Jewish, Masculine, and Professional: Intersections of Profession and Masculinity in Yoshue Perle’s Novellas “Gelt” and “Nayn a zeyger inderfri”

Abstract

This article explores “Nayn a zeyger inderfri” and “Gelt,” two novellas by the Polish- Jewish Yiddish author Yoshue Perle. These novellas feature first-generation Jewish middle-class men who anxiously struggle to perform according to the bourgeois masculine standards that their new class positioning requires. The article argues that Perle creates a narrative where Jewish masculinities come into direct interaction with non-Jewish bourgeois masculinities. While debates about Jewish masculinity often take “Torah study” or “productivity” as primary examples for thinking through appropriate activities for Jewish men, I suggest that a bank or a factory office is also a site for the negotiation of what constitutes ideal, failed, or proper masculine behavior. The article proposes a more nuanced approach to the study of Jewish masculinities, which would not be limited to looking at the intersection of gender and ethnicity, but would include class as another major factor.