Mother's Book.
[Judaica]. Feldman, Rebecca. Mother’s Book. A Collection of Letters and Writings to her Family and Friends. Edited by her husband, Isaac Feldman. Woodbine, New Jersey: Printed by Isaac Feldman, 1950.
Tall 8vo.; edges water-stained, preliminaries lightly foxed; red cloth, off-setting to front, light wear to bottom.
First edition of this very scarce, privately printed work, half of which is in English, the other in Yiddish. Rebecca Feldman was in many ways typical of American Jewish immigrant women, except that, most crucially, she left a record of her humble life. In Russia, Feldman was taught to keep a store in order to support a scholarly husband, as most Jewish girls were. She was lucky enough to find an educated man and start raising children before they were forced to flee Russia to escape escalating Pogroms. Her business skills helped her family survive the difficult transition to America.
In the letters printed here, Feldman sometimes reflects on those early days, but for the most part she addresses the present and her family’s future. In the tradition of spiritual autobiographies, these letters offer moral lessons and reflections on Judaism. Her husband provides the best summary of Feldman’s writings in the introduction: “This book is a collection of compositions, prayers, letters and wishes of Rebecca Feldman which she wrote to her children and close relatives so they shall not forget, after her departure, her good words that she spoke to them when she reard [sic] them.”
(#1355)
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