The Old Country, how did it smell? Sound? Was village life as cozy as popular myth would have us believe? Was there really a strong sense of community? Perhaps it was another place altogether. In 19thc Eastern Europe, Jewish life was, ruled by Hasidic rebbes or the traditional Misnagedim, and religious law dictated every aspect of daily life. Secular books were, forbidden, independent thinkers were threatened with moral rebuke, magical retribution and expulsion. But, the Maskilim, proponents of the Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment, were determined to create a modern Jew, to found schools where children could learn science, geography, languages and history. Velvel Zbarzher, rebel and glittering star of fusty inns, spent his life singing his poems to loyal audiences of poor workers and craftsmen, and his attacks condemning the religious stronghold, resulted in banishment and itinerancy. By the time Velvel died in Constantinople in 1883, the Haskalah had triumphed and the modern Jew had been, created. But, modernization and assimilation hadn't brought an end to anti-Semitism. Armed with a useless nineteenth-century map, a lumpy second-hand coat, and an unhealthy dose of curiosity Jill Culiner trudged through the snow in former Galicia, the Russian Pale, and Romania searching for Velvel. But, she was also on the lookout for a vanished way of life in Austria, Turkey and Canada. This book, chronicling a forgotten part of Jewish history, follows the life of one extraordinary Jewish bard, and it is, told with wry humor by award-winning Canadian writer Jill Culiner

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