A Small Town is a World
The 'Rabbi Stories' by David Kossof
Published Robson Books, 1979
188pp, hardback
ISBN: 0 86051 057 3

I'm horrified to realise I've had this book over twenty years; that it is over twenty years since I heard David Kossof himself tell some of the stories in person at a book presentation. Perhaps even worse is the fact that I remember hearing his work way back in the late sixties when a forward-thinking school mistress read it to us in assemblies: it was thought that it was suitable for the mixed faith services which were held once a week.

I hope that since then it has been reprinted over and over, as it deserves. The state of the pages and the tattered dust-cover of my own copy shows how often it has been read, and how well-loved it is. Without even opening it, I can remember many of the tales of the peasant folk of the little town of Klaneshtetl. Of course Klaneshtetl is fictitious, though typical of the type of town in the Western part of Russia that included Poland and Lithuania, back at the turn of the century. The people, too, are fictitious; stereotyped, some might say. There's Mark the good natured Rabbi who deals with everything and everyone with gentle humour, and all the townspeople who pay his wages and want good value for their money, expecting him to act as psychiatrist, magistrate and cousellor. And then there's Sophie, Mark's wife, who is depicted as a good cook and good housewife, content to keep a low profile, but when roused showing profound wisdom.

Wisdom. That, I think is the word that comes to mind from reading this book. There are forty-nine tales, each just a couple of pages long, hardly more than anecdotes. But every one shows that David Kossof is a fine observer of human nature, and a great believer in the ultimate goodness of individuals. There is no malice in this humour; it is gentle and innocent. That doesn't mean that it's superficial; indeed, each tale shows us profound truths about life and our attitude to it.