Having finished The Slave a few days ago, I can now post on the remainder of the book. I was suprised that throughout the book, Isaac Singer uses a number of paradoxes. Consider:

(1) Singer seems to indite his own Jewish faith for enslaving its followers in excessive legalism, yet he also celebrates Jacob's faith and shows this through Jacob's consistant commitment to the rituals of Judiasm.

(2) The people of Pilitz are often seen as extremely faithful, yet at the same time superstitious.

(3) Jacob fights a constant battle between chastising himself for his unrighteousness in marrying outside of the faith and justifying the act.

(4) The Jews in Pilitz show little compassion for Jacob, Sarah and her child when she dies and she is found out to be a convert, yet when Jacob returns he is welcomed, and when he dies, he and Sarah are celebrated with their own shared tombstone and buried together. In death, Jacob is labeled as "a saint" and Sarah is recognized as not only a "daughter of Israel", but "a virtuous woman."

(5) The ferryman comes across as both wise and compassionate, yet a godless heathen; the emissary from the holy land is also seen as kind and faithfully instructs Jacob to rescue his son, yet is later discovered to be a heretic.

(6) Sarah's father is portrayed as a decent man, whom Sarah believes she will meet in the afterlife - yet if her and Jacob's faith is to be believed, her Christian father will end up in hell.

Finally, the most obvious paradox, one which Singer spends a great deal of time discussing:

(7) Jewish believers in Pilitz practice faithfully the rituals and ceremonies pertaining to Jewish customs, yet the community is full of gossip and slander, and the Jews steal from one another and fight amongst themselves - following God's commandment to obey him, while betraying the commandment to treat others with kindness.

The last example clearly parallels Jesus's inditement of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:3 when Jesus exclaims, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."

It seems to me that Singer's use of paradox can be seen as portraying the complex nature of faith and human nature, and is also used to lend the book a sense of realism and credibility, as it helps to present a fair, well-balanced picture of life and faith in 17th Century Poland.