Religious Beliefs In The Son From America, By Isaac Singer

It is estimated that out of the world population of nearly 7.4 billion people, only 13.5 million of those people are Jewish (“Judaism 101: Jewish Population”). That’s only 0.2% of the population, which effectively puts Judaism in place as one of the smallest religious groups in the world. Due to them being a much smaller fish in a very large ocean, often times it is hard for Jews to be able to maintain their religious beliefs. It is especially difficult to maintain when modern principles that conflict with their beliefs are taught on a much larger scale. In “The Son From America” by Isaac Singer, this struggle is shown to still be present when there is a conflict between religious beliefs and modern-day beliefs. In the Jewish culture there
In Isaac Singer’s short story, “The Son From America”, a young man named Samuel has a difficult time readjusting to the tradition that the woman is in charge of the household. When his mother begins to prepare the bread for the Sabbath, he offers to do it for her: “Mother, I was a baker for many years in New York,” he said, and he began to knead the dough.” (Singer 164). This shows conflict because Samuel is so used to baking bread in America that he takes over for his mother, even though the women are in charge of baking in Jewish heritage. He has become so used to his own traditions that he forgets to follow the religious traditions of his own family. Another conflict that takes place in this story is when Samuel asks his father where he has put all the money he has sent him: “Berl hesitated. “One is not allowed to touch money on the Sabbath, but I will show you.”” (Singer 165). Samuel is used to being able to handle money whenever he wants to, while his parents have to follow the rules of the Sabbath when it comes to money. On the Sabbath, you are not allowed to do anything with money. You cannot buy anything, sell anything, or even touch money. One last conflict with the Sabbath that Samuel has is when he goes out for a walk: “He wanted to smoke a cigar, but he remembered it was forbidden on the Sabbath.” (Singer 165). One of the rules of the Sabbath is that you are not allowed to kindle fires, and lighting a cigar counts. Even though his parents are not there to scold him, he respects the rules of the Sabbath. As you can see, there are many aspects in this story that are challenged because of the old couple’s Jewish