Jewish Family

2 Pages 591 Words

This novel is about a young girl in a Jewish family who struggled to free
herself from her father’s obsolete teachings and beliefs. Coming to America at
around the early 1900’s, the family found out the cruelty of the land of
capitalism and faced the financial difficulties experienced by most immigrants.
Everyone but the father adapted to the hardships and went out to earn a few
cents. The father, Reb Smolinsky, was a rabbi and devoted himself totally to
religion. As a matter of fact, he did not want to have his holiness contaminated
by earthly worries; he expected his wife and four frail daughters to put food on
the table. Somehow, he was completely blind to the poverty and, getting the
largest share of meals, thought everyone had enough to eat. Thinking he was the
head of the family, Smolinsky controlled the future of his daughters.
Wanting quick money so that he could pray all day, the father did not agree to
let a young man marry his oldest daughter Bessie, who assumed the financial
burden and gave all her wage to Smolinsky. The young man promised to support
Bessie and asked for no dowry. However, the rabbi saw no gain in this affair and
drove away Bessie’s lover.
Always finding faults in people, Smolinsky prevented his three older daughters
from uniting with the ones they loved. In fact, he became a matchmaker and
married his daughters to three frauds. At the end, he profited only five hundred
dollars. Thinking he was smart and competent, the rabbi bought a general store
with no stock for four hundred dollars. Because he was the most holy man in the
world, Smolinsky did not acknowledge he was swindled. He even applied his
tyrannical preachings to the few customers who came into the store.
Being the youngest and most daring, the remaining daughter Sara could not stand
the ideas of the Old World any more. She ran away with a few dollars given by
her mother and rented a small din...