the current division of the shtetl into its two sections, the Jewish Quarter and the Human Three-Quarters. All so-called sacred activities-religious studies, kosher butchering, bargaining, etc.-were contained within the Jewish Quarter. Those activities concerned with the humdrum of daily existence-secular studies, communal justice, buying and selling, etc.-took place in the Human Three-Quarters. Straddling the two was the Upright Synagogue.
( Jonathan Safran Foer )
[ Everything is Illuminated ]
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