For the Relief of Unbearable Urges

In his Jewish short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges (1999), Nathan Englander celebrates what it means to be Jewish, and how to cope with the demands of Orthodox Judaism. Winner of the 2000 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, it received various other award nominations. Critics praise the book for its inventiveness and its blend of humor and sadness. Englander is a bestselling Jewish-American author. For the Relief of Unbearable Urges is his first short story collection and his most popular work. Some stories are based on his own experiences.

There are nine stories in the collection, each story focusing on a different group of characters living their own unique Jewish experience. The stories, set in America, aim to show the rich diversity of Jewish culture and history. Through their struggles, the characters face the weight of their Jewish heritage in different ways—and with varying success.

The first story, “The Twenty-seventh Man,” is based on the real execution of 26 members of the Soviet Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in 1952. In the story, a Jewish writer, Pinchas, ends up in jail with 26 other men, all Jewish writers under execution orders from Stalin. Despite the grim death awaiting him, Pinchas writes a short story describing what it's like to be Jewish in a time of such injustice and violence.



“The Tumblers,” set during the Holocaust, follows a group of Polish Jews packed onto a train heading for a death camp. Aboard the train, they decide they would rather die trying to escape than submit to their fate. They pretend they are acrobats, and the Nazis let them jump off the train to prove their point. Their fate is unknown, but they represent the many Jews who mysteriously vanished during the Holocaust.

“Reunion” centers on a lonely woman who doesn’t know how to deal with her husband’s manic depression. She just wants him to leave and never come back. He constantly blames other people for his problems, and he doesn’t look after his family. Despite his protests, the woman tells him that if he doesn’t leave, she will kill him.

In “The Wig,” an Orthodox mother-of-six wonders where her life went wrong. Although she loves her children, her husband ignores her, and she doesn’t feel attractive anymore. After the Holocaust, she lost her hair; she decides that she wants it back. Her mission to design her own wig becomes a quest to get her life back.



In “The Gilgul of Park Avenue,” a Protestant man is sitting in a cab on Park Avenue, reflecting on his own existence. He decides that he isn’t a Protestant at all. He is Jewish. He goes in search of a spiritual adviser who urges him to convert. The man’s wife, however, thinks it is the worst idea he has ever had. She urges him to reconsider because she doesn’t like Jewish people. The fate of their marriage is unclear.

“Reb Kringle” follows an Orthodox Jew in a miserable situation. His wife wants him to play Santa Claus at a local department store. It is the only way to pay back his synagogue debts. She claims they are broke and, for once, he must put his family before religion. Torn between faith and domestic bliss, Reb decides to play Santa Claus. He feels that he has let himself down, but his wife’s happiness matters more than his own.

“The Last One Way” concerns a woman stuck in a loveless sham of a marriage. Her husband left her years ago, and he refuses to grant her a divorce because it is not the Orthodox way. In retaliation, she visits the local matchmaker and says that if they don’t convince her husband to divorce her, she’ll kill him instead so she is free to marry again. The story is a comment on how religion can prohibit people from finding happiness and true love.



“For the Relief of Unbearable Urges” tells the story of a Hasidic Jew whose wife refuses to have sex with him. She always claims that she is menstruating. Sick of his wife’s cruelty, he approaches his rabbi for advice. The rabbi gives him special dispensation to sleep with a prostitute. Although this solves his immediate problem, it puts even more distance between him and his wife, and it looks as if their relationship is over.

In “In This Way We Are Wise,” Englander explores the full implications of a Jew’s responsibility to his or her heritage. The main character, an American expat in Jerusalem, goes about his daily business in a warzone. His life is ordinary. He has a girlfriend and an ordinary job; he drinks in the same coffee shop every morning. However, every night, before he goes to sleep, he thinks about the Jews who have died that day, and what responsibilities he owes them.

In his Jewish short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges (1999), Nathan Englander celebrates what it means to be Jewish, and how to cope with the demands of Orthodox Judaism. Winner of the 2000 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, it received various other award nominations. Critics praise the book for its inventiveness and its blend of humor and sadness. Englander is a bestselling Jewish-American author. For the Relief of Unbearable Urges is his first short story collection and his most popular work. Some stories are based on his own experiences.



There are nine stories in the collection, each story focusing on a different group of characters living their own unique Jewish experience. The stories, set in America, aim to show the rich diversity of Jewish culture and history. Through their struggles, the characters face the weight of their Jewish heritage in different ways—and with varying success.

The first story, “The Twenty-seventh Man,” is based on the real execution of 26 members of the Soviet Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in 1952. In the story, a Jewish writer, Pinchas, ends up in jail with 26 other men, all Jewish writers under execution orders from Stalin. Despite the grim death awaiting him, Pinchas writes a short story describing what it's like to be Jewish in a time of such injustice and violence.

“The Tumblers,” set during the Holocaust, follows a group of Polish Jews packed onto a train heading for a death camp. Aboard the train, they decide they would rather die trying to escape than submit to their fate. They pretend they are acrobats, and the Nazis let them jump off the train to prove their point. Their fate is unknown, but they represent the many Jews who mysteriously vanished during the Holocaust.



“Reunion” centers on a lonely woman who doesn’t know how to deal with her husband’s manic depression. She just wants him to leave and never come back. He constantly blames other people for his problems, and he doesn’t look after his family. Despite his protests, the woman tells him that if he doesn’t leave, she will kill him.

In “The Wig,” an Orthodox mother-of-six wonders where her life went wrong. Although she loves her children, her husband ignores her, and she doesn’t feel attractive anymore. After the Holocaust, she lost her hair; she decides that she wants it back. Her mission to design her own wig becomes a quest to get her life back.

In “The Gilgul of Park Avenue,” a Protestant man is sitting in a cab on Park Avenue, reflecting on his own existence. He decides that he isn’t a Protestant at all. He is Jewish. He goes in search of a spiritual adviser who urges him to convert. The man’s wife, however, thinks it is the worst idea he has ever had. She urges him to reconsider because she doesn’t like Jewish people. The fate of their marriage is unclear.



“Reb Kringle” follows an Orthodox Jew in a miserable situation. His wife wants him to play Santa Claus at a local department store. It is the only way to pay back his synagogue debts. She claims they are broke and, for once, he must put his family before religion. Torn between faith and domestic bliss, Reb decides to play Santa Claus. He feels that he has let himself down, but his wife’s happiness matters more than his own.

“The Last One Way” concerns a woman stuck in a loveless sham of a marriage. Her husband left her years ago, and he refuses to grant her a divorce because it is not the Orthodox way. In retaliation, she visits the local matchmaker and says that if they don’t convince her husband to divorce her, she’ll kill him instead so she is free to marry again. The story is a comment on how religion can prohibit people from finding happiness and true love.

“For the Relief of Unbearable Urges” tells the story of a Hasidic Jew whose wife refuses to have sex with him. She always claims that she is menstruating. Sick of his wife’s cruelty, he approaches his rabbi for advice. The rabbi gives him special dispensation to sleep with a prostitute. Although this solves his immediate problem, it puts even more distance between him and his wife, and it looks as if their relationship is over.



In “In This Way We Are Wise,” Englander explores the full implications of a Jew’s responsibility to his or her heritage. The main character, an American expat in Jerusalem, goes about his daily business in a warzone. His life is ordinary. He has a girlfriend and an ordinary job; he drinks in the same coffee shop every morning. However, every night, before he goes to sleep, he thinks about the Jews who have died that day, and what responsibilities he owes them.