In the Day of a False Messiah.

This article critically appraises the novel "Satan in Goray," by Isaac Bashevis Singer and translated by Jacob Sloan. This novel shows the Jews of a small Polish town abandoning themselves, in a transport of mass delusion, to the false messiah. It is a remarkable book, brilliant, enigmatic, and it deserves the attention of anyone interested in modern literature. Like most Yiddish fiction, "Satan in Goray" is focused on the community, its main theme, as its main "character," being the collective destiny of the Jews in exile. The norm of communal life is so deeply ingrained in the traditional Jewish imagination that any deviation will constitute a significant action for the Yiddish reader.