The Certificate

David Bendiner, a young writer and secularized Jew, has qualified to emigrate from Warsaw to Palestine, but he's broke, and in order to make the journey, he must enter into a fictitious marriage with a prosperous woman eager to get there. Grappling with romantic, political, and philosophical turmoil, David must also confront his faith when his father, a rabbi, shows up in Warsaw.
Translated by Leonard Wolf

Praise:
"It is impossible not to feel the charm of this book, which may be the most Jewish of all Singer's works. The warmest and the saddest too. A great tenderness emerges from its pages." - Elie Wiesel, Chicago Tribune

"The Certificate . . . is bursting with life. . . . Singer is the most magical of writers, transforming reality into art with seemingly effortless sleight of hand. His deceptively spare prose has a pristine clarity that is stunning in its impact." - Lore Dickstein, The New York Times Book Review

"Like all the Singer I have ever read it simply flies off the page. It is irresistible in its dialogue, personality and situations. (...) What sets The Certificate apart from the ruck of such books is firstly the dash, humour and lack of pathos with which it is written." - Michael Hofmann, The Times