The Rabbi’s Daughter Character Analysis

One day, after coming out of an uplifting meeting with the rabbi, Gimpel encounters the rabbi’s daughter. She reminds Gimpel that he needs to kiss the wall. He is surprised, as he has never heard of such a necessity before. She insists that it is very important. He goes ahead and kisses the wall, and no sooner than he has done so, the rabbi’s daughter starts laughing hysterically. Gimpel fell for her prank, and is disappointed that a person with such proximity to the kindness, wisdom, and piety of her father, the rabbi, should behave in this manner. Only moments before, her father had been telling Gimpel, that, no matter how much his neighbors make fun of him or call him a fool, he can take comfort in being a faithful and benevolent person, while the real fools are those who are mean-spirited and choose to cause embarrassment for others. The rabbi’s own daughter, it would seem, is one of the fools.