The Bloody Hoax

A Russian boy, Andryusha Yushchinsky, was killed in Kyiv by ordinary thieves, and by the will of the government he was turned into a victim of the “Jewish ritual.” The boy, who lived with his mother and stepfather — the leaders of a thieves’ gang — was dangerous for the bandits: he knew too much about the gang’s affairs and could give them up to the police. The killers were his stepfather, with members of the gang, and even the murdered boy’s own mother — the famous Vera Cheberyak. The murderers needed to hide the traces of the crime, while the Russian autocratic government needed to find a way out of a difficult situation. The government intensified its repression and, frightened by revolutionary terror, flailed from one absurdity to another. And on the horizon, lightning flickered — foretelling a new storm… Someone had to provide a distraction, find the culprit for all the trouble, a scapegoat for the “reaction” to sacrifice to God. Only a Jew could be that — a jury victim of autocracy. This vile and meaningless affair, which Sholom-Aleichem made the basis of his novel “Bloody Joke,” makes a strong artistic impression. The masterfully captured Jewish everyday life, the types of people living in the “Pale of Settlement” and those who broke out of it, the atmosphere of lawlessness, crampedness, need, and constant, inescapable fear — all of this the reader will find in “Bloody Joke.” Sholom-Aleichem does not exaggerate, does not push anything to the front, and does not seek effects; he depicts life exactly as it was. Even in this tragic book, Sholom-Aleichem’s humor is kind and calm, almost good-natured. But precisely that “kindness” makes the humor merciless — turning it into a devastating sarcasm.