Isaac Bashevis Singer, the son of a Hasidic rabbi, was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1904. When the Germans occupied Warsaw during World War I, the Singers suffered from poverty and hunger and eventually moved to a rural life with his mother's family in Bilgoray. During this period, Singer began studying both traditional Jewish texts as well as secular studies, all while being immersed in the rural Hasidic folk culture that later influenced his writing.
Singer returned to Warsaw in the early 1920s and began writing reviews and translations for a variety of newspapers. During this period, he lost the religious faith that he grew up with, and arrived at his own form of personal mysticism,...
