Bread Givers

Bread Givers is a 1925 three-volume novel by Jewish-American author Anzia Yezierska; the story of a young girl growing up in an immigrant Jewish household in the Lower East Side of New York City. Her parents are from Poland in the Russian Empire.

"Bread Givers" a three-volume novel of a Jewish-American female coming-of-age story set in the 1920s written by Anzia Yezierska. 10-year-old Sara Smolinsky is the protagonist and narrator of Bread Givers. Sara lives in a tenement with her Jewish orthodox father, Reb, her mother, Shenah, and her three older sisters Bessie, Fania, and Mashah in the Lower East Side of New York City. The Smolinsky’s are destitute, Sara’s Orthodox father, Reb, devotes his time to the study of the Torah and Jewish sacred texts and refuses to help to provide for the family’s income. Sara’s mother rents out the front room of their tenement to boarders after convincing her husband Reb to move his sacred texts under her bed in order to have money to pay for rent.

The Smolinsky’s struggle to pay their rent to the landlord, resulting in a confrontation between the collector lady, from the landlord, and Reb. The collector lady demands Reb in a slew of insults to pay for the rent of the past two months while he is singing a religious hymn. Reb explains he does not have the money and in anger the collector lady slams the Torah shut causing the book to fall at her feet. Insulted, Reb becomes angry and slaps her twice causing her to seek the police to arrest and put him on trial. Reb’s short absence forces Sara to sell herling on Hester St. as a form of income. When Reb returns home free of charges, the community on Hester St. admires him for hitting the collector lady.

Each of sara’s three older sisters falls in love and Reb rejects each of their suitors. Reb decides to arrange marriages for each of his three older daughters despite them already being in love. Reb uses the arranged marriages for his own financial gain, even though, his daughters are unhappy. Sara witnesses the damage her father causes on her sisters by intervening in all of their relationships and makes a promise to herself to marry someone of her own choosing. A promise that later solidifies her decision in not letting her father control her decisions.

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