"The Magic Barrel" by Bernard Mallamud

The Magic Barrel, like the other stories written by Bernard Mallamud, a Jewish writer, is concerned with Jewish theme and Jewish life. Although the Jewish communities mostly live meager lives, their lives are controlled by a lot of religious rules and laws which help them keep far away the Devil or more important closer to their Great Father, God. Here, the story reminds us, or at least the Jews, one of their most important principle, …

…society, especially a society of socialism, this is a good lesson of responsibility. Above responsibility is the love and sympathy with normal people. As long as we do not have this love, we could not complete our duties as its meaning. Therefore, we gradually ruin ourselves. If such a rabbi could be refused by God, we also could be put in the trial sooner or later or more over be judge by our conscience forever