Jews Without Money

The heat of the summer makes people uncomfortable and irritable. Mike and his sister sleep outside to escape the oppressive heat inside the tenement building. On the evening before the Fourth of July, Mike falls asleep outside as people set off fireworks. One firework lands near him and injures his shoulder. Though the wound heals, he has nightmares for weeks afterwards. Doctors cannot help him, so his parents take him to a “Speaker-woman” named Baba Sima. Baba Sima is a mystical healer who provides potions and spells to people in need. She traces a blunt knife across Mike’s back while mumbling incantations. Mike distrusts her methods and worries that the other boys will tease him. Baba Sima visits several more times and gives instructions to Mike, which he follows. On her final visit, she pours molten lead into a bucket of water and sees the cooled metal form into the vague shape of a horse. She pronounces that Mike is cured. Mike’s nightmares stop, but he remains skeptical of the old woman’s magic.

The family settles back into their familiar routine. Mike’s father visits the Coney Island beach, but his mother is reluctant to deal with the crowds. They argue but eventually compromise by taking a trip to Bronx Park. The family rides the crowded, sweaty train across New York and spends the day in the park. Mike’s mother, Katie, appreciates the green, open spaces, and the children enjoy the zoo. While Mike’s father sleeps beneath a tree, the rest of the family searches in the forest for mushrooms. The mushrooms remind Katie of her youth in Hungary, and she teaches her children how to hunt for them.

Katie “never learned to like shoes” (156), and she believes that her frequent bare-footedness is a sign of her ability to work hard. She has spent her whole life working hard, both in Hungary and in America. A professional matchmaker arranged for her marriage to Herman, and they “came to love each other with an emotion deeper than romance” (160). Katie fights with many people, including Herman, because she loves them and wants to help. Herman must listen to the endless tragic stories and complaints about the people his wife helps. 

Katie has a strong ethnic identity. She curses about the various Christian communities that surround the Jewish neighborhoods of the Lower East Side. To her, “Christians did not seem like people” (164). Katie’s entire life as a Jewish woman has taught her to fear non-Jews, from Christian girls who teased her as a child to the Christian mobs who carried out pogroms against Jewish communities in Europe. She passes on stories about anti-Semitic violence to her children, though Mike insists that she “was incapable of real hatred” and had many Christian friends (165). He remembers how she helped an Italian woman named Betsy; in another instance, she saves a young Irish child from choking. Eventually, she encourages Mike to play with the sick young boy, whose father is an alcoholic who beats his wife. Mike goes to play with the bedridden Christian boy.

Mike’s predominantly Jewish neighborhood is also home to people of many different nationalities and cultural identities. One night, Herman invites a Black man to the family dinner and introduces him as an “African Jew” whom he met at the synagogue. On another occasion, a Gypsy family moves into an empty store. The members of the community complain about the family’s lifestyle and accuse them of stealing. Though they resent the Gypsy family, the family’s presence reminds the people of life in Europe. Mike also remembers Chinese families who lived in his tenement building. The presence of an American was rare, but Mike recalls a woman from Boston named Mary Sugar Bum. Mary is a violent drunk who lives in a stable and has sex with men in exchange for whisky. The local children mock her and taunt her about her dead husband.

Religion is the cause of many fights in the poor areas of New York. Jews, Christians, and atheists find themselves arguing often, and these arguments occasionally spill over into fights. Katie is the most religious member of the family. She observes “all the minute, irritating details of the Jewish orthodoxy” (181), while her husband does not. Herman, by contrast, is “careless” about religion and only observes the rituals occasionally. Mike remembers celebrating Hannukah and the other Jewish holidays. Though he disliked the synagogue, he remembers being interested in the idea that the Messiah would one day return.

One day, Mike decides to walk to Chinatown to buy cheap candy. His route takes him through an Italian neighborhood, and he is attacked by a gang of young Italian boys. The gang chases him through the streets, taunting him for being Jewish and shouting “Christ-killer.” He runs all the way back to the Jewish neighborhoods, and his mother tends to his wounds. She explains to her son that Christians blame Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, whom they believe to have been the Messiah. Mike is shocked to learn that the Christians have their own Messiah, whom his mother describes as “a bad magician” (189). Mike hopes that when the true Messiah arrives he will be strong enough to deal with the neighborhood bullies and other enemies.

A religious neighbor named Reb Samuel struggles to adapt to life in America. Despite his suffering, he retains an air of dignity that makes people respect him. Reb works in an umbrella store, and Mike spends time beside him, peppering him with questions about Judaism, religion, and the Messiah. Reb belongs to a devout branch of Judaism known as the Chassidim (the Hassidic Jews), and their pious, unique interpretation of the religion fascinates Mike. The Chassidic congregation meets at one another’s homes, and they have no rabbi. Reb complains that the influence of America is slowing eroding the dedication to Chassidism. When a member of the congregation feels pressured to shave his beard, Reb wants to expel him from the group. The members argue about the interpretation of the religious laws governing beards. The beardless members seem to win, while Reb and the other “ultra-orthodox factionalists” discuss whether they need to form a synagogue of their own and elect a rabbi to guide them (197). They spend years saving all of their money, buy a property, and hire a famous rabbi from Europe.

Mike remembers the new rabbi being led to the Chassidic synagogue. The Chassidim delightedly lead the new arrival through the neighborhood, led by Reb Samuel. Mike remembers his disappointment in seeing the overweight, uninteresting Rabbi Schmarya for the first time. The Rabbi seems more focused on eating, while the Chassidim dance with delirious glee as they arrive at the synagogue. When Mike complains about the Rabbi’s appetite, Reb Samuel angrily sends Mike home. However, eventually Mike is proved right. America changes Rabbi Schmarya, who exploits his devoted congregation. Eventually, the Rabbi resigns to take over a richer congregation elsewhere in New York. Reb Samuel is crushed and falls very ill. He spends the next 10 years in bed and then dies. The community mourns the death of a “good man” who was unable to deal with life in America.