Blessed Hands: Stories

by Frume Halpern

Overview

A plain factory worker who hides herself from life finds new possibilities opening up when a co-worker invites her to a political lecture. A humble shoemaker gains confidence and pride in his work after a yeshiva student introduces him to the philosophy of Spinoza. An unhappy housewife has new emotions stirred in her by an intellectual boarder. An African American man works his entire life standing, only to find himself unable to walk in retirement. A Jewish family waits in sorrow and anger as their loved ones' fates are played out on the national news. Frume Halpern brings these "slice of life" stories to life in this collection of short stories featuring protagonists on the fringes of American society: immigrants, Jews, African Americans, and the disabled, the sick, and the poor.

Blessed Hands is the frst ever complete English-language translation of Gebenshte hent: dertseylungen, along with the original foreword by Isaac Elchanan Ronch and an afterword by the translator. This collection contains short stories that were published over several decades in the left-wing daily news-paper Morgn frayhayt [Morning Freedom] and other Yiddish-language outlets in mid-20th century New York.

​These psychologically insightful stories present the lives of protagonists who are working-class poor, social outcasts, and those experiencing illness, disability, and racism. Halpern worked as a massage therapist in a hospital and many of these stories are about those who work with their hands: workshop/factory workers, piece workers, a shoemaker, a butcher, and a hairdresser.

The author, Frume Halpern (neé Tarloff, among other forms), was born ca. 1881-1888(?) presumably in (or near) Bialystok (then the Russian Empire, now Poland). It is likely that she immigrated to the United States in 1904, and became a naturalized citizen in 1914. She worked as a massage therapist in the Bronx Hospital, and wrote stories which appeared in Yiddish-language publications such as Morgn frayhayt (Morning Freedom) and the Zamlungen (Collections). Gebenshte hent (Blessed Hands), a collection of these stories, is her only book. Halpern died in 1965.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940166109095
Publisher:	Frayed Edge Press
Publication date:	10/17/2023
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	899,719
File size:	486 KB

About the Author

Frume Halpern (neé Tarloff, among other forms) was born ca. 1881-1888(?) in Bialystok, Poland. She immigrated to the United States in 1904, and became a naturalized citizen in 1914. She worked as a massage therapist in the Bronx Hospital, and wrote stories which appeared in Yiddish-language publications such as Morgn frayhayt (Morning Freedom) and the Zamlungen (Collections). Gebenshte hent (Blessed Hands), a collection of these stories, is her only book. Halpern died in 1965.

​Yermiyahu Ahron Taub is a poet, writer, and Yiddish literary translator. He is the author of two books of fiction, Beloved Comrades: A Novel in Stories (2020) and Prodigal Children in the House of G-d: Stories (2018), and six volumes of poetry, including A Mouse Among Tottering Skyscrapers: Selected Yiddish Poems (2017). Taub's most recent translation from the Yiddish is Dineh: An Autobiographical Novel by Ida Maze (2022).

Editorial Reviews

★ 2023-11-18
Halpern offers a soulful collection of short stories, translated from the Yiddish.

The narrator of the story “Blessed Hands” uses her hands as a masseuse, bringing healing to those who need it, but also as a means of making money (“God wanted these same hands to draw their livelihood from touching the human body”). Her mother had to sell her breast milk, leaving none for her children. This story showcases the themes that will propel the stories that follow: healing, spirituality, family, and persevering through poverty. A butcher does not want his son to take on the family business, fearing he’ll be trapped in an identity framed by poverty and hard labor (“Hello, Butch”). In “The Last Breakfast,” a mother sends her son away to grow, change, and learn to be a man, but he meets a grisly fate. In both stories, a parent believes they must send their child away to have a better future, an idea they ultimately realize was wrong in one way or another. A girl who can’t walk without braces and crutches enjoys winter as a time when she can throw snowballs at other kids and finally play with them (“Snowballs”). A woman who has been trapped in a tomb of loneliness finds community and warmth at a leftist political meeting in “Comrade Bashe.” These two stories effectively convey the yearning of the characters for human connection. In other slice-of-life narratives, a shoemaker spends his days laboring away for minimal reward to keep his family fed and happy and is told a story by a religious scholar about the power of hard work (“Munye the Shoemaker and Baruch Spinoza”), and young women wait for news of their husbands away at war while they work and exchange letters to keep their spirits up (“Faces”). With these stories of ordinary people, Halpern demonstrates a sincere understanding of her characters. The pieces collected here were translated from Yiddish by Taub, who contributes a well-thought-out and researched afterword illuminating Halpern’s life and literary artistry, giving readers a fuller experience of her work.

A fascinating short story collection offering glimpses into the lives of those usually unobserved.

Kirkus Reviews