Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler: "Fishke the Lame" and "Benjamin the Third"

by Mendele Mocher Sforim, S.Y. Abramovitsh

The founding father of modern Yiddish fiction, Abramovitsh created a rich tapestry of small-town Jewish life in the Russian Pale of Settlement with stories full of humor, heart, and homespun truths. Here are two of his best-known and best-loved tales: "Fishke the Lame" and "Benjamin the Third."

Genres: Fiction, Judaica, Jewish

265 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Mendele Mocher Sforim (Yiddish: מענדעלע מוכר ספֿרים‎, Hebrew: מנדלי מוכר ספרים‎‎, also known as Moykher, Sfarim; lit. "Mendele the book peddler"), born Sholem Yankev Abramovich (Yiddish: שלום יעקב אַבראַמאָװיטש‎, Russian: Соломон Моисеевич Абрамович – Solomon Moiseyevich Abramovich) or S. J. Abramowitch, was a Jewish author and one of the founders of modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature.

Reviews

[Perlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the Benjamin the 3rd, after having heard some of the translation of Fishke the Krummeh, I knew it wasn't for me.
But Benjamin's story was a combination of laugh-out-loud funny, poignant moments, sad moments, and the realization that many of the quirks of personality and community that existed at the time of the work's composition, still exist today. I loved Hillel Halkin's translation, and my only complaint is that the town names should have been translated as well, because that plays part of the satire Abramovitsh is crafting.

[Jay Resnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this immensely, especially Mendele’s depiction of the different kinds of beggars.

[lifeisjustablurblog]

Read first few chaps

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

only read fishke but it went hard

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much weird magic in everyday pauperhood. Zany characters risen from mud. The epitome and the parody of the shtetl simultaneously. So fun to time travel.

[Elan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introductory essay and the Hillel Halkin translation of Benjamin the Third are great. The translation of Fishke the Lame (much of it written out in southern-style dialect to represent provincial Yiddish) was so distracting that I gave up and ordered a different translation. It’s really 5 stars for Benjamin, 1 star for the fishke.