“Am HaSepharim” [“The People of the Books” - short story].

SILVER, ELIEZER.

Early 20th-century

Autograph Hebrew Manuscript, Signed. Written in cursive Aschkenazic hand.

Rabbi Eliezer Silver (1882-1968), served as rabbi in Harrisburg, Penn., Springfield, Mass., and Cincinnati, as well as President of the Agudath HaRabanim of the USA and Canada. The overwhelming majority of Rabbi Eliezer Silver’s literary oeuvre consists of halachic novellae and responsa. This is his only known instance of a foray into the realm of fiction. The present story is set in a mythical kingdom that abandoned its religious practices. There remains but a single priest yet loyal to the old ways, a lone figure living in isolation. The Temple has become so overgrown with weeds that word spreads that it is inhabited by ghosts. Cut-off from their traditional moorings, the people grow pessimistic. Morale reaches such a low that the government officials seek ways to liven things up. With that goal in mind, they build theaters and arrange public celebrations and literary events. Writers proliferate; their aim is to amuse and entertain. However eventually, the people grow tired of the writers and their books. Revolution foments. The king is at a loss as to how to retain his kingdom. There then appears on the scene an ancient white-haired man, reading a book written in foreign characters. As he speaks, his voice takes on authority: “My children, once upon a time you had Sabbaths and festivals, you believed in God and lived in tranquility, but since the wind of atheism blew in, you are as lost sheep.” The story is signed “Erez,” the nom de plume of Eliezer Silver. (R. Silver’s haiachic work is entitled “Anphei Erez.”). Without doubt, Rabbi Silver saw himself in the role of the elder sage, whose mission to the lost Jews of America was to remind them of their ancient heritage.