Sharkansky, A.M. Di Amerikanishe Hagadah [The American Hagadah]

(PARODY)

Hebrew Publishing Company

New York

1927

“In the loosely connected skits, called by him The American Haggadah, (the author) succeeded, perhaps unconsciously, in catching the spirit of restlessness which hovers over the turbulent existence of the Jews in New York City.” (Davidson, Parody in Jewish Literature, p. 109). As an example of the new immigrant’s disillusionment with the American experience, Davidson cites from Sharkansky’s parody of Psalm 116: “He’emanti ki adaber…I thought if I would speak English, I would find my salvation. But the fact is, Kol ha-adam kozev; it is a world of bluff and swindle (p.16).” Ibid., p. 98