Mikhl Yashinsky was born in Detroit and lives in New York, where he works as a playwright, actor, and Yiddish scholar. His performance in the operetta The Sorceress brought a ‘keen, if malevolent, psychology’ to the title role (New York Times) and his Yiddish drama The Gospel According to Chaim ‘jolted the repertoire with a work that is both traditional and delightfully subversive’ (Forward). He is also the translator of Adventures of Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes (2025).

• List of FiguresPreface by Tova FeldshuhIntroduction: “The Thorns That Grew the Flower”, Mikhl YashinskyA Note on the TranslationEster-Rokhl Kaminska’s MemoirNotesIndex

This important memoir by the “mother of the Yiddish theatre” recounts her path from a sheltered shtetl upbringing to a life of high adventure in a touring Yiddish theatre troupe. Along the way, readers encounter fascinating details about Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and a compelling cast of characters.

Mikhl Yashinsky was born in Detroit and lives in New York, where he works as a playwright, actor, and Yiddish scholar. His performance in the operetta The Sorceress brought a ‘keen, if malevolent, psychology’ to the title role (New York Times) and his Yiddish drama The Gospel According to Chaim ‘jolted the repertoire with a work that is both traditional and delightfully subversive’ (Forward). He is also the translator of Adventures of Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes (2025).

• List of FiguresPreface by Tova FeldshuhIntroduction: “The Thorns That Grew the Flower”, Mikhl YashinskyA Note on the TranslationEster-Rokhl Kaminska’s MemoirNotesIndex

This important memoir by the “mother of the Yiddish theatre” recounts her path from a sheltered shtetl upbringing to a life of high adventure in a touring Yiddish theatre troupe. Along the way, readers encounter fascinating details about Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and a compelling cast of characters.

Mikhl Yashinsky was born in Detroit and lives in New York, where he works as a playwright, actor, and Yiddish scholar. His performance in the operetta The Sorceress brought a ‘keen, if malevolent, psychology’ to the title role (New York Times) and his Yiddish drama The Gospel According to Chaim ‘jolted the repertoire with a work that is both traditional and delightfully subversive’ (Forward). He is also the translator of Adventures of Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes (2025).

• List of FiguresPreface by Tova FeldshuhIntroduction: “The Thorns That Grew the Flower”, Mikhl YashinskyA Note on the TranslationEster-Rokhl Kaminska’s MemoirNotesIndex

This important memoir by the “mother of the Yiddish theatre” recounts her path from a sheltered shtetl upbringing to a life of high adventure in a touring Yiddish theatre troupe. Along the way, readers encounter fascinating details about Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and a compelling cast of characters.