The Boy Prophet

Edmond Fleg

1926

I

Mariette was preparing for her first communion. This was serious:

“The most beautiful day of my life, you understand!”

I didn’t understand.

“There’ll be bells ringing and music and lights: celebrating me, like a queen!” . . . When I make my way up to the altar and reach the last step . . . Jesus, my God, I’ll be scared to death. . . . And when I…

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Creator Bio

Edmond Fleg

1874–1963

Born in Geneva to a French family originally from Alsace, the writer Edmond Fleg grew up in an observant Jewish home. He moved to Paris at the age of eighteen to pursue a university education, soon abandoning religious observance. Stunned by his encounter with The Dreyfus Affair and stirred by his reading of Israel Zangwill’s (1864–1926) haunting short story “Chad Gadya!” in 1904, Fleg worked his way back to Judaism. The Boy Prophet (1926) and Why I Am Jewish (1927) evoke his journey of return. Although he wrote on other subjects, Jewish themes dominate his prolific writing, which encompassed a variety of genres, including poetry, essays, and theater. In 1948, Fleg and Jules Isaac (1877–1963) founded the Amitié judéo-chrétienne de France, a Christian and Jewish friendship group.

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