Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto

by Abraham Cahan

The operatives of the cloak-shop in which Jake was employed had been idle all the morning. It was after twelve o'clock and the "boss" had not yet returned from Broadway, whither he had betaken himself two or three hours before in quest of work. The little sweltering assemblage—for it was an oppressive day in midsummer—beguiled their suspense variously. A rabbinical-looking man of thirty, who sat with the back of his chair tilted against his sewing machine, was intent upon an English newspaper.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Read For School, Judaism, Jewish, School

60 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

Abraham "Abe" Cahan was a Lithuanian-born Jewish-American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Emma Stark]

I really enjoyed reading this short book! As a character, Yekl is a complete jerk, but I think a lot of this comes from how much I understand and sympathize with his wife Gitl and the efforts that she makes to conform to society in ways that she shouldn't have to. Yekl's response to her efforts is devastating and destroys his likability as a character for me. I don't always connect with realist works because they tend to be too gritty without offering much of interest. In contrast, Cahan writes with so much humor and earnestness that I truly wanted to know what would happen. Also, he does a great job with themes of double-consciousness and doubleness in general.

[Illiterate]

This tale will resonate with all immigrants. The cast remake their relationships as they react similarly or differently to their new world.

[Maxfield]

Mildly interesting story. Amusing transliterations of American dialect to the ears of Eastern European listeners.

[Kay]

I read this for a college lit course (about American assimilation), and though it was short, it was hard for me to get through. Yekl/Jake's Yiddish/English dialect was teeth breaking (and painful to read ...though I totally get it why it added value to the telling...), and I just despised him as a character. I obviously sympathized with Gitl, but more than the main characters and their NY story, I enjoyed the background bits: the small nuggets of Jewish American history, and learning about the life and difficulties of an American Jewish immigrant.

More on Jake lol... Jake made me feel like an insular old babushka. His assimilation (& abandonment of his family) made me understand the allure of living in an insular ultra-orthodox community which wouldn't give you the chance to secularly assimilate. I don't live that way, but I do get it. It's like living with blinders on. Yekl needed a pair of blinders. (Serves him right for feeling like he lost out at the end!)

3/3.5

[Lau]

Be careful what your wish for.

Jake underwent a cultural and personal transformation that led him to believe he could do better without his the family he had left behind in Russia. Feeling like he adapted to American, Jake looks down on his wife, resenting her for impeding his newfound freedom and for her inability to adapt quickly to a new way of life. Jake makes a choice that will blow up in face.

It was a infuriating reading how he mistreated his poor wife. Culture shock is real, it’s hard, and your identity will suffer pains through the change.

My only negative comment was the language used. It was hard for me to understand the lingo at times, and I had to Google the big words. It is without a doubt worth your time.

[Cathi]

I really enjoyed this novella about a Jewish immigrant, Yekl (later the Americanized Jake) and his adjustments to life in New York. The Yiddish/English dialect was hard to read at first, but I got used to it, and it made the story more authentic for me. The ironies of the story were marvelous, and the characters (as unlikable as some of them were) were great. I was able to visit the Tenement Museum in Manhattan's Lower East Side a few years ago, and this story made me think about what I saw and learned there. The immigrant experience of the late-1800s and early-1900s was so challenging (that's putting it mildly) and I appreciate learning more through good books and movies. Thanks to my daughter for recommending this!

[Maria Paula]

This short novel was assigned to me in my Anglo-American Literature course where we’re focusing on the immigrant experience. In this short almost 70 page novel, you get to meet Jewish immigrants from what was then Russian Empire and how each one has a different story and outlook on their new life in america. And what “to be american” means for them and how that thought and mindset shapes the way they choose to spend the rest of their lives. With external and internal pressures coming from the new society that they surround themselves with (mostly from other Jewish immigrants) their values both personal and religious get tested and altered.

[Jaseon R. G. B.]

Miss America, Miss America --
gild it tightly. Ain't this the stuff, dancing.
Boxing. Bustling masculinity.
I'm not Jewish, not Yiddish --
I'm American.
What's that? Forget my roots?
I'm in America now.

[Samantha McComas]

This was an assignment reading for a contemporary lit class. It was pretty difficult to get through because of the vernacular used in the text. Reading the conversations laced with Yiddish made the reading drag a bit. However the actual story was pretty interesting once get past the language.

[Janet]

The story upon which the film Hester Street was based

Abraham Cahan set this work of fiction in the turn-of-the-century Lower East Side, a Jewish shtetl where many new immigrants settled.

[writtenbywds]

read for uni, it was really not bad at all. a quick read. obviously none of the morals of the characters of this book are to be seen as correct lol

[Katelyn MacGray]

fuck yekl & gitl deserved better

[Creolecat]

Hester Street (1975)

[K]

Devastating! 3.5/5

[Alafair]

Read this for uni - informative on what it would’ve been like for new Jewish immigrants but like fuck Jake…..?

[Viraj]

I love the prose

[Maddox Smith]

Had to read this for a college course I'm taking and I couldn't stand it. It was awful to read and horrifically unfunny for a story advertised as a comedy.

2/10.

[Brooke Trayer]

The use of dialect is fantastic. Also generally just a really good narrative.

[Carolina]

Difficult to read initially, but still a short and simple story. Loaded with cultural references and a solid encapsulation of this specific time and place in the history of New York Jews.

[Leka]

Una storia dell'immigrazione ebraica in America tra fine ottocento/inizi novecento. Che mi ha ricordato molto le atmosfere dei romanzi e dei racconti di Malamud e Giobbe di Joseph Roth.
Una storia di vinti e di vincitori, comunque entrambi perduti. Come se vincere e perdere, nella vita, fossero solo due facce della stessa triste e fasulla medaglia.

[Chloe]

I read this after seeing Hester Street, so to some degree I was going through the motions reading it. Very interesting, especially seeing the differences between the film and the book.

[Pearse Anderson]

A fun read at times, a fine novella. I don't have too many thoughts.