The Rise of David Levinsky (1917) by Abraham Cahan describes the life of a Russian Jew who immigrated to America in 1885. Cahan, a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant, stated that The Rise of David Levinsky mirrored his own experience with Americanization. Harper & Brothers published the book in 1917. The book experienced a warm reception and was adapted into a musical in 1987. The musical never achieved much success, but it was revived in 2007. The book started as a series for McClure’s Magazine titled “The Autobiography of an American Jew: The Rise of David Levinsky.” Cahan stated the story is not his own but that he was a literary realist. Abraham Cahan wrote for socialist papers and advocated for maintaining cultural customs. These beliefs show in the major thematic arcs of the novel, such as assimilation and religion versus spirituality.

This guide references the Project Gutenberg e-book. The page numbers referenced are from that version.

Content Warning: This guide contains discussion of antisemitism and pogroms. It also references misogynistic views. This novel sometimes uses language that is offensive to people with mental health concerns and contains a depiction of sexual assault.

Plot Summary

David Levinsky was born in Antomir, Russia (present-day Lithuania) in 1865. His father died when he was only three years old. At the start of the novel, he and his mother live a meager life. She begs and borrows money from her family to send David to a private primary school. He often experiences bullying by both his teachers and his peers as he is so poor. This does not stop him from learning, and he excels at school.

When he turns 13, David enters Talmudic studies at secondary school, or yeshiva. He befriends a scholar named Reb Sender who coaches him in his studies. He makes friends with another student, Naphtali, who also struggles to find enough money. He expresses more and more interest in women as he begins puberty. He experiences his first rivalry with a Polish student who has memorized large portions of the Talmud. The rivalry ends in a fight; Reb Sender chastises him for his behavior and jealousy.

When walking home from school one day, David is accosted by a group of Gentiles. David’s mother leaves their home in a rage to confront the young man. She comes home carried by others with a severe head injury. She dies that night. David performs the typical mourning rituals, then returns to yeshiva. David lives on the charity of others, sleeping in the school and eating with various families, until a wealthy woman, Shiphrah Minsker, takes him in after learning of his mother’s fate. David thinks of immigrating to America.

At the Minsker house, David forms a friendship and attachment to Shiphrah’s daughter, Matilda. The two have relations in secret, but when David confesses his plan to move to America, she vows to help him raise the money. David falls in love with her, telling her he would rather stay with her than go to America. She gives him the money he needs and tells him to go.

David takes a ship from Bremen to New York. He reads Psalm 104 over and over to give himself comfort. He forms a friendship with another solitary man, Gitelson. When the two men arrive in America, Gitelson is quickly picked up by a wealthy businessman to work in his clothing factory. David, alone again, makes his way to the Lower East Side in search of food and lodging. He meets a wealthy man, Mr. Even, who hears the story of his mother. Mr. Even buys David a new suit and takes him to a lodging house. David realizes most of the men have no sidelocks and wear no beard. He experiences a shock, being called a greenhorn. He begins to peddle wares on the streets. He gives up his facial hair and begins to shed his Orthodox and European traits.

David befriends other merchants and peddlers. He starts at a school to learn English. He begins to seduce women and solicit sex workers. David hates his job and begins to read Dickenson in English, using a small dictionary gifted to him by his teacher at English school, Bender. He begins to fall behind on his bills.

David runs into Gitelson while out walking one night. Gitelson, seeing his impoverished state, takes him for a soda at an ice cream parlor. Gitelson offers to get David a job at the cloak manufacturing shop for which he works. David agrees. He works 16-hour days finding the most efficient ways to use the machines for manufacturing. He dreams of going to the City College of New York, saving his money to meet that goal.

Right before he secures enough money to go to college, his boss shames him in front of his colleagues. Bent on revenge, David hatches a plan to recruit the best tailor to start a new manufacturing shop that cuts out the middle management level. He lets go of his educational aspirations and approaches the tailor. He realizes both the adventure and the revenge captivate him. He thinks he could succeed at this business.

David secures his first order, but the company he sold to goes under. Desperately seeking investment, he approaches his landlady’s son, Meyer Nodelman, who agrees to pay his debt but not to finance his future. David then approaches his friend Maximus Max, whom he begs off of, though the two remain friends. The money from the company eventually comes through after the company reorganizes. David immediately reinvests the profit into the company. He spends more time with his friend Max, eventually starting an affair with his wife.

While carrying on the affair, David begins traveling to other cities to make sales. He experiences success as he regularly undercuts his competitors’ prices. His affair with Max’s wife, Dora, grows more passionate. He runs afoul of the cloak maker’s union and finds a way to continue business through strikes. Dora breaks off the affair, realizing the situation cannot be sustained. David’s heart breaks at the loss.

He is determined to find a good wife and settle down, even though he still feels the loss of Dora acutely. Meyer Nodelman, who is now a close friend, agrees to help him find the right woman. None of the matches pan out. David continues to amass a fortune, deciding to reinvest in his community. He starts a foundation for immigrants from his hometown of Antomir. He meets Mr. Kaplan at the synagogue and eventually proposes to his daughter, Fanny. As a millionaire, he fancies himself quite the catch.

David stops on his way to meet the Kaplan family at a Catskills resort. There he meets Miss Tevkin with whom he becomes obsessed. She shuns his advances. David breaks off his engagement with Fanny. He then searches out Miss Tevkin’s father, a noted Russian Jewish poet. The two become friends, and David spends much time at the family’s home. After a long duration, David proposes to Miss Tevkin, Anna. She rejects him outright, stating her father promised David was only there as a friend and not a suitor.

Heartbroken, David laments his choices as he reminisces about his life. He regrets going into business and not marrying. He sometimes wishes he were back in Russia. The novel closes with David’s frustration with feeling like he is not really the person who he is now. He believes he was most fully himself studying the Talmud in Antomir.