Agunah

Early on in his novel, Chaim Grade defines the title's meaning. An agunah is a widow who under traditional rabbinic law is prohibited from remarrying because the husband's death can not be officially confirmed. In the case of the title's character the husband is reported killed in the war when his entire company is wiped out. However, no body was ever recovered nor were there any eye-witnesses to the death. With the plot thus set, the story becomes an intriguing collection of shady and noble characters as well as the battleground for the ideals of freedom, love, desire, and cultural imperatives. Will the town's beautiful agunah be permitted to remarry? Will she abide by her religion's restraints or fatally follow her heart's desire? Ah, this is the stuff for which book club's were made. I gave this great classic 4 out of 5 stars because some may not take to the dark melancholic mood of the book. Also some may not be able to connect with such a prohibitive religious law in our post-modern society. That being said, Chaim Grade's novel is a great read full of(if not a bit overly so)thrilling human pathos.

I was surprised by the intimate and moving portrait this novel gives of the Jewish religious world. The setting of the novel is Vilna Lithuania some time shortly after the First World War. The heroine Merl is an Agunah a woman whose husband has disappeared without there being one witness to confirm his death. She is according to Jewish Law prohibited from being married, and so in effect has her life suspended. The central element in the story is the rabbinical dispute over permitting her remarriage. The one Rabbi , David Zelzer who does find a way of permitting it is condemned by a stricter, official of the Rabbinical Council. This condemnation leads to the series of tragedies which subsequently ensue. Without going into further detail about the plot of the novel I would only like to say that Grade is a very warm and sympathetic writer. There is one simple villain in this piece, the wealthy businessman who had wanted to marry Merl even before she met her first husband, but on the whole characters are portrayed as complex and good- intentioned. For instance the strict Rabbi who makes the ruling forbidding the marriage is portrayed sympathetically also. He is a widower whose only daughter is deranged, and who is unable to save her. Other characters are also portrayed in their complex mix of motives and actions. In the background is the Jewish religious community of Vilna. Grade portraits their struggles and conflicts. In his introduction to the volume the translator from Yiddish to English Curt Leviant says that Grade does nothing less than provide an authentic picture of the Jewish world lost in the Holocaust. This is a very fine work, and a deeply Jewish one. It is most highly recommended.

This is a Jewish novel written by Chaim Grade in Yiddish. There are English translations. This novel is set in Vilna, the Jerusalem of Lithuania. It is a fictional work about the Orthodox Jews in Eastern Europe. This particular novel, The Agunah, is about a widow who is forbidden to marry because her husband's body was never recovered nor did anyone ever witness his death during wartime. This is a problem for the protagonist, Merl, because she cannot remarry under Jewish law without the permission of a rabbi and there is no rabbi who could give her permission because there is no witness to her husband's death. Many other conflicts unfold as the novel persists. The entire town becomes involved in one way or another. There are two men fighting for her love and for her to marry them. Who will it be? Can she even remarry? You must read to find out. But you will learn more from this novel than those answers. You will learn how the Orthodox Jews live and a little about their customs. It is an educational experience entagled with a great story! I truly loved this novel and believe that it is one of the greatest works of fiction I have ever read!