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//Jews Without Money// __The Soul of a Landlord__ A documentary about the struggling Jewish community of New York in the early 20th century guest-starring Historian Chika Ayanwu, Acclaimed Poet Guillermo Ruvalcaba, English PhD Karalynn Schneck and Rabbi Matthew Lucas.

Topics Discussed 1) Karalynn—Literature PhD who will primarily discuss the modernist period and its relation to the "incidents" at hand. 2) Chika—Historian/Sociologist who will discuss the historical issues of the "incidents," making references to sociological factors such as women's rights, cultural, religious, and racial discrimination, etc. 3) Guillermo—Poet who will randomly discuss the symbolic and thematic aspects of the Pride, Capitalism, Authority, Winter, Food, Money, Depression, etc. incident to the work. 4) Matt—Rabbi who will cover cultural or religious aspects of the "incidents" at hand, explaining the Yiddish sayings, phrases, or references, and discussing the theology of tributes to the synagogue and the angel of death.

In //Jews Without Money: The Soul of a Landlord,// Michael Gold employs //avant garde//, a modernist trend aimed at making all things new. He specifically makes use of this technique by creating the well-rounded female protagonist //Katie//, who violates social and cultural norms by working outside the home and speaking her mind to her superiors. “It hurt my father’s masculine pride to see his wife working for wages. But my mother liked it all; she was proud of earning money, and she liked her fights in the restaurant” (Gold 1661). This story was published before the working women of World War II, so a woman working in the factory demeaned and violated her social status. The issue of masculine pride is also addressed—this heretofore unspoken rule and cherished order of society is here displayed and perhaps even critiqued by Gold. Katie’s independence and outspokenness in a patriarchal country and culture breaks new grounds for women. “Frequently, avant-garde artists represent themselves as “alienated” from the established order, against which they assert their own autonomy; a prominent aim is to shock the sensibilities of the conventional reader and to challenge the norms and pieties of the dominant bourgeois culture” (Arakawa). Gold puts a brave woman in the forefront of this story to break traditional boundaries. For men in the 1930’s, Katie would be a shocking rarity.

Katie’s character is the mouthpiece through which the author gets to expose and critique the order of society. Instead of being bossed around by her employer who has “the manners of a Mussolini,” Katie tells him ‘what was what’ (Gold 1661). The narrator wonders at his mother’s exuberance: “Why did she have to give my father a new variety of headache with accounts of her battles for ‘justice’ in the cafeteria” (Gold 1661). Katie is a woman with a sense of the rights of the working class, a topic spoken of a lot in the author’s introduction. Gold’s “anger at capitalism was initially more personal than political, more subjective than ideological: unlike the mass of impoverished ghetto dwellers, he had been reared to expect better” (Lauter 1657). This expectation comes through strongly in Katie’s character—a character that could have been inspired by Gold’s parental or societal mentors.

Where Gold employs the modernist method of //avant garde//, he strays from modernist techniques by sticking to the use of one narrator in this passage. Modernist //perspectivism// employs the use of many voices in order to create contrasting viewpoints. Gold sticks to one narrator, Katie’s son Michael (probably not an autobiographical technique). Although he is speaking from the first person, Michael seems to have somewhat of a traditionalist omniscient view of what transpires. He knows all the details of his mother’s experiences even though it is impossible for him to have seen and heard everything.

Because this passage comes from a collection of vignettes, there is a constantly moving and interweaving aspect to each chapter that allows for a certain continuity. This particular passage ends with his mother pawning her most prized possessions to the landlord after her victory with him over the broken plumbing. She again succeeds by getting her desired price for the family’s diamond ring, using the money to buy shoes for everyone but herself. It has an open ending—a modernist technique, but probably not a modernist tactic because (as mentioned earlier) this is one story out of many that have a centralized theme. According to modernist theory, modernism tends towards "'open' or ambiguous endings, again seen to be more representative of 'reality' -- as opposed to 'closed' endings, in which matters are resolved" (Del Gizzo). The open ending here allows for another story about the protagonist, but it also ties up loose ends in its own way; The landlord is sufficiently punished (at least psychologcially), an Katie has won power over him. The open ending is therefore only employed to tie this passage to the whole. This story also moves away from traditional modernism in another way. Instead of “an emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity in writing (and in visual arts as well); an emphasis on HOW seeing (or reading or perception itself) takes place, rather than on WHAT is perceived” (Arakawa), the author employs a standard narrative technique and relies on a regular event-formatted narrative. The story starts out by explaining the setting (a poor, urban area of New York in the wintertime), and continues on by introducing a few of the characters, like Mrs. Rosenbaum (1659). The assumed protagonist, Katie, is beset by a series of regular, clear-cut problems like an unemployed husband, broken plumbing, and other constraints of poverty. The narrative moves through Katie’s experiences—a very traditionalist approach.

Gold’s stylistic approach also seems to have stuck with the traditional. Usually, “the ambivalence of the modern writer toward the world leads him to suspect received forms, particularly those forms that suggest continuity and wholeness. Such completeness contradicts the experience of the world, in which things are fragmented, discontinuous, chaotic, intractable” (Arakawa). Gold, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, sticks to all things continuous and whole, moved in real time by way of probable events—all very opposite to modernism (Del Gizzo). Each chapter of the passage is neatly compartmentalized by specific topic. Chapter one introduces the setting, chapter two introduces Mrs. Rosenbaum and critiques capitalism for its treatment of selfless women like her. Chapter three introduces the father’s disability and the need for Katie to work, and so on and so forth. Also, Gold’s use of language is normal and easily understood. It has some cultural language employed, but nothing out of the ordinary. Gold drops in Yiddish phrases and historically understood references, but otherwise remains true to traditionalist forms.

Arakawa, Suzanne. "American Modernism." Arakawa’s Teaching Website 1 June 2007 

Del Gizzo. “Overview of Literary Modernism.” 15 August 2004. 1 June 2007. 

Gold, Michael. //Jews Without Money.// "The Soul of a Landlord." __The Heath Anthology of AmericanLiterature__. Ed.Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghlin Mifflin Co., 2006.



In search for a new and prosperous start in the United States of America, immigrants traveled from all over the world to regain and reclaim their dignity. What greeted most American immigrants and citizens alike in the 1930s was the despair and hardships of the Great Depression. In October of 1929, the stock market crashed and had devestating effects nationally as well as internationally. The characters in Michael Gold's "Jews Without Money" offer a glimpse of the real-life hardships and opression that people felt during this time.

As described in the story, "There was a Panic on Wall Street. Multitudes were without work; there were strikes, suicides, and food riots. The prostitutes roamed our street like wolves; never was there so much competion among them"(1658). The unemployment rate in the U.S. was at 3.3% when the Depression began and rose to a staggering 24.9% in 1933 according to the U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Statistics. Life around New York's East Side froze both metaphorically and literally. The winters were bitter and the Depression showed no racial preference. "The snow covered them..." meant that neither dog nor cat, human or otherwise, would be safe from the catastrophic burdens placed upon them by the Depression.

Warsaw, Poland was New York's only competition when it came to the Jewish population. Nearly one half of the U.S. population lived in New York mostly because it was their first stop as they immigrated from European countries. Traditionally, ghettos are created in three ways:
 * As ports of entry where minorities, and especially immigrant minorities, voluntarily choose to live with their own kind.
 * When the majority uses compulsion -- typically violence, hostility, or legal barriers -- to force minorities into particular areas.
 * When the majority is willing and able to pay more than the minority to live with its own kind.

The Jews, along with other European- American and Asian-American cultures, lived in "ghettos" that isolated them form other nationalities. Within the Jewish ghettos was another separation into religious sects. The ghettos not only protected the Jews from attacks by other ethnic or religious groups, it also helped preserve their cultural traditions. Katie, the protagonist in the story, asks her son Mikey to never eat hamburgers because of the ill mannered way it is handled. His father interrupts and says, " Such things are for Americans. It is their country and their hamburger steak." Jewish food preparers are pain stakingly meticulous when it comes to making sure their meat is clean. Historically, the ritual in which food is made [|kosher] began in the Bible and is explained in the Talmud, the Jewish book of commentary. The gist of having kosher foods is only certain animals can be eaten if they were slaughtered in the correct way. This is another way of keeping Jewish traditions.

The American Jewish famiy has always been stereotyped as having a strong but silent father, an overbearing and outspoken mother, and children who will one day live to be the same. Gold's writing brings this stereotype to reality. Katie, especially because of her husband's diability due to "painter's sickness," takes on the responsibility of both the male role as a protectorer and provider. and the female role as cook, maid, nurturer and know it all.

The American Jewish famiy has always been stereotyped as having a strong but silent father, an overbearing and outspoken mother, and children who will one day live to be the same. Gold's writing brings this stereotype to reality. Katie, especially because of her husband's disability due to "painter's sickness," takes on the responsibility of both the male role as a protectorer and provider. and the female role as cook, maid, nurturer and know it all.

Michael Gold, originally born Itzok Isaac Granich, was born on April 12, 1893. Growing up he learned to despise capitalism because of it's role in his family life. His father owned a business, but when his health made a turn for the worse, his business began to fail with it. At the age of 12, Itzok and his little brother had to obtain jobs in order to support his family. Around 1919 Itzok Granich changed his name to Michael Gold (after a Jewish Civil War Veteran he admired for having fought to free slaves) to protect him from those who were angry about his outspoken communist views. Gold's personal history became a catalyst to his writing, setting off the plot, theme, characteristics, and styles of "Jews Without Money."

http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/eng/eng-my-aunt.html- Michael Gold's Personal Life

http://college.hmco.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/modern/gold_mi.html - More of Michael Gold's personal life

http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr1997/spring/glsr97_2.htm -Ghettos

http://emr.cs.iit.edu/~reingold/ruths-kitchen/introduction.html -Kosher food



I need to call attention to Gold's exposition. He starts with money, telling us how little everyone had. Except instead of only money, he tells of them having groceries a pinch at a time. The smallest things in a kitchen like butter and sugar were bought in penny fractions. Then he says that even pennies were scarce (Gold 1658). The depression that he describes shows us the depletion of money first, then the death caused by it. He is kind of surprising in his vivid description of the depletion of money. One does not think about the side effects of a depression, like everybody trying to get money however they can. There is increased prostitution, and the prostitutes are compared to a pack of wolves (Gold 1658), which is an interesting take on them. In a way, he shows us what we don't want to see, much like some filmmakers today. This story represents the educational and entertainment goals still attempted in the entertainment industry.

Seeing as death and a financially striking nation are being described here, it is fitting that the season is winter. Winter is to death what the forest is to evil. And death is abundant in this time on the East Side. Gold points out the undiscerning way of nature through explicit descriptions of death, from cats to horses to a neighborhood alcoholic in an alley. The strife of this time knew no limits."The Soul of a Landlord" was written just after the depression, when the effects were still strongly felt. There are references to this, and also to war. For example, the snowman that was made by the boys has "his eyes and nose torn out; his grin smashed, like a war victims." (1659.) Gold writes that the culprit is the winter wind; I believe that the winter wind is a symbol of such things as poverty, war, and death.

At times, a note of irony and bitterness towards the conditions of the time enters Gold's narrative voice. While describing the kindness of a local grocer, he includes the word suicide in the same sentence. This was a time where nothing but sustenance and hard cash was honored. Gold writes that "kindness is a form of suicide in a world based on the law of competition." This mindset continues as he tells of the grocer going broke because she would hand out food to needy children for their families on credit, knowing that they had no way to pay. "One day we watched the rewards of kindness. The sheriff's men arrived to seize Mrs. Rosenbaum's grocery." (1660.)



Throughout American history and especially during the time of the depression, Jews struggled to survive in society; They were looked down upon so much that they were eventually considered unequal. In the story //Jews Without Money,// the “Jews” were a family living on the East Side of New York during the depression. The country believed that “Jews” had caused the stock market crash. The family in the story consists of a husband and wife with their three children. They are trying to survive through their faith. Here I will be explaining how the “Jews” of the era in America and in the novel were shunned because of their Yiddish sayings, phrases and references, and discuss the theology of tributes to the synagogue and the angel of death.

In New York during the depression Jews were misunderstood and belittled. Certain stereotypes became popular- stereotypes that said Jews were rich misers, Christ killers, etc. Jews were also belittled for their different sayings, practices, and phraseology such as the use of a Golem. A Golem in Yiddishaccording to the Jewish Festival of Santa Barbara(sbjf) is an “artificial figure in human form that Rabbi Low of Prague created in sixteenth century to frighten the enemies of the Jews” (1659). The most relatable Golem in American culture is the farmer's scarecrow. Gold's Golem comes in the form of a snow man in the middle of a winter setting. This description is especially effective because the family of Jews in this story live in a poor, urban area. In such a rundown area, and with so many aforementioned "enemies" or persecuters, this Golem serves to protect the poor, working class Jews. It also represents the continual strife between the Jews and the "goyim or gentiles"(sbjf). The boys who built this snowman were most likely just having fun, but Gold sees something else. The next day when the children came outside to look at the Golem it was strangely altered. Either it didn’t ward off bad spirits or it simply was a victim of similar persecution by surrounding neighbors.

Other Yiddish phrases according that set the family apart from their surrounding neighbors and community members were words such as //dreck, tochess, and pfoo.// These words are not only different from everyday language but they are also negative phrases. Dreck aka as poo(sbjf) as used on page 1661 was used by the mother to tell the manager of a steak restaurant that their food tasted like feces. The average gentile wouldn’t know what “dreck” means, therefore they would not be offended. If the manager knew what it meant, on the other hand, the mother probably would have been thrown out of the building.

Another phrase used in the story is “tochess” (translated as “ass" according to sbjf”). Using it in its context makes its meaning clear: “you can kiss my __ass (tochess)__.” This phrase was used by the mother Mrs. Tennenbaum to tell the landlord that she wouldn’t be paying the rent and that the landlord could kiss her tochess (1662)!

The last phrase used in the story was “pfoo.” This word in the Yiddish language is slang for “//I spit on”(sbjf).// Here this phrase was used by the landlord in regards to Mrs. Tennenbaum’s reaction to the rent strike. The landlord says “I pfoo on your rights.” Here we can see that the landlord uses a phrase instead of the actual meaning to get his point across. Everyone present is Jewish so they obviously understand.

The last idea that sets the Jews apart from the rest in the story is the use of Jewish references. The Jewish references used in the text are “skull cap and Angel of Death.” The use of the reference “Angel of Death" can be found on page 1663 where Mrs. Tennenbaum tells the landlord that the Angel of Death will come after him one day and take all of his money. She said this because he refuses to admit that he is a filthy and selfish miser who only looks after himself. She infers that he is not living by the laws of the Torah, so he will recieve an evil angel instead of an holy angel.

The last Jewish reference in the story is “skull cap.” “Skull cap” in Yiddish according to the Jewish Festival of Santa Barbara means a Yarmulke or a piece of cloth cap worn by Orthodox Jewish males to express their knowledge that God is always watching from above. It is symbolic of their religious practices. This phrase was used to describe the lanlord's appearance as he examines Katie's ring. Here another stereotype is present: by having the rich Jewish man look at the jewelry to appraise it, one can infer that Jews are rich and shrewd. In actuality, Gold is correcting this stereotype because the majority of the Jews in this story aren't rich.

Works Cited- Yiddish Phrases. Jewish Festival of Santa Barbara.org. June, 11, 2007 . Jewish Culture. Wikipedia.org. June, 11, 2007 .


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