Frimmie Hersh

Frimmie Hersh is a Jewish resident of 55 Dropsie Street, a tenement building in the Bronx, New York. He is a much-respected and trusted man in the Jewish community, and is a native of Tsarist Russia. Facing death at the hands of pogroms, Frimmie's friends and neighbors send him to America. On the way, he carves a contract with God in stone, so that God will always bless him for doing good. In America, he studies Hassidism and becomes well-known. A baby girl is left on his doorstep, which he raises as his own daughter. He names her Rachele. When Rachele is a teenager, she succumbs to illness, and Frimmie is beside himself. He believes God has broken His end of the contract, and so leaves the Jewish community after throwing the contract through the window.

Frimmie becomes a real estate mogul, but ultimately gives back to his...