The Spinoza Of Market Street

The Spinoza of Market Street title story of a short-story
collection by Isaac Bashevis Singer published in Yiddish
in 1944 as “Der Spinozist.” The collection was published
in English in 1961. The story is set in Warsaw on the
brink of World War I. There Dr. Nahum Fischelson lives a
meagre isolated existence alone in an attic room
overlooking teeming Market Street. An intellectual
supported by an annuity from the Jewish community of
Berlin he devotes his energies to explicating the
philosophical works of the 17th-century Dutch Jewish
philosopher Benedict de Spinoza descending to the street
only once a week to buy food. When war cuts off his funds
from Germany he descends to Market Street and discovers
that he no longer knows anyone there so preoccupied has he
been with Spinoza. Black Dobbe an unattractive and
illiterate woman who lives in the attic room next to his
goes to the philosopher’s room to have him read a letter
she has received. When she discovers Fischelson
unconscious and ill she nurses him back to health. To the
amusement of their neighbours Fischelson and Black Dobbe
are married. Fischelson discovers that he has the ardour
and vigour of a young man. As he gazes at the stars he
silently asks Spinoza to forgive him his happiness and his
acceptance of the world of passion and joy.