Jewish literature's greatest 100 selected

By Adam Gorlick
Associated Press

AMHERST, Mass. — From a dairyman named Tevye to down-and-out salesman Willie Loman, characters living in Jewish books, plays and poems have fought to define their place in society.

For the past two years, they've been caught in a different type of struggle: Where do they fit in the scope of Jewish writing?

Fans of Tevye and Willie can rest easy knowing "Tevye the Dairyman" and "Death of a Salesman" made it onto a new list of the 100 greatest works of modern Jewish literature.

But the seven scholars and writers who compiled the list don't want readers to take their word on what's best.

In fact, they say, they hope their picks will generate debate over the books. And debate will inspire interest.

"No one will ever completely agree on what the 100 best books are," said Aaron Lansky, president of the National Yiddish Book Center, which brought the judges together. The center has posted the list on its Web site, and will publish it in Pakn Treger, its magazine.

"But if we get people to at least start arguing, we've accomplished something," Lansky said. "That will keep these works alive."

Boiling thousands of titles down to a top 100 was no easy task for the judges from Massachusetts, New York, California, Britain and Israel. They started about two years ago, and met twice to defend their personal choices and attack others. The rest of their wrangling happened through e-mail.

At stake was not only a judge's favorite work written since the late 18th century, but also a definition of "Jewish literature."

In the end, they settled on two criteria: The author must be Jewish, and the works must explore Jewish themes or experiences.

"From 100 different points of view, the list addresses Jewish experiences," Lansky said.

That means a play like Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," where Loman isn't specifically identified as a Jew, was an eligible choice.

"Willie Loman was someone with an outsider's perspective," Lansky said. "That has resonance with the Jewish community."

Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem's "Tevye the Dairyman," a collection of short stories that laid the groundwork for "Fiddler on the Roof," was one of two works on which the judges were unanimous.

"That work speaks to the past, the present and the future, about a Jew's place in society," said Ilan Stavans, a professor of Jewish studies at Amherst College. "I adore that book."

The other easy choice was Henry Roth's "Call It Sleep," about a Jewish immigrant child's coming of age on New York's East Side.

But the other 98 works — as diverse as Philip Roth's 1991 novel, "Patrimony," about a father dying from a brain tumor; Anne Frank's account of the Holocaust in "The Diary of a Young Girl"; and a 1919 poetic drama called "The Golem," about a creature made out of clay to protect a Jewish community — were hotly contested.

After the judges' first face-to-face meeting at the National Yiddish Book Center in September 2000, the panel agreed on the first 36 titles for the list. Their second meeting last February brought the tally to 98. It would be three months before the 99th title was added. The final work wasn't agreed on until November.

On the Web:
yiddishbookcenter.org