The Brothers Ashkenazi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Brothers Ashkenazi (1937) is a novel by Israel Joshua Singer. Written in Yiddish, it was translated into English in 1980.

The novel takes place in the Polish city of Lodz, mostly among the large Jewish community that lived there before World War Two. It follows the changes from the 19th century through the revolution of 1905 and ends just after World War One. The main character is Max Ashkenazi, who moves away from the pious Jewish culture he is born into and becomes a successful industrialist. How this destroys a lot of his personal relationships, before the upheaval of the war also ruins him financially.