This book highlights a specific feature characterizing some of the short stories of IL Peretz: His transparent and extensive reliance on popular and Hasidic sources. This is the rational for a comparative study of source and its adaptation , adding a critical dimension to the understanding of these stories. This book concentrates on three short stories of IL Peretz belonging to the genre of Hasidic tales: 'If Not Higher', 'Between Two Mountains', and 'The Birds and the Parchments'

In the 1880s, Warsaw was a hub for Jewish writers and cultural agents from across the Russian Empire and outside it. In just two generations, it became the most dynamic and prolific center for Hebrew and Yiddish literature and journalism. Writers active in Warsaw not only enriched Jewish culture but also played an active role in Jewish life in Poland, facing a variety of everyday challenges. The main manifestation of literary life was the Union of Jewish Writers and Journalists, a socially and culturally significant institution. It reflected the ever-changing facets of the Jewish literary environment in Warsaw. This book reveals a variety of sources pertaining to this vibrant life in the years 1918-1939, as well as the years of ghetto and destruction, 1939-1942. Different historical and social aspects of this period in Jewish history are examined vis-à-vis these and other sources.