Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (February 18, 1859 – May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem, was a Yiddish author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States. The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on Aleichem’s stories about Tevye the Dairyman, was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe.
Sholem Aleichem’s narratives were notable for the naturalness of his characters’ speech and the accuracy of his descriptions of shtetl life. He was often referred to as the “Jewish Mark Twain” because of the two authors’ similar writing styles and use of pen names. When Twain heard of the writer called “the Jewish Mark Twain,” he replied, “Please tell him that I am the American Sholem Aleichem.”
— Wikipedia
Quotes: “To go to the synagogue with one’s father on the Passover eve — is there in the world a greater pleasure than that? What is it worth to be dressed in new clothes from head to foot, and to show off before one’s friends? Then the prayers themselves — the first Festival evening prayer and blessing.” | “Remember, you must not sleep at the Seder. If you do, Elijah the Prophet will come with a bag on his shoulders. On the two first nights of Passover, Elijah the Prophet goes about looking for those who have fallen asleep at the Seder, and takes them away in his bag.”
— BrainyQuote.com
Learn more about Sholem Aleichem from Wikipedia. ►
Watch “Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness” [2:20]. ►
Watch “Sholem Aleichem in America” [6:53]. ►
Watch “Ruth Wisse on Sholem Aleichem” [2:57]. ►
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