Shalom Asch
: SHALOM ASCHBorn, 1881, in Kutno, Government of Warsaw, Russian Poland; Jewish
education and Hasidic surroundings; began to write in 1900, earliest
works being in Hebrew; Sippurim was published in 1903, and A Staedtel in
1904; wrote his first drama in 1905; distinguished for realism, love of
nature, and description of patriarchal Jewish life in the villages;
playwright; dramas: Gott von Nekomoh, Meschiach's Zeiten, etc.;
collected works, Schriften, Warsaw, 1908-1912 (in course of
publication).
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It Is Well
You ask how it is that I remained a Jew? Whose merit it is? Not through my own merits nor those of my ancestors. I was a six-year-old Cheder boy, my father a countryman outside Wilna, a householder in a small way. No, I remained a Jew thanks ... Jehalel
Pen name of Judah Loeb Lewin; born, 1845, in Minsk (Lithuania), White Russia; tutor; treasurer to the Brodski flour mills and their sugar refinery, at Tomaschpol, Podolia, later in Kieff; began to write in 1860; translator of Beaconsfield's Tancred ... Judah Steinberg
Born, 1863, in Lipkany, Bessarabia; died, 1907, in Odessa; education Hasidic; entered business in a small Roumanian village for a short time; teacher, from 1889 in Jedency and from 1896 in Leowo, Bessarabia; removed to Odessa, in 1905, to become c... Late
It was in sad and hopeless mood that Antosh watched the autumn making its way into his peasant's hut. The days began to shorten and the evenings to lengthen, and there was no more petroleum in the hut to fill his humble lamp; his wife complained t... Loeb Schapiro
Born, about 1880, in the Government of Kieff, Little Russia; came to Chicago in 1906, and to New York for a short time in 1907-1908; now (1912) in business in Switzerland; contributor to Die Zukunft, New York; collected works, Novellen, 1 vol., Wars... Lost His Voice
It was in the large synagogue in Klemenke. The week-day service had come to an end. The town cantor who sings all the prayers, even when he prays alone, and who is longer over them than other people, had already folded his prayer-scarf, and was hu... Manasseh
It was a stifling summer evening. I had just come home from work, taken off my coat, unbuttoned my waistcoat, and sat down panting by the window of my little room. There was a knock at the door, and without waiting for my reply, in came a woman... Meyer Blinkin
Born, 1879, in a village near Pereyaslav, Government of Poltava, Little Russia, of Hasidic parentage; educated in Kieff, where he acquired the trade of carpenter in order to win the right of residence; studied medicine; began to write in 1906; cam... Micha Joseph Berdyczewski
Born, 1865, in Berschad, Podolia, Southwestern Russia; educated in Yeshibah of Volozhin; studied also modern literatures in his youth; has been living alternately in Berlin and Breslau; Hebrew, Yiddish, and German writer, on philosophy, aesthetics... Military Service
"They look as if they'd enough of me!" So I think to myself, as I give a glance at my two great top-boots, my wide trousers, and my shabby green uniform, in which there is no whole part left. I take a bit of looking-glass out of my box, and l... Mordecai Spektor
Born, 1859, in Uman, Government of Kieff, Little Russia; education Hasidic; entered business in 1878; wrote first sketch, A Roman ohn Liebe, in 1882; contributor to Zedernbaum's Juedisches Volksblatt, 1884-1887; founded, in 1888, and edited Der Haus... Poverty
I was living in Mezkez at the time, and Seinwill Bookbinder lived there too. But Heaven only knows where he is now! Even then his continual pallor augured no long residence in Mezkez, and he was a Yadeschlever Jew with a wife and six small chil... Reb Shloimeh
The seventy-year-old Reb Shloimeh's son, whose home was in the country, sent his two boys to live with their grandfather and acquire town, that is, Gentile, learning. "Times have changed," considered Reb Shloimeh; "it can't be helped!" and he e... Reuben Asher Braudes
Born, 1851, in Wilna (Lithuania), White Russia; went to Roumania after the anti-Jewish riots of 1882, and published a Yiddish weekly, Yehudit, in the interest of Zionism; expelled from Roumania; published a Hebrew weekly, Ha-Zeman, in Cracow, in 189... S Libin
Pen name of Israel Hurewitz; born, 1872, in Gori-Gorki, Government of Mohileff (Lithuania), White Russia; assistant to a druggist at thirteen; went to London at twenty, and, after seven months there, to New York (1893); worked as capmaker; first s... Sabbath
Friday evening! The room has been tidied, the table laid. Two Sabbath loaves have been placed upon it, and covered with a red napkin. At the two ends are two metal candlesticks, and between them two more of earthenware, with candles in them rea... Shalom Asch
Born, 1881, in Kutno, Government of Warsaw, Russian Poland; Jewish education and Hasidic surroundings; began to write in 1900, earliest works being in Hebrew; Sippurim was published in 1903, and A Staedtel in 1904; wrote his first drama in 1905; d... Sholom-alechem
Pen name of Shalom Rabinovitz; born, 1859, in Pereyaslav, Government of Poltava, Little Russia; Government Rabbi, at twenty-one, in Lubni, near his native place; has spent the greater part of his life in Kieff; in Odessa from 1890 to 1893, and in ... Shut In
Lebele is a little boy ten years old, with pale cheeks, liquid, dreamy eyes, and black hair that falls in twisted ringlets, but, of course, the ringlets are only seen when his hat falls off, for Lebele is a pious little boy, who never uncovers his... Slack Times They Sleep
Despite the fact of the winter nights being long and dark as the Jewish exile, the Breklins go to bed at dusk. But you may as well know that when it is dusk outside in the street, the Breklins are already "way on" in the night, because they live... Tashrak
Pen name of Israel Joseph Zevin; born, 1872, in Gori-Gorki, Government of Mohileff (Lithuania), White Russia; came to New York in 1889; first Yiddish sketch published in Juedisches Tageblatt, 1893; first English story in The American Hebrew, 1906;... The Charitable Loan
The largest fair in Klemenke is "Ulas." The little town waits for Ulas with a beating heart and extravagant hopes. "Ulas," say the Klemenke shopkeepers and traders, "is a Heavenly blessing; were it not for Ulas, Klemenke would long ago have been '... The Clever Rabbi
A FOLK TALE The power of man's imagination, said my Grandmother, is very great. Hereby hangs a tale, which, to our sorrow, is a true one, and as clear as daylight. Listen attentively, my dear child, it will interest you very much. Not far from... The Clock
The clock struck thirteen! Don't imagine I am joking, I am telling you in all seriousness what happened in Mazepevke, in our house, and I myself was there at the time. We had a clock, a large clock, fastened to the wall, an old, old clock inh... The Hole In A Beigel
When I was a little Cheder-boy, my Rebbe, Bunem-Breine-Gite's, a learned man, who was always tormenting me with Talmudical questions and with riddles, once asked me, "What becomes of the hole in a Beigel, when one has eaten the Beigel?" This ri... The Kaddish
From behind the curtain came low moans, and low words of encouragement from the old and experienced Bobbe. In the room it was dismal to suffocation. The seven children, all girls, between twenty-three and four years old, sat quietly, each by herse... The Last Of Them
They had been Rabbonim for generations in the Misnagdic community of Mouravanke, old, poverty-stricken Mouravanke, crowned with hoary honor, hidden away in the thick woods. Generation on generation of them had been renowned far and near, wherever ... The Misfortune Or How The Rav Of Pumpian Tried To Solve A Social Problem
Pumpian is a little town in Lithuania, a Jewish town. It lies far away from the highway, among villages reached by the Polish Road. The inhabitants of Pumpian are poor people, who get a scanty living from the peasants that come into the town to ma... The Passover Guest
I "I have a Passover guest for you, Reb Yoneh, such a guest as you never had since you became a householder." "What sort is he?" "A real Oriental citron!" "What does that mean?" "It means a 'silken Jew,' a personage of distinction. Th... The Rav And The Rav's Son
The Sabbath midday meal is over, and the Saken Rav passes his hands across his serene and pious countenance, pulls out both earlocks, straightens his skull-cap, and prepares to expound a passage of the Torah as God shall enlighten him. There sit w... The Sinner
So that you should not suspect me of taking his part, I will write a short preface to my story. It is written: "A man never so much as moves his finger, but it has been so decreed from above," and whatsoever a man does, he fulfils God's will--e... The Treasure
To sleep, in summer time, in a room four yards square, together with a wife and eight children, is anything but a pleasure, even on a Friday night--and Shmerel the woodcutter rises from his bed, though only half through with the night, hot and gas...