Creator Bio
David Schornstein
1826–1879
Born in an Alsatian village in 1826, the son of a cantor, David Schornstein trained for several years to be a teacher. He then moved to Paris, where he pursued a career in journalism and, at the same time, developed his literary interests as a playwright and novelist. His stories, centering on themes drawn from Jewish life, range from graphic accounts of suffering and persecution to nostalgic tales of traditional life in small towns. In the latter, the subjects are often idealized. “The Tithe” is one such story.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
Primary Source
The Tithe
[ . . . ] The sofer’s work is poorly compensated. There is an old proverb about how the soferim never grow wealthy in the land of Israel. I don’t know who gave birth to that pearl detached from the…