Fic­tion

Shloyml Boyml and His Lucky Dreydl

  • From the Publisher
September 1, 2020
The tal­ent­ed Klezmer musi­cian, (trom­bon­ist) Shloyml Boyml (Solo­moon Oil) from Buhuși, embarks on a long jour­ney to buy the best Israeli olive oil – the one thing need­ed for the Buhuși com­mu­ni­ty to once again stand vic­to­ri­ous in the year­ly Latke con­test. Will he man­age to bring the oil back home in time, or will he be stopped by the devi­ous Nebish broth­ers? In the end, it all comes down to a thrilling game of drey­dl! This sto­ry comes from the author’s exten­sive ethno­graph­ic research he has done over the last thir­ty years in East­ern Europe among the rem­nant Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties. The sto­ry comes from a con­ver­sa­tion Strom had with the sex­ton of the syn­a­gogue in Pia­tra Nemt, Roma­nia about how Jews who could afford it would go to the city of Con­tansa and pur­chase olive oil made in Israel (then in the Ottoman Empire) to use for cook­ing and light­ing their Khanukias for the fes­ti­val of Khanuka.

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