These Things I Remember

These Things I Remember describes the life of a learned man in a religious Jewish environment in Northeast Poland. Imbued from early childhood with a deep love of learning he marries at 15 then makes a career in the cloth and leather trades. His yearning for the Land of Israel takes him there twice to buy land for the people of his town.When his fourth son absconds from the Tsar's army and ends up in London the father brings him a bride all the way from Poland - detailing his impressions of a foreigner's visit to London. He returns to Poland is caught up in World War 1 goes into exile and is caught up in the Russian Revolution. Revision of the frontiers causes many problems but eventually back in Poland his life in ruins he dies in poverty. This book sheds extraordinary light on on Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement and on the reasons for the mass exodus of Jews to Western Europe to America and to Palestine.