The King of Schnorrers

Author Israel Zangwill best typifed the comic spirit of London's Jewish ghetto by immortalizing the "schnorrer "(beggar) in particular, the character of Manasseh Bueno Barzillai Azevedo da Costa, a Sephardic panhandler who developed begging into a fine art. The robust and often hilarious tale tells how Manasseh combines insolence with resourcefulness to reduce London's best-known philanthropist to a fish handler; how he reacts to his daughter's love for a socially inferior beggar; and how he manages to parlay her marriage into a life-time pension for himself from his synagogue. Brimming with wit and wisdom and widely regarded as one of the author's most enduring works, "The King of Schnorrers" is a literary gem offering hours of entertaining humor and satire."