, for which there is also a good answer." The Rav then explored Peretz’s conflicted inner world by examining the deeply religious characters in his fiction. While Peretz seemed to mock these figures, he actually possessed a profound sensitivity to their religious inner world—a spiritual awareness that Peretz himself secretly shared but tried to suppress.

00:00 - 08:02 Perek Shira and man's freedom to betray his Maker

08:03 - 13:37 "Shehasimcha Bime'ono" - Joy in His abode

13:37 - 20:03 Peretz's real soul and his pseudo-soul

20:21 - 35:28 "The Crazy Idler" - Peretz's story of temptation

35:28 - 47:37 "Bontsche Schweig" and the Image of God

47:37 - 1:00:06 "Travel Pictures: A Boy" - I am black but beautiful 1:00:06 - 1:06:58 "Transmigrations of a Melody" - The fall and rise of a nigun (melody)

Rav Soloveitchik here quotes and discusses the following texts by Peretz:

1. "In Whose Dwelling Is Joy" (She-ha-simkhah bi-me'ono / שהשמחה במעונו) [08:03]
2. 2. "The Mad Talmudist / The Crazy Idler" (Der meshugener batlen / דער משוגענער בטלן) [13:37 & 20:21]
3. 3. "The Shtrayml / The Fur Hat" (Dos shtrayml / דאָס שטריימל) [14:14]
4. 4. "If Not Higher" (Oyb nisht nokh hekher / אויב נישט נאָך העכער) [27:13]
5. 5. "Bontshe Shvayg / Bontshe the Silent" (Bontshe shvayg / באָנטשע שווײַג) [35:28]
6. 6. "Kabbalists" (Mekubolim / מקובלים) [45:22]
7. 7. "Three Gifts" (Dray matones / דרײַ מתנות) [53:24 & 54:35]
8. 8. "The Golden Chain" (Di goldene keyt / די גאָלדענע קייט) [53:42]
9. 9. "Travel Pictures / Impressions of a Journey ("Just Go!" & "A Little Boy")" (Rayze-bilder ("Nor gey!" & "A ingele") / רײַזע־בילדער (״נאָר גיי!״ און ״אַ ייִנגעלע״)) [47:37 (quoted 56:26)]
10. 10. "Migrations of a Melody / The Transmigration of a Melody" (A gilgul fun a nigun / אַ גלגול פֿון אַ ניגון) [1:00:06 (quoted 1:01:26)]

Meticulously subtitled and annotated by Yehudah DovBer Zirkind

For comprehensive bibliographic information and links click on the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WH0Ca0AzKzBAUc4_rYFBJ9X2E9fDiR04DyIJZ6OTYcU/edit?usp=sharing