“Compatriots” - A Short Story by Sarah Hamer-Jacklyn - 1952 - translated from Yiddish by Rose Waldman

Have I Got a Story for You - More than a Century of Fiction from the Forward edited by Ezra Glinter with an introduction by Dana Horn was a 2016 finalist for the Jewish Book of the Year.   Founded in New York City in 1897, Forward is the most renowned Yiddish newspaper in the world. For generations it has brought immigrants news of their homelands, recipes, as well as lots of information about how to get along in America.  It also published many works of Yiddish language fiction by some of the greatest writers in the language.  

(You can learn about the history of Forward on their website 

https://forward.com/about-us/history/)

In what I think will be a widely read and cherished anthology, we are presented forty two never before translated into English short stories.  The introductory material is very good and each author has a a biography which gives enough background to increase our appreciation of their story.  

SARAH HAMER-JACKLYN, was born in Radomsko, Poland, to a Hasidic family. In 1914 she immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto, where she attended public school and received private tutoring in Jewish subjects. At age sixteen Hamer-Jacklyn began a career as an actress and singer in Toronto’s Yiddish theater. Her acting career took her to New York, where she married, had a son and eventually divorced. Her literary career began at age thirty-four with the publication of a story titled “A Shop Girl” in the newspaper Der tog (The Day). She continued to write for many Yiddish periodicals, including the Forward, and published several collections of stories. “Compatriots” appeared in the Forward on August 3, 1952.  She  died in 1975.

Today’s story, “The Compatriots” by Sarah Hamer-Jacklyn

 focuses on two now elderly men who long ago were officers in a New York City landsmanshaft—a social and mutual-aid society based on common geographical origin.  These organizational were of great value to what are referred to in the story as “greenhorns”, new immigrants badly needing help adjusting to American life.  These organizations helped to keep people in touch with their roots.  As years go by the two friends observe members changing their names to make them more “American” sounding.  The young people seem uninterested even in knowing their history. Both men were widowers.  Both gradually stopped going to the meetings.  One moved out west, became a successful farmer and married a gentile.  Years go by and the man who stayed in NYC stops in at a meeting.  He is shocked to see a party in process featuring a rumba dance contest.  To his great shock by a huge coincidence his friend, now a widower, has returned to visit and had stopped in at the same party.  They reminisce and the out of towner asks to visit the old, from 1912 or so, neighbourhood.  He is shocked at first when nothing is like his memories.  The ending is a bit schmaltzy but the story was fun to read.

Mel u