Books of Jacob | I. Book of Fog, Chapter 3
"Fog is turbid water, and all sorts of evil spirits travel in it, spirits that cloud the minds of animal and man."
“Along the way, they got swept up in a dense fog, and when that happened, all of a sudden, all of the wedding guests began to feel uncomfortable, and that was precisely when Yente started to groan like she needed the others to pay her some attention. Fog is turbid water, and all sorts of evil spirits travel in it, spirits that cloud the minds of animal and man.”
Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob, I. Fog, Chapter 3, p. 915
In chapter 3, we learn more about Asher Rubin, the medical Jew who helped the noble Katarzyna Kossakowska, but who feels trapped in Rohatyn, and searches for my enlightened insight into the world. We enter the “beehive” of the Shorr family and through it the social world of the Jews of Podolia. In the same house in which Yente escapes death, there is a wedding that will enlarge the Shorr family. We learn about the study of the Torah and the Zohar, the secret book that Chmielowski was searching for. The Shorrs write letters from these books on an amulet which Yente swallows and from then “Yente’s vision knows no such borders after all” (p. 907).
The character this week is the Shorr family and specifically its patriarch Rabbi Elisha Shorr. In “The beehive, or: The home of the Shorr family in Rohatyn”, Tokarczuk writes
In the Shorr’s house on the market square as well as in several others—for the Shorr family is big and has many branches—preparations for the wedding are ongoing. One of the sons is getting married.
(Tokarczuk, Books of Jacob, p.925)
Yente describes Elisa as a “bitter and dissatisfied man.” His only daughter Hayah is a prophetess. His home is central to Jewish life in Rohatyn. The Shorrs will play a major role in the novel. They represent Jewish society in 18th century Poland, and how Jacob Frank will change it.
For paid subscribers below I have some more notes to enrich your Slow Read.
chat question -
character, the Shorr family - I have drawn up a family tree of the Shorr family for you to refer to through the novel
context - Jews in 18th century Poland and how Jacob Frank will catalyse change.
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