On this episode, host Marcela Sulak reads from a collection of S.Y. Agnon’s work including folk stories and midrashic tales. It’s called Forevermore & Other Stories, and is edited and annotated by Jeffrey Saks, and illustrated by Yosl Bergner. There is a area in Jerusalem known by the Arabic name Abu Tor, meaning “father of the ox.”
Here is an excerpt from the story “The Father of the Ox” about the origins of Abu Tor:
“Once upon a time there was an old man in Jerusalem. An old, old man he was, yet as
innocent as a child. Now this old man had neither child nor wife, but he had a little
house and he had a field and he had an ox. This ox had ample strength and a tender
heart. He felt sorry for his owner and used to serve him like a slave serves his
master. He would plough his field for him and fetch him up water from the spring;
and when it was necessary the old man would hang a basket with money round his
neck and would tell him, go to the market and fetch me my food. And the old man
wanted for nothing with him. I can only hope that we, too, may never lack for
anything either rin this world or the world to come. And the neighbors used to call
the old man Abu-Tor, or Father of the Ox, all because of the ox he had.”
Text:
Forevermore & Other Stories. Sy. Y. Agnon. Edited and Annotated by Jeffrey
Saks. Illustrated by Yosl Bergner. Toby Press, 2016
Music:
Naseer Shamma – The Moon Fades
Producer: Ariella Plachta
Technical producer: Tammy Goldenberg
