Falk’s Activities According to the Diary of Zevi Hirsch

Abstract

This chapter talks about Zevi Hirsch, the son of Isaac Eisik Segal of Kalisz, a shtadlan and a native of Poland who emigrated to London and became Samuel Falk's factotum for about four years. It looks at the diary that Hirsch kept, which recorded his daily life in Falk's household. It was written in faulty Hebrew interspersed with Yiddish and English words, and occasionally with terms that seem to derive from French and German. It also mentions how Hirsch referred to Falk as hehakham, meaning 'the Sage', and 'Admo', an acronym that means 'my master and teacher'. The chapter recounts Falk's life in London from 1747 to 1751, which was marked by poverty and deprivation as Hirsch wrote in his diary that he repeatedly visited pawnbrokers to pawn various household effects and clothes. It points out how Hirsch became an eyewitness to the curses that Falk rained on his wife for her inferior cooking.