HaZeman VeMikreihu-Sepher HaZichronoth LehaZkiram [autobiography and travelogue in America]

SHERESHEFSKY, CHAIM

(Tavrig, Lithuania

1875)

Hebrew manuscript on paper. Artistic title-page in Hebrew with some German.

An interesting but depressing autobiography. Written in a fine Hebrew style, including some rather sorrowful, self-reflective poetry. Commences with a description of his newly married life, which due to financial reversals ended rather quickly. A visit to St. Petersburg sparked the decision to seek a new future by traveling to America. Shereshefsky settled in Baltimore and found work as a peddler and Hebrew teacher. He was despondent to come across a sunken level of morality in the Jewish community alongside unethical business practices. After a stay of three months, the writer decided to return to Lithuania.