Esther Kreitman

Hinde Ester Singer Kreytman (31 March 1891 – 13 June 1954), known in English as Esther Kreitman, was a Yiddish-language novelist and short story writer. She was born in Biłgoraj, Vistula Land to a rabbinic Jewish family. She had three younger brothers: the novelists Israel Joshua Singer and Isaac Bashevis Singer and the rabbi Moshe Singer.

Early life and education Kreitman was the daughter of Pinkjas Mendl Menachem Zynger (Singer) and his wife Basheve (Bathsheba), née Zylberman. Her father was a rabbi and an avid Hasid with a passion for mysticism. Kreitman's mother also came from a rabbinic, albeit non-Hasidic, family. The daughter of the rabbi of Biłgoraj, Later, as a highly gifted child, she had to watch her younger brothers being taught, while she was relegated to menial household duties. Kreitman's first novel includes numerous scenes depicting the main female character's desires for education: scenes in which she waits with great anticipation for the bookseller to arrive in their town, dreams of becoming a scholar, and hides a Russian text-book from the male members of her family so that they won't find out she is studying in secret. It is likely that these incidents reflect Kreitman's own story.

Career In 1912, she agreed to an arranged marriage, and went to live with her husband, Avraham Kreitman, a diamond cutter, to Antwerp, Belgium. The events surrounding this marriage are both described by her in Deborah and by Isaac Bashevis Singer in his autobiographical collection In my Father's Court.

In Antwerp her son, Morris Kreitman, was born. (He later was known by his journalistic pen name, Maurice Carr, and his novelistic pen name, Martin Lea.) The outbreak of World War I forced the family to flee to London, where Kreitman lived for the rest of her life, except for two long return visits to Poland.

Her marriage was not happy. She and her husband both worked in menial jobs, and she translated classic English works into Yiddish to earn extra money. Her second novel, Brilyantn (Diamonds) was published in 1944. Yikhes (Lineage), her book of short stories, was published in 1949.

Works in Yiddish and English Der Sheydim-Tants (Warsaw: Brzoza, 1936); translated by Maurice Carr as Deborah (London: W. and G. Foyle, 1946; republished London: Virago, 1983, New York: St. Martins Press, 1983, London: David Paul, 13 August 2004, , and New York: Feminist Press, 1 May 2009 ). Brilyantn (London: W. and G. Foyle, 1944); translated by Heather Valencia as Diamonds (London: David Paul, 15 October 2009, ). Yikhes (London: Narod Press, 1949); translated by Dorothee van Tendeloo as Blitz and Other Stories (London: David Paul, 1 March 2004 ).