Jacob Dinezon's novella Falik and His House, originally published in Yiddish in 1904 and translated into English for the first time by Mindy Liberman, tells the story of an elderly tailor who has fallen on hard times. His house, which he talks to like a brother, was once young and sturdy. Now in old age, it leans precariously, and the roof is leaking so badly it threatens to drown Falik, his wife, and their belligerent tenants. To...