A treasure from the Yiddish literature, "Gimpel the Fool" blends klezmer music into a surrealistic theatrical presentation. In the face of betrayal and ridicule, Gimpel's childlike acceptance and steadfast belief in God and human goodness has inspired audiences throughout the world.

Singer’s short story tells the tale of Gimpel, a poor shtetl baker who serves as the butt of ridicule for his gullibility and trusting ways. The villagers trick him into believing a cow flew over his roof, that a rabbi gave birth to a calf and that the Messiah has come.

But the greatest trick played on Gimpel was his ill-conceived marriage to Elka, a harlot who spends her marriage deceiving her idiot husband. The cuckolded Gimpel endures all, even the revelation that his children are not his own, with preternatural grace.