Russ Roberts: belief

Transcript context

…Of course, Pale of Settlement. It wasn’t written in Yiddish, but there’s a certain . . . I’ll say it a different way to take it a little more seriously. There’s a certain fatalism in Jewish fate, a feeling that we are endlessly the punching bags of the rest of the world, and that is our fate. Obviously, we’re living in a moment where the world’s a little different, with the current situation in Israel. But I think the characters in Life and Fate obviously do feel that they are beleaguered. There’s a certain Yiddish flavor to that that I can’t explain. Also, consider the Book of Job. Who can, himself or herself, actually defend what he or she has done in the eyes of God is another underlying theme in this book. Is it Victor in fact? Not entirely clear, even though he’s the center, mostly a sympathetic character. Who really is doing right under the eyes of God is highly unclear, I think, in Life and Fate.…

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