Song of the Whitewasher

This eloquent collection of short stories and Jewish proverbs, folktales and essays reminds readers that a single life is fleeting and small, and yet each individual is connected to something larger and more constant than themselves. With simplicity and clarity, these stories — many of them centuries old — manage to bridge the distance between past and present, between individual virtues and the strength of a community. Like any good book, Hakak’s does not provide answers. Instead, it asks the right questions — the same questions our ancestors asked themselves, and the ones our children’s children will ask themselves, too. (Alizah Salario)