Dear Mendl, Dear Reyzl: Yiddish Letter Manuals from Russia and America

Contents

Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments xvii Translation and Romanization xxi 1. The World of the Brivnshteler 1 encountering Modernity 1 The Brivnshteler and traditional education 8 The Brivnshteler and the History of Model Letters 29 Yiddish Language, Yiddish Publishing, and the Brivnshteler 33 The Brivnshteler and Yiddish Literature 42 What Makes the Brivnshteler Jewish? 47 2. From the Pages of Brivnshtelers 66 Modernity and Mobility 66 Parents and Children: Russia 83 Parents and Children: America 101 Courtship and Marriage: Russia 111 Courtship and Marriage: America 124 Business 138 Judaism and Jewish Identity 152 Imagining America 168 3. Beyond Letters 192 Bibliography 201 nineteenth- and twentieth-Century Brivnshtelers 201 other sources 204 Index 213 This page intentionally left blank ...