In the days of Simon Stern;: A novel,

by Arthur Allen Cohen

Nathan, a blind Jewish scribe, tells the story of the coming of the Messiah in the person of one Simon Stern—from his birth on the Lower East Side, through his career as a millionaire dealer in real estate, to his building of a refuge for the Jewish remnant of World War II.

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Arthur Allen Cohen, M.A. (Philosophy, University of Chicago, 1949; B.A., U. Chicago, 1946) was a novelist, publisher, art critic, and Jewish theologian. He briefly studied at both Hebrew University and Union Theological Seminary before beginning doctoral work at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he studied medieval Jewish philosophy until 1951, leaving completing his Ph.D.

Reviews

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long, rococo, first-person narrative about a man whom the narrator (a blind “scribe”) serves in his quest to bring Holocaust survivors together in New York City. It’s brilliant and very Jewish and, at least for the first two-thirds of its length, I found it sometimes difficult but very enjoyable to read, a real find. Like with so many novels when events start to take precedence over voice and form, I grew increasingly less interested.

[Eliot Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the book was written for me, how many other Arthur Aharon Cohen disciples are left nowadays...
where else can u find desperate jewish redemptive/messianic yearning, realist nyc history, post-holocaust theology of the tremendum, spinozan all-is-divine pantheism and imitatio dei, apocalyptic / qumranic jewish horror, meditation on secular assimilation, midrashic fable, and vengeful biblical prophecy?

"Of Him I ask nothing than that He let us keep on with our work. He's interfered enough already."
...
"And I do not weep for us but for Him, that He wants so much and can affect us so little. We can condemn Him and what will it get us? Nothing. Not even His anger. Because He knows nothing of justice. His kingdom is not one of justice. Abraham asked whether He who makes jusice can do injustice. What a magnificent complaint. How irrelevant! How sentimental! He is neither just nor unjust. Justice has no portion of eternity."
...
"Who is ever the murderer? The ones wesentence and condemn? Not at all. The murderers are everywhere. They are the ones who do not pay attention...Everyone, a murderer. Everyone. No attention paid. They walk through their lives, their faces circled with a band, seeing only what they choose to see."
...
"We begin our lives in reverse. We are born with words put in our mouths, covered with honey it is thought, but only to sweeten the salt. He, we, he argues, are born already eternal principles, carrying in our mouths an eternal obligation and an unforgettable treasure. It is no way for a man to live unless, of course, that man is allowed to forget. But we are never allowed to forget, not when we go to the bathroom, not when we eat, not when we make love, at no moment is it possible to put aside the knowledge of eternity. What a difficulty it is. Always carrying God on our backs."

[Shai Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books of all times. Read it multiple times in high school/yeshiva. Really shaped my view of the relationship between Judaism and Art (a soulful, honest relationship can exist between the two, in which each informs my understanding of the other).

[Jane Susswein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love his style -it's like you'r sitting with the author having a conversation.