“Wherever you went, sin followed after”: sin as an aesthetic category and the birth of Hebrew literature

This article examines the role of transgression and fear of sin in the formation of modern Hebrew literature, arguing that sin functions not merely as a theological category but as an aesthetic and anthropological one. Focusing on Mordecai Zeʾev Feierberg’s canonical novella Whither (Le’an), the study explores how fear of sin is represented as pathological and incompatible with the emergence of a new, authentic Hebrew subject. The article traces how the novella mocks the Stream of consciousness of “The Fearing Man”, creating an intertextual parody of Musar books such as the book Reshit Chochma. Situating Feierberg’s work within broader psychological, theological, and literary late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century discourses, I argue that modern Hebrew literature recasts desire and transgression as privileged sites of authenticity, while fear of sin is increasingly portrayed as an inauthentic, externally imposed, and even morbid “non-emotion.” Through close readings of Whither, the article shows how violation of Halakhic law becomes a condition for aesthetic and national rebirth. In doing so, Hebrew literature both reflects and actively shapes processes of Jewish secularization, redefining the relations between religion, Halakha, emotion, and literary value in profoundly modern terms.