The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Infobox Book
name = The Yiddish Policemen's Union
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Michael Chabon
illustrator =
cover_artist = Jacket design by Will Staehle
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject =
genre = Novel, alternate history, detective fiction
publisher = HarperCollins
release_date = May 1 2007
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 414 pp (first edition, hardcover)
isbn = ISBN 978-0-00-714982-7 (first edition, hardcover)
oclc = 73140283
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" is a multiple award-winning novel by American author Michael Chabon. The novel is an alternate history detective story based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary Yiddish-speaking settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Alaska in 1941. It also incorporates the (fictional) destruction of the State of Israel in 1948 after an unsuccessful struggle for independence. It takes place in a fictionalized version of the real city of Sitka.

As of|2008|February, a film adaptation of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" is in pre-production, to be written and directed by the Coen Brothers.

"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" won the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best SF Novel, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Best Novel. It was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel.

etting

The book is an alternate history of our own era, set in the present. The divergence point is revealed in the first dozen chapters to be the death of Anthony Dimond in a car accident. Congressman Dimond was responsible for preventing the United States from voting to implement the Slattery Report, which would have provided land in Alaska for the temporary refugee settlement of European Jews. As a result, the Alaska Settlement plan passes, so in this world only two million Jews are killed in the Holocaust. Due to the reduced industrial effort of the slaughter, Germany is able to crush the Soviet Union in 1942. (Chabon references the "Third Russian Republic" in the present day). World War II, as a result, continues until 1946, when Berlin is destroyed with nuclear weapons. Israel, in turn, after its 1948 founding is defeated in its Israeli War of Independence, with the author vaguely referencing the atrocitiespromised by the Arab governments in the real-world 1948 actually occurring. Manchuria is referred to as if it were still independent of China, which suggests that it may still be a client state of the Japanese Empire, whose fortunes following the end of the Second World War are likely substantially better. In addition, there are also references to a "Polish Free State" in 1950, which implies the absence of any hegemonic Russian sphere of influence equivalent to the Warsaw Pact in this world, and a "Cuban War" in the early sixties, which implies that something like the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred here as well and devolved into something similar to the Vietnam War. President Kennedy was not assassinated and has married Marilyn Monroe.

Without Israel, Palestine is described as a mosaic of contending religious and secular nationalist groups locked in internecine conflict. An evangelical Christian United States President, promising to go through with the 'Reversion' of the Alaska territory following the end of its sixty-year congressional authorization, believes in "divine sanction" for neo-Zionism. He may be about to broker a solution that will partially close the gap between our worlds.

Plot summary

The books opens with Meyer Landsman, an alcoholic homicide detective with the Sitka police department, examining the murder of a man calling himself Emmanuel Lasker in the Zamenhof, a fleabag hotel where Landsman also happens to live. Landsman notes how professional the murder looks; the man was shot in the back of the head execution-style, the gunshot silenced by a pillow. Landsman notices syringes, packets of heroin, an open cardboard chess board in mid-game, and a beat-up copy of Siegbert Tarrasch’s book, "Three Hundred Chess Games". Landsman calls his partner, half-Tlingit, half-Jew Berko Shemets, to help him investigate further.

Landsman’s past is revealed through flashbacks. His father, Isidor Landsman, a Holocaust survivor, had once been a chess grandmaster. Isidor, along with his brother-in-law (Berko’s father) Hertz Shemets, had frequently tried to interest his son in chess, the only game allowed on Shabbat by Jewish law, to no avail. Hertz Shemets Has been the director of the FBI in Sitka and the head of regional counterintelligence. Meyer Landsman’s younger sister, Naomi, had died mysteriously in a plane crash approximately a year earlier. Meyer himself had left his wife of fifteen years, Bina Gelbfish, because he couldn’t live with the guilt of deciding to abort their unborn child Django due to a potentially devastating problem in the unborn boy’s chromosomes.

Landsman visits Berko at Berko's apartment, The Dneyper. Berko thinks that the victim's name, Emmanuel Lasker, is a false name because it’s also the name of a chess champion mentioned in "Three Hundred Chess Games". Berko’s wife, Ester-Malke, reveals that she is pregnant and Berko reacts unpleasantly.

Upon filing a report on the murder at police headquarters, Landsman and Berko discover that Landsman's ex-wife, Bina Gelbfish, has been promoted to commanding officer of their unit. Furthermore, the homicide squad is now responsible for closing or trashing all unsolved murder cases within two months, after which Sitka land returns to American control – Reversion.

Landsman guesses that, as a chess player, their victim would have visited Sitka's notorious chess hangout: a function room at the Hotel Einstein, where he and Berko conduct interviews with players about the homicide victim. The players volunteer that the victim called himself Frank, and that he played chess games for money, sometimes five or six games at once, to pay for his heroin habit. Landsman also meets with the mute Alter Litvak, a former Sitka chess champion, who recognizes the victim as a Verbover, a group of Hasidic Jews who run an organized crime ring from their community on the islands of Jacoby and Verbov.

Landsman and Berko drive to Verbov Island and visit Itzik Zimbalist, the Verbovers' boundary maven (who helps the Verbovers get around the Talmudic law barring carrying things outside one’s home on Shabbat, by constructing real and symbolic virtual walls and fences around the community).

Zimbalist recognizes the victim’s face: Mendel Shpilman, the son of the Verbover rebbe, Sitka’s most powerful organized crime boss. He also says that Mendel was believed by many to be the Tzaddik-ha Dor: the messiah, born once in every generation, who will help bring back Elijah and restore Israel to its glory days. Mendel was known for performing small but powerful miracles, and many believed that this only confirmed his position. Landsman and Berko visit the rebbe to inform him of his son’s death. The rebbe tells them that he disowned Mendel after learning a terrible secret about him on his wedding night. Mendel was never heard of again.

Landsman and Berko head back to Sitka but see an article announcing Mendel’s funeral, and that his family will attend. Landsman wants to talk to Mendel’s mother, distant from her husband, known only as Mrs. Shpilman. He sneaks into her limousine and is caught, but instead of turning him over, Mrs. Shpilman says that she felt his arrival inevitable in solving Mendel’s murder, and allows him to ask her any questions he wants.

Landsman finds out what happened to Mendel the night before his wedding, an arranged marriage. Mendel felt burdened by the constant attention and demand that he performed miracles. Mendel was also gay, and felt that he could not face the truth anymore. He fled, but came back in disguise to speak to his mother one last time to say that he was abandoning his life as a Messiah and a straight man. He then left for good but remained in touch with his mother for financial support.

Meyer visits his most reliable snitch, and receives information on both the Shpilman case and another open homicide. While investigating the latter lead, he is involved in a shootout that leaves a murderer dead. Suspended with pay in the aftermath of the shooting, Meyer continues to investigate Mendel's murder, armed only with a bent cardboard badge identifying himself as a member of the local law enforcement employee's organization, the Yiddish Policemen’s Union from which the novel draws its title. Following a lead from Mrs. Shpilman, he heads for the airport and a certain small but famous pie shop. He flashes his worthless membership card and asks about the murdered Jew. Soon he finds himself conversing with the pie-maker's daughter, who reveals that she knew Mendel; she had helped Mendel find a room in the Hotel Zamenhof after being flown in by her friend Naomi Landsman (Meyer's late sister).

Shocked, Meyer realizes that he could potentially solve the mystery of his sister’s death. The flight records for that day were erased from the police files, and Landsman smells a cover-up. He visits one of Naomi’s friends, who mentions that Naomi often flew to Peril Strait; a mysterious set of buildings with an unknown purpose, set up there by the Verbovers. Landsman gets a lift to Peril Strait, where he finds what appears to be a rehab center. However, when he tries to look around, he is knocked out and thrown in a cell, whose walls have graffiti in Naomi's handwriting.

Landsman, after a crazed escape attempt, is rescued by a local Tlingit police chief, Willie Dick, who reunites him with Berko. Dick says that aside from the rehab center (which is really an undercover military training base), the Verbovers appear to be running a farm. Landsman, Dick and Berko head there and find a group of cows; one cow is red with painted-on white spots. Berko has a revelation: the red cow is an extremely rare red heifer, and sprinkling a red heifer’s ashes is a prerequisite for rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem.

Landsman and Berko visit Berko's father, Hertz Shemetz, who knows more about the prophecy. Hertz says that now that the Verbovers have the heifer, there is only one thing standing in their way: the Dome of the Rock, built on the foundations of the old Temple. Alter Litvak, a demolitions expert, has apparently prepared a plan to destroy the Dome and bring back the Messiah. The American government, led by an evangelical Christian Zionist, has provided support.

Just as Landsman and Berko confront Litvak, a breaking news report reveals that the Dome has been bombed. The Verbover extremists celebrate and in the confusion, Litvak escapes. The US army intervenes and offers to compensate Berko and Landsman if they agree to keep quiet about their adventures. Landsman lies, saying that he will, and is released.

Landsman reunites with Bina, frustrated by his failure with the Shpilman case. He keeps going over the chess board in his head, and suddenly realizes its similarity to a chessboard that Hertz Shemetz had set up in his house.

Landsman and Bina track down Hertz. He confesses that Mendel had asked him to come to the Zamenhof. Mendel, desperate and broke, told Hertz everything about the plot, which including installing him as the Messiah, and asked Hertz to end it all. Hertz waited until Mendel was in a stupor before shooting him in the back of the head. Landsman contacts an American newsman with the story. The book ends with Bina and Landsman reunited and ready to face their future wherever they may land in the Diaspora.

Origins and writing

Chabon began working on the novel in February 2002, [cite web|title = In the Works|url = http://www.michaelchabon.com/current.html|accessdate = 2007-05-01|last = Chabon|first = Michael|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20050204124047/http://www.michaelchabon.com/current.html|archivedate = 2005-02-04|year = 2005|month = January|work = www.michaelchabon.com] inspired by an essay he had published in "Harper's" in October 1997. Entitled [http://web.archive.org/web/20051028061645/www.michaelchabon.com/archives/2005/03/a_yiddish_pale_1.html "Guidebook to a Land of Ghosts"] , the essay discussed a travel book Chabon had found, "Say It in Yiddish", and the death of Yiddish-speaking countries in which the book would be useful. While researching hypothetical Yiddish-speaking countries, Chabon learned of "this proposal once that Jewish refugees be allowed to settle in Alaska during World War II… I made a passing reference to it in the essay, but the idea stuck."cite news | url = http://men.style.com/details/features/landing?id=content_5477 | title = Michael Chabon Q&A |last = Hodler |first = Timothy| publisher = Details | accessdate = 2007-05-01] Vitriolic public response to the essay, which was seen as controversial for "prematurely announcing [Yiddish's] demise," also spurred Chabon to develop the idea.cite news |last=Cohen |first= Patricia | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/books/29pcoh.html |date = 2007-04-29 | title = The Chosen Frozen | publisher = The New York Times | accessdate = 2007-05-01 |format= fee required]

In late 2003, Chabon mentioned the novel on his web site, saying that it was titled "Hotzeplotz" in a reference to the "Yiddish expression 'from here to Hotzeplotz,' meaning more or less the back of nowhere, Podunk, Iowa, the ends of the earth." [cite web|title = In the Works|url = http://www.michaelchabon.com/current.html|accessdate = 2007-05-01|last = Chabon|first = Michael|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20040202045006/http://www.michaelchabon.com/current.html|archivedate = 2004-02-02|year = 2003|month = November|work = www.michaelchabon.com] In 2004, Chabon said the (retitled) book would be published in fall 2005, [cite web|title = In the Works|url = http://www.michaelchabon.com/current.html|accessdate = 2007-05-01|last = Chabon|first = Michael|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20040722051123/http://www.michaelchabon.com/current.html|archivedate = 2005-07-22|year = 2004|month = July|work = www.michaelchabon.com] but then the writer decided to trash hismost recent draft and start over. His publisher HarperCollins pushed the publication date back to April 11, 2006. Chabon's rejected 600-page draft featured the same characters as the novel he eventually published but "a completely different story," and was also written in the first person.

In December 2005, Chabon announced a second delay to the novel's release, claiming that the manuscript was complete but that he felt that HarperCollins was rushing the novel into publication. [cite web|title = In the Works|url = http://www.michaelchabon.com/works/archives/2005/12/the_yiddish_pol_1.html|accessdate = 2007-05-01|last = Chabon|first = Michael|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20060529075139/http://www.michaelchabon.com/works/archives/2005/12/the_yiddish_pol_1.html|archivedate = 2006-05-29|year = 2005|month = December|work = www.michaelchabon.com] An excerpt from the book appeared in the Fall 2006 issue of the "Virginia Quarterly Review", and the novel itself was released on May 1, 2007. Chabon has said that the novel was difficult to write, calling it "an exercise in restraint all around… The sentences are much shorter than my typical sentences; my paragraphs are shorter than my typical paragraphs." He also described the novel as anhomage to the writing of mystery writers Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Ross Macdonald, along with Russian writer Isaac Babel.

Reception

In the weeks leading up to its publication, the novel received a good deal of attention from the press. The front page of "The New York Times"' Arts & Leisure section featured a "big, splashy" [cite news | url = http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/04/michael_chabon_heralds.html |date = 2007-04-30 | title = Michael Chabon Heralds New Era in Arts & Leisure?| publisher = New York Magazine | accessdate = 2007-05-01] profile of Chabon in which he flew to Sitka and discussed the book while walking around the city. The novel also received preemptive criticism, with "The New York Post" publishing an article headlined "Novelist's Ugly View of Jews." The "Post" alleged that Chabon's depiction of "Jews as constantly in conflict with one another [is] bound to set off a firestorm of controversy." [cite news |last=Johnson |first= Richard | url =http://www.nypost.com/seven/04222007/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm |date = 2007-04-22 | title = Page Six: NOVELIST'S UGLY VIEW OF JEWS| publisher = New York Post | accessdate = 2007-05-01]

Initial critical reviews were positive. The review aggregator Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 75 out of 100, based on 17 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/books/authors/chabonmichael/yiddishpolicemensunion |title=The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon: Reviews |accessdate=2008-02-15 |publisher=Metacritic] "Library Journal" called it "bloody brilliant" [ [http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780007149827 Powell's Books - The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel by Michael Chabon ] ] and Michiko Kakutani wrote in "The New York Times" that the novel "builds upon the achievement of "Kavalier & Clay"… a gripping murder mystery [with] one of the most appealing detective heroes to come along since Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe." [cite news |last=Kakutani |first= Michiko | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/books/01kaku.html |date = 2007-05-01 | title = Books of the Times: Looking for a Homein the Limbo of Alaska| publisher = The New York Times | accessdate = 2007-05-01] The novel debuted at #2 on the "New York Times" Best Seller list on May 20, 2007, [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/books/bestseller/0520besthardfiction.html?ex=1184644800&en=4dbe9151ec3220df&ei=5070 "Hardcover Fiction"] , "The New York Times", 2007-05-20. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.] remaining on the list for 6 weeks. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/books/bestseller/0701besthardfiction.html?ex=1184558400&en=a23329f3343df505&ei=5070 "Hardcover Fiction"] , "The New York Times", 2007-07-01. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.]

Film adaptation

Producer Scott Rudin purchased the film rights to "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" in 2002, based on a one-and-a-half page proposal. [Fleming, Michael. [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117864558.html?categoryid=21&cs=1&query=%22Franzen%22+AND+%22rudin%22 "Pollack shapes Chabon's 'Clay': Author also ready to wag 'Tales' tomes] , Variety, 2002-03-26. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.] In February 2008, Rudin told "The Guardian" that a film adaptation of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" was in pre-production, to be written and directed by the Coen Brothers. [Purcell, Andrew. [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2253970,00.html "Scott Rudin is on a roll"] , The Guardian, 2008-02-08. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.] The Coen Brothers will begin working on the adaptation for Columbia Pictures after they complete filming of "A Serious Man".Fleming, Michael. [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980719.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2563 "Coens speak 'Yiddish' for Columbia: Rudin producing adaptation of Chabon's 'Union'"] , Variety, 2008-02-11. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.] Chabon stated that the Coens are "among [his] favorite living moviemakers [...] What's more, I think they are perfectly suited to this material in every way, from its genre(s) to its tone to its content." [http://www.sugarbombs.com/kavalier/news2008feb.html#255 Coen Brothers to Adapt "Yiddish"] . The Amazing Website of Kavalier & Clay (2008-02-08). Retrieved on 2008-02-10.]

ee also

* Territorialism

References

External links

*"Dissent" magazine's [http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=809 interview with Chabon] about "The Yiddish Policemen's Union"
*An "Open Letters" [http://openlettersmonthly.com/issue/the-evasionist/ review] of Chabon's career
*"Hard-Boiled, Yiddish Style" a review by Marc Alan Coen [http://myversion.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/hard-boiled-yiddish-style/]