language Several of Fondane's exegetes have discussed the links between his apparent traditionalism and the classical themes of either secular Jewish culture or Judaism, with a focus on his Hasidic roots. According to Swedish researcher Tom Sandqvist (who discusses the Jewish background of many Romanian avant-garde authors and artists), the Hasidic and Kabbalah connection is enhanced by both the pantheistic vision of Tăgăduința lui Petru and the "Ein Sof-like emptiness" suggested in Priveliști. Paul Cernat too argued that the traditionalist elements in Fondane's work reflected Hasidism as it was experienced in Galicia or Bukovina, as well as the direct influence of Iacob Ashel Groper. According to George Călinescu's analysis (originally stated in 1941), Fondane's origin within the rural minority of Romanian Jews (and not the urban Jewish mainstream) was of special psychological interest: "The poet is a Jew from Moldavia, where Jews have almost pastoral professions, but are nevertheless prevented by a tradition of market agglomerations from fully enjoying the sincerity of rustic life." The fond memory of Judaic practice is notably intertwined with the Priveliști pastorals: Fondane expanded on his interest in the Jewish heritage in his early prose and drama. The various pre-1923 articles, including his obituary pieces for Elias Schwartzfeld and Avram Steuerman-Rodion, speak at length about Jewish ethics (which Fondane described as unique and idealistic), assimilation and Jewish nationalism. They also offer his answer to antisemitism, including his case, relying on proof of Jewish exogamy, against all theories about a distinct Semitic race. In other such pieces, he comments at length on Groper's Yiddishist literature and corrects opinions expressed on the same topic by their common friend Gala Galaction. As he explains in this context, Groper quelled his adolescent identity crisis, helping him find a core Judaism, more "vital" to him than the political scope of Zionism. During these dialogues, Fondane recalled, he first discovered his interest in philosophy: he played the "Sophist", paradoxical and abstract, in front of the "sentimental" Groper. This antithesis also inspired the core essay in Iudaism și elenism, where Fondane writes at length about the hostile dialogue between Jewish philosophy, in search of fundamental truths, and Greek thought, with its ultimate value of beauty. Tăgăduința lui Petru, believed by Mircea Martin to be a sample of Fondane's debt to André Gide, is the first of his works to take inspiration from the Bible (in this case, looking beyond the Talmud). Also