Gimpel the MysticIn “Gimpel the Fool,” Gimpel's gullibility becomes the basis for the power of faith as a theme of the text. What Isaac Bashevis Singer does with his use of Gimpel's credulity as the foundation of the story's theme is to redefine faith as belief in possibility. By redefining faith as belief in possibility, the author heightens the reader's awareness of the power of faith as a theme in the text, particularly through the use of symbolism and characterization; however, this use of characterization and symbolism as tools to represent the theme of the tale suggests the influences of Jewish mysticism and the author's upbringing and personal beliefs on the formation of the power of faith as a theme in the narrative. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Jewish mysticism plays a role in Gimpel's characterization in "Gimpel the Fool." In the text, Gimpel is characterized as “easy to accept” (Singer 278). Despite being aware of the possibility that the villagers were playing another trick on him when they told him that his parents were resurrecting from the dead, Gimpel accepts the villagers' claims at face value after reasoning with himself that something "would could have been very successful” (278). In turn, this openness to the possibility of the face value of claims helped Gimpel believe that the child seen with Elka in his shack was his brother (279), that the child born seventeen weeks into his marriage to Elka was his son. but “only premature” (280-281), and that the men Gimpel found in bed with Elka were only figments of his imagination (281, 284). The ease with which Gimpel accepts these events is a reflection of the transcendence sought in the mystical teachings of Kabbalah. This transcendence does not mean deducing a traditional image of God as a benevolent deity who interferes in the daily lives of mortals but of a distant and remote deity who reveals his existence through his creation (Lee 157). The transcendence of the hidden God is invoked during Gimpel's assertion that the world is “undoubtedly an imaginary world, but is only once removed from the real world… Praise God; there even Gimpel cannot be deceived” (Singer 286). According to Grace Farrell Lee, this statement by Gimpel that the current world is an illusion removed from the "true world" demonstrates Gimpel's desire for ultimate clarity beyond deception but, due to his inability to find it, forces Gimpel into a state of "exile" where God remains silent in the face of human questions (157). This vision of God as a hidden and remote divinity finds its roots in Lurianic cabalism, where God reveals his existence not through his emanations, but through his sefirot or splendor in the world; to make room for creation, God had to hide himself (157). By hiding, God revealed the magnificence of creation which in turn leaves his very existence open; created a world “devoid of the possibility of God” (157). In turn, the author's characterization of Gimpel as “easy to accept” suggests that, for Gimpel, the choice to believe the villagers and his own. wife was not the result of an innate personality trait but of a conscious and intentional decision. For Gimpel, this willingness to always believe what he was told served as a spiritual model in his search for the “true world,” a world in which he will finally witness the splendor of God's totality and not glimpses of the radiance of God.”.