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Simha Sikenazi Quotes

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“Knowing great wealth, rather becoming pious and learned Jews”. That is the way, the Rabbi of Abraham Hersh Ashkenazi, predicts the life of his two children will be. To the dread of Abraham Hersh, that prophecy becomes true for both sons, but mostly for Simha Meir. Throughout the book, the reader is able to discern how Simha Meir goes through an evolution that allows him to escape the constraints of his Jewishness, becoming Max Ashkenazi, the king of Lodz. I.J. Singer describes Simha as “slight, lightly freckled, with sharp features, very red thin lips, and grey eyes that seemed to turn green when he became querulous” . He was a kid that preferred to play alone, even as a kid used to count coins, which may be a premonition of the wealth he …show more content…

Simha always felt that his brother was a threat to him and he would have to over power him. The overpowering is first seen at early age, when “Jacob Bunem would get on all four as Simha Meir mounted him like a horse” . Throughout the novel Simha competes with Jacob to see who can become more successful; Simha taking the road of hard-work, while Jacob simply using his charm and good looks to marry rich. This competition is clearly seen when Simha marries Dinele simply because of his intelligence, “Simha Meir took full advantage of the situation and lorded it over his younger …show more content…

“When he was grown, he would sit in an office like his father’s, but without a skullcap-bareheaded like the German merchant across the street. They should address him in German not Yiddish”. Simha decides to become a ruthless leader, who simply wants to make more profits, and be more successful than Jacob Bunem, by stop the handloom and focusing more on steam. Simha also decided to, “Stop using brokers and jobbers to deal directly with merchants, as well as dropping workers wages a half ruble per week” . The disregard he had regarding his workers would eventually backfire on him, since there would be strikes against the low wages in his factory. Simha’s relentless business mentality is seen again when he took over his fathers’ position in the Huntze mill, “Along with all the other changes was the one replacing Abraham Hersh Ashkenazi with his own son” . This was the moment when Simha not only cut his traditional family oriented Jewishness; it also led him to change his name and his attire, becoming a man of the

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