16 h 18 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 16 h 18 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In small towns and crowded streets, laughter and sorrow share the same breath.
Yiddish Tales gathers short stories by several writers from the tradition of Eastern European Jewish literature. Pious men, poor merchants, dreamers, matchmakers and children fill its pages. Their lives unfold in markets, study houses and family circles, where everyday talk can be funny, sharp and tender all at once.
These stories explore a world shaped by the synagogue, the market and the family. Much of it centres on the shtetl, the small Jewish town. Yiddish, an everyday language, becomes a language of serious literature here, carrying the wit and sorrow of people who laugh at hardship without pretending it does not hurt.
What you’ll discover
- The small town stage Enter markets and study houses where Jewish community life gives these tales their setting.
- Laughter beside sorrow Find humor that faces hardship directly, with room for tenderness as well as sharp wit.
- People worth meeting Meet poor merchants, pious men, matchmakers and children through the distinctive ways they talk.
- Everyday language, literary life Explore stories rooted in the language Jews speak across Eastern Europe.
- Many stories, many moods Move between funny, sad, sharp and tender tales rather than following a single plot.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy short stories rich in humor, warmth and keen observation will love this collection, especially tales of village rabbis, mothers, children and life in small towns.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A rabbi sets out against wealth
- A homeland should sustain the living
- Hunger enters the room of prayer
- A name can hold a faith
- Weddings reveal dignity and belonging
- Conscience asks more than ritual
- Shared danger unsettles inherited hatred
- Learning opens arguments within faith
- Ordinary lives carry questions of belonging
Who’s who
- Reb NochumtziThe Rav of Pumpian, a scholar of the holy books who has never left his town, and who wants to cure the world of riches and poverty.
- YüdelThe living orphan, a wanderer driven from town to town, who swings between hating and worshipping the narrator who wants Palestinian land.
- ShmerelA woodcutter with a wife and eight children, who follows a mysterious flame on a Sabbath night and dreams of a better life for his family.
- GittelA widow who sets out for Warsaw to attend the wedding of her favorite youngest son, and wants to show the family's dignity.
- FishelA teacher who lives away from home all year, and who struggles across a breaking river to reach his family for Passover.
- Berel TzopA grain dealer who took a hundred-ruble note from a desk and cannot pray on the eve of Yom Kippur.
- Reb ShloimehA seventy-year-old community leader who takes up science late in life and wants to educate the poor children and workers of his town.
- FeivkeA wild blacksmith's son from the village of Kozlov, brought to his first Yom Kippur service and afraid of God.
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- Large print hardcover
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Yiddish Tales
by Various; Helena Frank (translator) · 1912
A poor rabbi who has never left his town sets out for Wilna to share the misfortune of the rich.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Picture a rabbi who has never gone four ells beyond his town, and who decides to cure the world of wealth. Reb Nochumtzi, the Rav of Pumpian, earns five Polish gulden a week, yet he plans to divide the misfortune of the rich among the poor.
Yiddish Tales at a glance
- Reading time
- About 9 h 15 min7 h 20 min fast, 11 h slow
- Length
- 131,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1912by Various; Helena Frank (translator)
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A rabbi plans to share out riches
Reb Nochumtzi, the Rav of Pumpian, has never traveled beyond his small Lithuanian town. He earns five Polish gulden a week. Yet he knows the world through the holy books.
From the Torah and the Gemoreh he learns that riches are a misfortune. A rich man cannot give his misfortune away, because nobody would be mad enough to take it. Then poverty comes into his own house. His Sabbath cloak is threadbare, six children need clothes, and his wife Dvoireh begs him to think of something. He finds that poverty is a misfortune too.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1912
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 10 h 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Yiddish Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/yiddish-tales.
Yiddish tales. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/yiddish-tales (Original work published 1912)
Yiddish Tales. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/yiddish-tales.
@book{anonymous2026yiddish,
title = {Yiddish Tales},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/yiddish-tales},
note = {First published 1912}
}
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What is Yiddish Tales about?
It is a collection of short stories about Jewish life in small towns of Lithuania, Poland and Bessarabia and in New York tenements. They cover rabbis, workers, mothers, children, weddings, Sabbaths, Passover and Yom Kippur, with humor and tenderness.
Who wrote Yiddish Tales?
The stories are by many different writers of the Yiddish and Hebrew tradition, including Eliezer David Rosenthal, David Frischmann, David Pinski, S. Libin, Hirsh David Naumberg, Meyer Blinkin and Löb Schapiro.
What do words like Rav, Shool and Gemoreh mean?
A Rav is a rabbi. A Shool is a synagogue. The Gemoreh is the Talmud, the great collection of Jewish law and teaching. A Gass is a street, and Cheder is the traditional boys' school.
More by Various; Helena Frank (translator)
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