Bernard Malamud (1914–1986), one of the greatest American prose writers of the post-war generation, awarded the most honorable literary awards - a Pulitzer Prize, two National Book Awards, the Gold Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters - does not need to be introduced to the Russian reader. Four collections of stories by B. Malamud have been published in Russia: “Shoes for the Maid” (1967), “Rembrandt’s Hat” (1990), “Idiots First” (1993), “Angel Levin” (2005), the novel “The Master” (2002) . However, the rich heritage of this wonderful writer, whom criticism places on a par with such storytellers as Chekhov and Babel, has not been fully mastered in Russia. "Benefit" - the fifth book of stories by B. Malamud in Russia - is composed of stories published for the first time. In these stories about the lives of Jewish immigrants struggling to fit into American society, the deep tragedy that is characteristic of Malamud is inseparable from the hilarious comedy.