MALACHOVSKY, HILLEL. Kethavim Besepher-Sketches and Letters from Jewish Life in America.

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

Magil Brothers

Philadelphia

1902

FIRST EDITION. Frontispiece portrait with author's inscription and signature

cf. Goldman 1123 (lacks the Author’s signature)

The Russian born Malachovsky (1860-1943) served as the Principal of Harlem's Uptown Talmud Torah and contributed to and edited various Hebrew and Yiddish periodicals. In the present work he writes about Jewish life in various American cities. He decries that even among the Orthodox it is common that the President of a synagogue prays with "fear and utmost devotion" Sabbath morning following which he promptly departs for work (see pp. 72-3). Malachovsky compares his life as a Maskil in Russia and America in a sarcastic poem on p.79. Whereas in Russia, when he studied Torah and Hebrew literature assiduously, he was considered a "Kofer"- an unbeliever, in America, although he has moved from the path of the Torah, he is considered a believer simply because he is not a supporter of the Refom movement