Schmuel Yosef Agnone was one of the true giants of modern Hebrew literature.

He wrote luminous short stories, novels, and anthologies that reflected and shaped the national spirit of the Jewish people during the turbulent decades of

the 20th century. He was twice awarded the Bialic Prize for literature, twice awarded the Israel

Prize, and in 1966 he was the first Hebrew writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize.

To help us explore Agnon's life and legacy today, we've invited Rabbi Jeffrey Sacks,

founding director of Ateed, the Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions, and WebYushiva.org.

Rabbi Sachs is a renowned scholar of Agnon and has recently completed the heroic task of assembling

the Agnon Library,

a collection of 15 English volumes published by the Toby Press.

Some of the translations in this collection are newly commissioned, others are carefully revised.

It's a treasure for those who want to experience the work of this master.

Of the many wonderful studies of Anone, that we might have chosen

as guides for our conversation, we've chosen two. The first is a piece by another great figure

of Hebrew letters, Gersham Sholam, entitled S.Y. Agnone, the last Hebrew classic. Originally,

a lecture that Sholam gave in England in 1967, and later

adapted as an article for commentary magazine, this piece has itself become something of a

classic for those interested in the meeting place of Zionism and tradition.

The second essay and focus for us is a more recent study by Rabbi Sachs himself called Agnon's Shaking Bridge

and the Theology of Culture published in 2013. Welcome Rabbi Sachs to the text of podcast. Good to have

you. Let's begin with the simple first question. Who was Agnone? What should we know about him biographically?

Agnone himself was almost a literary creation of the author, not merely that he chose a pen name,

as many writers do, but everything about his biography, Shmul Yosef Agnone, who was born

...