Villanos y Ángeles: Estereotipos y Realidad en la Novela “El Sueño de Isaac.”

In his novel, Dr. Leiboff presents a simplistic dichotomy of stereotypic characters: an innocent and artless settler is pitted against crafty, unscrupulous characters representing the moral and managerial failings of JCA. The protagonist, Isaac, is an honest and innocent "Talmid Hajam" living in a small Eastern European village. An allegedly fervent Zionist (a devious JCA agent) arrives to the village, and seduces ingenuous Isaac to travel to Argentina, as a way to fulfill his dream of reaching the Promised Land. The author describes the hardships that Isaac suffers since his arrival to one of JCA`s colonies, and emphasizes the dichotomy between religious, innocent and pauper Isaac and the assimilated, hypocritical and wealthy administrator. In the background, Jewish Eastern European tradition clashes with Western European culture; favoritism, fostered by JCA, crushes ideals and innocence, creating a struggle between ingenuous colonists (such as Isaac and his friends) and slick, crafty colonists. Helpless Isaac feels disoriented and without hope. When he is transferred to another colony with prospects of being colonized, hope is revived. But after all efforts and sufferings, all hopes and dreams for a better life, Isaac is thrown out from the colony without being colonized. At the end of the novel Isaac awakens, relieved to find that he dreamed it all and never left his village. Thus, in the end, the Argentinean experience is presented not as a dream, but as a nightmare.