A Tale of a Ring - Paperback

by Anthony Berris (Translator), Ilan Schoenfeld (Author)

A desperate Jewish mother, living in the Polish town of Shedlets at the end of the 18th century, seeks a cure for her daughter Reina-Haya, who suffers from epilepsy, the disease that has taken the lives of all her other children. The Seer of Koznits sends her to a Jewish goldsmith and Cabbalist in Danzig so that he can cast a magic ring, made of ten gold bands, for the girl. The mother returns to her town accompanied by the goldsmith's son, Shmuel. He puts the ring on the girl's finger, saves her and marries her. Reina-Haya and Shmuel Bergman raise a family and return to Danzig shortly before the rise of anti Semitism in Europe. At the time, a Jewish prostitute called Leah, also epileptic, lives in Danzig. Her lover, Lazer Kochman, steals the ring in order to rescue his beloved from illness and prostitution, and thereby brings disaster on the Bergman family. The theft of the ring is the beginning of a struggle between the Bergmans, an aristocratic Jewish family, and the Kochmans, a family of Jewish prostitutes. The struggle - for the magic ring - lasts for three generations. The son of Reina-Haya and Shmuel, Gershon Bergman, a Zionist thinker, is married to Bella, daughter of a Danzig family of horse traders. Leah Kochman sends Esther, her only daughter, to Buenos Aires, where she falls into the hands of a Jewish pimp who takes her to his brothel. She is raped, imprisoned and forced to adapt to the terrible reality. Baron Hirsch an actual historical figure] invites Gershon and Bella Bergman to immigrate to The Argentine and establish a network of Jewish educational institutions in the Baron's settlements. In The Argentine, Gershon's homosexual leanings find expression and he is faced with a dilemma in his relations with his wife. Bella Bergman searches for the ring in order to save her relationship with her husband and clashes with Esther, who has the ring. The confrontation between the families does not end in that generation. When the Tzvi Migdal organization is shut down, Esther dies and her daughter Esperansa, the narrator of this inter-generational novel, receives the ring. Bella and Gershon Bergman die and their son Jos , a Jewish doctor, discovers the secret of the ring - and the fact that his daughter Graciella is epileptic. Jos Bergman contacts Esperansa in order to save his daughter from her illness. The tale ends with the surprising union between Graciella Bergman and Flora Gantz, the daughters of the two families who have been quarreling for three generations over one ring.

Author Biography

Ilan Sheinfeld (1960) is a Hebrew writer and editor and a proud single father of twins. He graduated for his M.A degree in Hebrew Literature in Tel Aviv University, and founded and edited the literary magazine "Shufra" (1984-6). He has published eight collections of poetry, four novels, three plays, two books for writers and five children's books. Three of his plays were staged. Hewas awarded the Prime minister's Prize for Literature twice, in 1990 and in 2015. Ilan Sheinfeld was a co-literary editor of Al Hamishmar daily newspaper (1981-1990) and the spokesman for The Cameri Theater of Tel Aviv (1990-1992). Between 1992-2014 he owned and managed a Public Relations firm which was reputed for promoting Israeli culture and non-profit organizations. llan Sheinfeld is known as a gay activist, and is one of the first Israeli gay that come out of the closet. Between 1992-1995 he founded and directed, at his residence, the first Hebrew workshop for gay writers. In 1998 he founded the first gay Hebrew publishing house, "Shufra". In 2000 he has founded the gay Cafe and bookstore, "Cafe Theo", which suffered of homophobic attacks by neighbors and was closed in 2002. Ilan Sheinfeld lost his first mate, the painter Saar Efroni, in 1986, after a severe attack of Periodical Paralysis. He has been married for ten years to his second mate, the world-known photographer Adi Nes. He now lives with his twin boys, whom he bore by the aid of a surrogate mother in India. Nowadays, Ilan teaches writing in The Open University of Tel Aviv, and spend most of his time in parenting and writing.