"There was some kind of entrapment lingering in the conversation"

November 29, 2024 6:30 AM

"How to Bury a Gentile" is a "short vaguely historical vaguely spooky ghost story about Jews and burial rites". "There is absolutely something in the Talmud about this and I’ve just forgotten it, because I’m an idiot and I’m half asleep and there is a goy on my doorstep asking me to go out to the cemetery with him at midnight to bury a man whose name he won’t tell me." It's a bit sad and a bit funny and a bit sweet.
posted by brainwane (12 comments total)

10/10, would read again. Thanks OP.
posted by drowsy at 7:25 AM on November 29 [3 favorites]

That was nice. You left out “a little spooky,” though. Nice eerie atmosphere.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:45 AM on November 29

Oh, this is very good, and the climax is great, it's very well done to get so much tension and suspense out of, essentially, burying a body and saying some prayers over it. Great stuff.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:50 AM on November 29 [2 favorites]

If you like the creepiness of this I definitely recommend the movie The Vigil (2019), which is about an Orthodox Jewish man who is keeping vigil with a dead body.
posted by fight or flight at 11:45 AM on November 29 [4 favorites]

If you like the creepiness of this I definitely recommend the movie The Vigil (2019), which is about an Orthodox Jewish man who is keeping vigil with a dead body.

Or for a lighter version of the story, you could watch the recent remake, Weekend at Moshe’s.
posted by notoriety public at 11:50 AM on November 29 [2 favorites]

Wow, this was great! Would read more like this.
posted by limeonaire at 1:48 PM on November 29 [2 favorites]

If you like the creepiness of this I definitely recommend the movie The Vigil (2019), which is about an Orthodox Jewish man who is keeping vigil with a dead body.

I've been meaning to check that out, thanks for the reminder!
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:41 PM on November 29 [1 favorite]

So was that an intentional allegory for contemporary events?
posted by astrobiophysican at 3:13 PM on November 29

This was very good, thank you for sharing it here.
posted by annieb at 6:01 PM on November 29 [1 favorite]

The author published the story on January 12th, 2019, based on the publication date visible in mobile view.
posted by brainwane at 11:55 PM on November 29 [1 favorite]

That was delightful.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:03 AM on November 30 [1 favorite]

Very cool, thanks for sharing this!
posted by dg at 4:53 PM on December 1