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Uncle Moses

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Set in turn-of-the-century Poland, Uncle Moses is a gripping tale of one man's struggle to reconcile his traditional Jewish upbringing with the rapidly changing political and social landscape of the modern world. Packed with vivid characters, heartwarming moments, and unexpected plot twists, this captivating novel is a must-read for fans of Jewish literature. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1918

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About the author

Sholem Asch

259 books36 followers
Polish-American writer Sholem Asch (also written Shalom Ash, Yiddish: שלום אַש, Polish: Szalom Asz) sought to reconcile Judaism and Christianity in his controversial novels, such as The Nazarene (1939).

Sholem Asch composed dramas and essays in the language.

Frajda Malka bore Asch and nine other children to Moszek Asz, a cattle-dealer and innkeeper. Asch received tradition and as a young man followed, obtained a more liberal education at Włocławek, and supported with letters for the illiterate townspeople. He moved to Warsaw and met and married Mathilde Shapiro, the daughter of Menahem Mendel Shapiro. The Haskalah or Hebrew enlightenment initially influenced Asch, but Isaac Leib Peretz convinced him to switch.

Plot of God of Vengeance , his drama of 1907 features a lesbian relationship in a brothel.

He traveled to Palestine in 1908 and to the United States in 1910.

His Kiddush ha-Shem in 1919 in the earliest historical modern literature concerns the anti-Semitic uprising of Khmelnytsky in mid-17th century Ukraine.

He sat out World War I in the United States and a naturalized as a citizen in 1920. He returned.


People celebrated a 12-volume set of his collected works, published in his own lifetime in the early 1920s.

When people performed God of Vengeance , the highly esteemed play, on Broadway in 1923, authorities arrested and successfully prosecuted the entire cast on obscenity charges despite the fact that people in Europe already translated it into German, Russian, Hebrew, Italian, Czech, and Norwegian.

Farn Mabul ( Before the Flood , translated as Three Cities ), his trilogy of 1929 to 1931, describes early 20th century life in Saint Petersburg, Warsaw, and Moscow.

In 1932, the republic awarded the decoration of Polonia Restituta, and the club of poets, essayists, and novelists (PEN) elected him honorary president.

He later moved to France and visited Palestine again in 1936. Dos Gezang fun Tol ( The Song of the Valley ) about the halutzim or Zionist pioneers in Palestine reflects his visit of 1936 to that region.

He set his Bayrn Opgrunt (1937), translated as The Precipice , in Germany during the hyperinflation of the 1920s.

He settled in the United States in 1938.

He, however, later offended sensibilities with The Apostle , and Mary , parts of his trilogy, which in 1939 to 1949 dealt with subjects of New Testament. The Forward , leading language newspaper of New York, dropped him and openly attacked him for promotion.

Asch spent most his last two years in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, Israel but died in London. His house in Bat Yam now houses his namesake museum. Yale University holds the bulk of his library, which contains rare books and manuscripts, including some of his own works.

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70 reviews
January 1, 2023
One of the series written by Sholem Asch recounting the New York City immigrant experience in the early 1900’s. Sweatshops, unions, shtetl culture and poverty are big players. Originally written in Yiddish.
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