THE BRUDER BROTHERS

From the pages of the Jewish Daily Forward comes the real lives of struggling immigrants as described in A Bintel Brief. 

 

In the year 1906, the Forward reached more than a half-million immigrants struggling to make their way in the New World. Within its pages the paper ran a popular advice column titled A Bintel Brief, which translates into a bundle of letters.

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The column spoke to the many Jews who emigrated from Eastern Europe seeking a new life and freedom from the oppression destined to overtake their homeland. At the same time it helped those struggling with their new circumstances, in one of the most overcrowded neighborhoods in the world.

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The paper's editor and was the renown Abraham Cahan, who offered advice in his column on all kinds of personal problems. The letters provided a fascinating glimpse into the Jewish life at the turn of the century, and spoke to the issues central to the common experiences of these immigrants.

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The Bruder Brothers is based on one of the letters published in the Forward, by a young man who gets his sweetheart pregnant in Warsaw. He leaves for America with a promise that he will send for her as soon as he could. But unfortunately, as you will read, things do not go as planned. 

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I have selected this interesting letter, and took the literary liberty of adding a backstory and particulars to the lives of the writer and his compatriots.

 

I hope you enjoy my tale and encourage me to continue writing further stories from A Bintel Brief.

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If you would like to read the 5000 word short story, please email me at NeilPerryGordon@gmail.com