Aleikhem Shulem, Gom Zu of Galitzia: My Friend, Yushka Gonif

The cover design of the author, with Sholem Alekhem in the Wall Street station of the IRT in New York City, is an obvious example of Narishkeit, or foolishness. Well, not exactly. For in my imagination, it was he who inspired me to write these stories depicting the humor that sustained the Jewish people through two thousand years of Diaspora tragedy. It is that tradition that this collection of stories and Gom Zu has been written. We must not allow that world of long ago to be lost—ever.