Bread Givers

Bread Givers is a 1925 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.

Sara lives in a tenement with her Orthodox Jewish father, Reb Smolinsky, her mother, Shenah, and her three older sisters Bessie, Fania, and Mashah in the Lower East Side of New York City.

The Smolinskys are destitute; Sara's father devotes his time to the study of the Torah and Jewish sacred texts and refuses to help provide for the family's income.

Reb Smolinsky's short absence forces Sara to sell herring on Hester Street for income.

When Reb Smolinsky returns home free of charges, the community on Hester Street admires him for hitting the rent collector.

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.

Reb Smolinsky's financial gain from Bessie's marriage causes him to quickly search for a business bargain.

Once the transaction of the bargain is completed, Reb Smolinsky, his wife, and Sara discover that most of the stock in the store was fake and that they were swindled by the prior owner.

Another night when Sara is on her way to have dinner with Hugo she finds her father extremely ill, lying in the gutter and selling chewing gum.

The story takes place in three distinct settings: the tenements on New York's Lower East Side in Hester St. where readers assume the Smolinsky family settled when they first arrived to America, the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey where her father Reb purchased the grocery store, and Sara's college (not named but outside the Jewish immigrant setting).

In the "Women's Wear Daily" an ad called Jews Donating Textile Shops to Kin Abroad encourages Jewish-American immigrants to donate money or textiles to support the cause of enabling home-town folk to earn a living all year round.

Describing "Bread Givers" as emotionally impacting and revealing of a traditional strict father and a young assimilating daughter yearning for success.