Morgenshtern’s literary efforts were not limited to his attempts to reinvigorate Jewish folk literature. Aside from some translations from German and poems adapted from his career as a wedding jester, he was known for his anti-Hasidic folk satire Reb Simkhe Plakhte, oder Der velt shvindler (Simkhe Coarse-Cloth, or the Man Who Fooled the World), probably first written at the end of the 1870s; the first edition was likely published by L. Nisenkorn around 1880. A tale of a simple man taken for a holy figure far above his station, the work was frequently reprinted.
REB SIMKHE PLAKHTE or The World Swindler
