Editing Sholem Aleichem

{{short description|Russian Jewish author and playwright (1859–1916)}}
{{About|the writer|the greeting|Shalom aleichem|the Jewish hymn|Shalom Aleichem (liturgy)|the crater on Mercury|Sholem Aleichem (crater)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Sholem Aleichem
| image            = Sholem Aleichem 1907.jpg
| caption          = Sholem Aleichem in 1907
| language         = [[Yiddish]]
| birth_name       = Solomon Rabinovich
| pseudonym        = Sholem Aleichem ({{langx|yi|שלום עליכם}})
| birth_date       = {{OldStyleDate|March 2|1859|February 18}}
| birth_place      = [[Pereiaslav]], [[Poltava Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1916|5|13|1859|2|18}}
| death_place      = [[New York City]], U.S.
| occupation       = Writer
| nationality      = 
| period           = 
| genre            = Novels, short stories, plays
| subject          = 
| movement         = [[Yiddish literature|Yiddish]] revival
| signature        = File:Sholem Aleichem Signature.svg
| website          = 
}}

'''Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich''' ({{langx|ru|Соломон Наумович Рабинович}}; {{OldStyleDate|March 2|1859|February 18}}{{spnd}}May 13, 1916), better known under his [[pen name]] '''Sholem Aleichem''' ([[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] and {{langx|he|שלום עליכם}}, also spelled {{Lang|yi|שאָלעם־אלייכעם}} in [[Yiddish orthography#Reform and standardization|Soviet Yiddish]], {{IPA|yi|ˈʃɔləm aˈlɛjxəm|}}; [[Russian language|Russian]] and {{langx|uk|Шо́лом-Але́йхем}}), was a [[Yiddish]] author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/he/%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%A2%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%9D/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA|title=Heroes – Trailblazers of the Jewish People|website=Beit Hatfutsot|access-date=November 14, 2019|archive-date=May 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510183115/https://dbs.bh.org.il/he/%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%9D-%D7%A2%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%9D/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA|url-status=dead}}</ref> The 1964 musical ''[[Fiddler on the Roof]]'', based on Aleichem's stories about [[Tevye|Tevye the Dairyman]], was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in [[Eastern Europe]].

The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] phrase שלום עליכם ([[shalom aleichem]]) literally means "[May] peace [be] upon you!", and is a greeting in traditional Hebrew and Yiddish.<ref>The Arabic [[cognate]] is {{script/Arabic|السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ}} {{IPA|ar|ʔæs.sæˈlæːmu ʕæˈlæjkʊm|}} ([[As-salamu alaykum]]).</ref>

==Biography==
[[File:שלום עליכם-JNF014304.jpeg|thumb|Sholem Aleichem in 1910]]
Solomon Naumovich (Sholom Nohumovich) Rabinovich ({{langx|ru|Соломо́н Нау́мович (Шо́лом Но́хумович) Рабино́вич}}) was born in 1859 in [[Pereiaslav]] and grew up in the nearby ''[[shtetl]]'' of  [[Voronkiv, Kyiv Oblast|Voronkiv]], in the [[Poltava Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]] (now in the [[Kyiv Oblast]] of central [[Ukraine]]).<ref name=pereyaslav/> (Voronkiv has become the prototype of Aleichem's [[Kasrilevka]].<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/shalom-aleichem Shalom Aleichem (1859 - 1916)], Jewish Virtual Library</ref>) His father, Menachem-Nukhem Rabinovich, was a rich merchant at that time.<ref name = "jewishvirtuallibrary.org">{{Citation | url = https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/aleichem.html | contribution = Aleichem | title = Jewish virtual library | format = biography}}.</ref> However, a failed business affair plunged the family into poverty and Solomon Rabinovich grew up in reduced circumstances.<ref name = "jewishvirtuallibrary.org" /> When he was 13 years old, the family moved back to Pereiaslav, where his mother, Chaye-Esther, died in a [[cholera]] epidemic.<ref>{{Citation | first = Sholem | last = Aleichem | title = From the Fair | publisher = Viking Penguin | year = 1985 | chapter = 34. Cholera | pages = 100–4}}.</ref>

Sholem Aleichem's first venture into writing was an alphabetic glossary of the [[epithet]]s used by his stepmother. At the age of fifteen, he composed a Jewish version of the novel ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]''. He adopted the [[pseudonym]] ''Sholem Aleichem,'' a [[Yiddish]] variant of the [[Hebrew]] expression ''[[shalom aleichem]],'' meaning "peace be with you" and typically used as a greeting.

In 1876, after graduating from school in Pereiaslav, he began to work as a teacher. During 1877-1880 in Sofijka village, [[Bohuslav]] region, he spent three years tutoring a wealthy landowner's daughter,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20161228120710/http://boguslav-rda.gov.ua/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=340:2012-05-24-06-39-27&catid=166:2012-05-24-06-28-01&Itemid=56 Poberezhka-Sofijka villages. 24.04.2016.(in Ukr.)]</ref> Olga (Hodel) {{Proper name|Loev}} (1865&ndash;1942).<ref>Dates on base of Rabinowitz's gravestone.</ref>  From 1880 to 1883 he served as [[crown rabbi (Russia)|crown rabbi]] in [[Lubny]].<ref name="Kaplan2010">{{Cite book |title=The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe |url=http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/ |chapter=Crown Rabbi |chapter-url=http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Crown_Rabbi |last1=Kaplan Appel |first1=Tamar |date=August 3, 2010 |website=YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=9780300119039 |oclc=170203576 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150327120806/http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Crown_Rabbi |archive-date=March 27, 2015 |access-date=May 31, 2015 }}</ref>

On May 12, 1883, he and Olga married, against the wishes of her father, whose estate they inherited a few years later. Their first child, a daughter named Ernestina (Tissa), was born in 1884.  In 1890, Sholem Aleichem lost their entire fortune in stock [[speculation]] and fled from his creditors.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Huttner|first1=Jan Lisa|title=Tevye's Daughters: No Laughing Matter|date=September 18, 2014|publisher=FF2 Media|location=New York City, NY|asin=B00NQDQCTG|url=https://www.amazon.com/Tevyes-Daughters-No-Laughing-Matter-ebook/dp/B00NQDQCTG/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8|access-date=October 21, 2014}}</ref>  Daughter Lyalya (Lili) was born in 1887. As Lyalya Kaufman, she became a Hebrew writer. (Lyalya's daughter [[Bel Kaufman]], also a writer, was the author of ''[[Up the Down Staircase]]'', which was also made into a successful film.) A third daughter, Emma, was born in 1888. In 1889, Olga gave birth to a son. They named him Elimelech, after Olga's father, but at home they called him Misha. Daughter Marusi (who would one day publish "My Father, Sholom Aleichem" under her married name [[Marie Waife]]-Goldberg) was born in 1892. A final child, a son named Nochum (Numa) after Solomon's father was born in 1901 (under the name [[Norman Raeben]] he became a painter and an influential art teacher).

After witnessing the [[pogrom]]s that swept through southern [[Russian Empire]] in 1905, [[Kiev pogrom (1905)|including Kiev]], Sholem Aleichem left [[Kiev]] (which was fictionalized as [[Yehupetz]]) and emigrated to [[New York City]], where he arrived in 1906. His family{{clarify|date=August 2013}} set up house in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]], but when he saw he could not afford to maintain two households, he joined them in Geneva in 1908. Despite his great popularity, he was forced to take up an exhausting schedule of lecturing to make ends meet. <!--BROKEN LINK [http://www.kedproductions.org/about_Sholem_Aleichem.htm]--> In July 1908, during a reading tour in Russia, Sholem Aleichem collapsed on a train going through [[Baranovichi|Baranowicze]]. He was diagnosed with a relapse of acute hemorrhagic [[tuberculosis]] and spent two months convalescing in the town's hospital. He later described the incident as "meeting his majesty, the Angel of Death, face to face", and claimed it as the catalyst for writing his autobiography, ''Funem yarid'' [From the Fair].<ref name=pereyaslav>{{cite news |first=Chaim |last=Potok |author-link=Chaim Potok |title=The Human Comedy Of Pereyaslav |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03EFDE1738F937A25754C0A963948260 |work=[[New York Times]] |date=July 14, 1985 |access-date=June 16, 2008 }}</ref> He thus missed the first [[Czernowitz Conference|Conference for the Yiddish Language]], held in 1908 in [[Chernivtsi|Czernovitz]]; his colleague and fellow Yiddish activist [[Nathan Birnbaum]] went in his place.<ref>[http://www.ibiblio.org/yiddish/Tshernovits/fridh.html First Yiddish Language Conference. Two roads to Yiddishism (Nathan Birnbaum and Sholem Aleichem)] by Louis Fridhandler</ref>

Sholem Aleichem spent the next four years living as a semi-invalid. During this period the family was largely supported by donations from friends and admirers (among his friends and acquaintances were fellow Yiddish authors [[I. L. Peretz]], [[Jacob Dinezon]], [[Mordecai Spector]], and [[Noach Pryłucki]]). In 1909, in celebration of his 25th Jubilee as a writer, his friend and colleague [[Jacob Dinezon]] spearheaded a committee with Dr. Gershon Levine, Abraham Podlishevsky, and [[Noach Pryłucki]] to buy back the [[Publishing contract|publishing rights]] to Sholem Aleichem’s works from various publishers for his sole use in order to provide him with a steady income.<ref name="YIVO Institute for Jewish Research">''Guide to the Sutzkever Kaczerginski Collection, Part II: Collection of Literary and Historical Manuscripts RG 223.2'', YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, ''[http://www.yivoarchives.org/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=932702&q=&rootcontentid=218934]''</ref> At a time when Sholem Aleichem was ill and struggling financially, this proved to be an invaluable gift, and Sholem Aleichem expressed his gratitude in a thank you letter in which he wrote,
{{Blockquote
|text=“If I tried to tell you a hundredth part of the way I feel about you, I know that that would be sheer profanation. If I am fated to live a few years longer than I have been expecting, I shall doubtless be able to say that it’s your fault, yours and that of all the other friends who have done so much to carry out your idea of ‘the redemption of the imprisoned.’”<ref name="Sholom Aleichem Panorama">''Sholom Aleichem Panorama'', I. D. Berkowitz, translator, M. W. (Melech) Grafstein, editor and publisher, (London, Ontario, Canada: The Jewish Observer, 1948), pp. 343-344</ref>
|author=Sholem Aleichem
}}

Sholem Aleichem moved to New York City again with his family in 1914. The family lived at first in [[Harlem]] at 110 [[Lenox Avenue]] (at 116th Street) and later moved to 968 [[Kelly Street]] in the [[Bronx]]. His son, Misha, ill with tuberculosis, was not permitted entry under United States immigration laws and remained in Switzerland with his sister Emma.

Sholem Aleichem died at his Bronx apartment in 1916. He is buried in the main (old) section of [[Mount Carmel Cemetery (Queens)|Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens, New York City]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting places: the burial sites of more than 14,000 famous persons |date=22 August 2016 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0786479924 |page=14 |edition=Third |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-DgDAAAQBAJ |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref>

==Literary career==
[[File:Sholem Aleichem.jpg|200px|right|thumb|A volume of Sholem Aleichem stories in [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], with the author's portrait and signature]]
[[File:Monument to Sholom Alejhem in Bohuslav.jpg|thumb|Monument to Sholem Aleichem in [[Bohuslav]], [[Ukraine]]  ]]
Like his contemporaries [[Mendele Mocher Sforim]], [[I.L. Peretz]], and [[Jacob Dinezon]], Sholem Rabinovitch started writing in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], as well as in [[Russian language|Russian]]. In 1883, when he was 24 years old, he published his first [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] story, צוויי שטיינער ''Tsvey Shteyner'' ("Two Stones"), using for the first time the pseudonym Sholem Aleichem.

By 1890 he was a central figure in Yiddish literature, the vernacular language of nearly all East European Jews, and produced over forty volumes in Yiddish. It was often derogatorily called "jargon", but Sholem Aleichem used this term in an entirely non-pejorative sense.

Apart from his own literary output, Sholem Aleichem used his personal fortune to encourage other Yiddish writers. In 1888–89, he put out two issues of an [[almanac]], די ייִדישע פאָלקסביבליאָטעק ''Di Yidishe Folksbibliotek'' ("The Yiddish Public Library") which gave important exposure to young Yiddish writers.

In 1890, after he lost his entire fortune, he could not afford to print the almanac's third issue, which had been edited but was subsequently never printed.

''[[Tevye the Dairyman]]'', in Yiddish טבֿיה דער מילכיקער&nbsp;''Tevye der Milchiker'', was first published in 1894.

Over the next few years, while continuing to write in Yiddish, he also wrote in Russian for an Odesa newspaper and for ''[[Voskhod (magazine)|Voskhod]]'', the leading Russian Jewish publication of the time, as well as in Hebrew for ''Ha-melitz,'' and for an anthology edited by [[Yehoshua Hana Rawnitzki|YH Ravnitzky]]. It was during this period that Sholem Aleichem contracted [[tuberculosis]].

In August 1904, Sholem Aleichem edited הילף : א זאַמלבוך פיר ליטעראטור אונ קונסט ''Hilf: a Zaml-Bukh fir Literatur un Kunst'' ("Help: An Anthology for Literature and Art"; [[Warsaw]], 1904) and himself translated three stories submitted by [[Leo Tolstoy|Tolstoy]] (''Esarhaddon, King of Assyria''; ''Work, Death and Sickness''; ''[[The Three Questions]]'') as well as contributions by other prominent Russian writers, including [[Anton Chekhov|Chekhov]], in aid of the victims of the [[Kishinev pogrom]].

==Critical reception==
[[File:Sholem Aleichem Statue in Netanya, Israel.JPG|thumb|250px|Sholem Aleichem statue in Netanya, Israel]]
Sholem Aleichem's narratives were notable for the naturalness of his characters' speech and the accuracy of his descriptions of [[shtetl]] life.  Early critics focused on the cheerfulness of the characters, interpreted as a way of coping with adversity. Later critics saw a tragic side in his writing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enotes.com/short-story-criticism/aleichem-sholom|title=Sholom Aleichem Aleichem, Sholom – Essay – eNotes.com|website=eNotes|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> He was often referred to as the "Jewish [[Mark Twain]]" because of the two authors' similar writing styles and use of [[pen name]]s. Both authors wrote for adults and children and lectured extensively in Europe and the United States. When Twain heard of the writer called "the Jewish Mark Twain," he replied, "Please tell him that I am the American Sholem Aleichem."<ref>Levy, Richard S. Antisemitism: a historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution, Volume 2. ABC-CLIO 2005 sv Twain; cites Kahn 1985 p 24</ref>

==Beliefs and activism==
Sholem Aleichem was an impassioned advocate of Yiddish as a national Jewish language, which he felt should be accorded the same status and respect as other modern European languages. He did not stop with what came to be called "Yiddishism", but devoted himself to the cause of [[Zionism]] as well.  Many of his writings<ref>''Oyf vos badarfn Yidn a land'', (''[http://www.sholom-aleichem.org/why_jews_need2.htm Why Do the Jews Need a Land of Their Own?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060309163134/http://www.sholom-aleichem.org/why_jews_need2.htm |date=March 9, 2006 }}''), translated by Joseph Leftwich and Mordecai S. Chertoff, Cornwall Books, 1984, {{ISBN|0-8453-4774-8}}</ref> present the Zionist case. In 1888, he became a member of [[Hovevei Zion]]. In 1907, he served as an American delegate to the Eighth Zionist Congress held in [[The Hague]].

Sholem Aleichem had a [[Triskaidekaphobia|fear of the number 13]]. His manuscripts never had a page 13; he numbered the thirteenth pages of his manuscripts as 12a.<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18nyc.html A Reading to Recall the Father of Tevye]", [[Clyde Haberman]], [[New York Times]], May 17, 2010</ref> Though it has been written that even his [[headstone]] carries the date of his death as "May 12a, 1916",<ref name='Hendrickson'>{{cite book | last = Hendrickson | first = Robert | title = World Literary Anecdotes | publisher = Facts on File, Inc | year = 1990 | location = New York, New York | pages = [https://archive.org/details/worldliteraryane00hend/page/7 7] | url = https://archive.org/details/worldliteraryane00hend/page/7 | isbn = 0-8160-2248-8 }}</ref> his headstone reads the dates of his birth and death in Hebrew, the 26th of Adar and the 10th of Iyar, respectively.

==Death==
[[File:Sholem Aleichem funeral.jpg|thumb|Sholem Aleichem's funeral on May 15, 1916]]
Sholem Aleichem died in New York on May 13, 1916, from tuberculosis and diabetes,<ref name="donaldson">{{cite book | first = Norman and Betty | last = Donaldson | title = How Did They Die? | year = 1980 | publisher = Greenwich House | isbn = 0-517-40302-1 }}</ref> aged 57, while working on his last novel, ''[[Motl, Peysi the Cantor's Son]]'', and was buried at [[Mount Carmel Cemetery (Queens)|Old Mount Carmel]] cemetery in [[Queens]].<ref>[http://www.mountcarmelcemetery.com/page.asp?id=aboutus Mount Carmel cemetery] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630122843/http://www.mountcarmelcemetery.com/page.asp?id=aboutus |date=June 30, 2007 }}</ref> At the time, his funeral was one of the largest in New York City history, with an estimated 100,000 mourners.<ref>{{cite news |title=Vast Crowds Honor Sholem Aleichem; Funeral Cortege Of Yiddish Author Greeted By Throngs In Three Boroughs. Many Deliver Eulogies Services At Educational Alliance Include Reading Of Writer's Will And His Epitaph. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1916/05/16/archives/vast-crowds-honor-sholem-aleichem-funeral-cortege-of-yiddish-author.html |quote=A hundred thousand people of the East Side, with sadness in their faces, lined the sidewalks yesterday when the funeral procession of Sholem Aleichem ("peace be with you"), the famous Yiddish humorist, whose real name was Solomon Rabinowitz, passed down Second Avenue and through East Houston. Eldridge, and Canal Streets, to the Educational Alliance, where services were held before the body was carried over the Williamsburg Bridge to ... |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=May 16, 1916|access-date=April 20, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=2,500 Jews Mourn Sholem Aleichem; "Plain People" Honor Memory Of "Jewish Mark Twain" In Carnegie Hall. Some Of His Stories Read Audience Laughs Through Tears, Just As The Author Had Said He Hoped Friends Would Do.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1916/06/18/archives/2500-jews-mourn-sholem-aleichem-plain-people-honor-memory-of-jewish.html |quote=More than 2,500 Jews paid honor to the memory of Sholem Aleichem, the "Mark Twain, who depicted in a style almost epic" the spirit of his race, at a "mourning evening" in Carnegie Hall last night. |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=May 18, 1916 |access-date=April 20, 2008 }}</ref> The next day, his will was printed in the ''[[New York Times]]'' and was read into the [[Congressional Record|Congressional Record of the United States]].

==Commemoration and legacy==
[[File:Sholom Aleichem grave side angle.jpg|thumb|Gravestone of Sholem Aleichem covered by dozens of [[visitation stones]] in [[Mount Carmel Cemetery (Queens)|Mount Carmel Cemetery]]. ]]
[[File:1959 CPA 2281.jpg|upright|thumb|A 1959 [[Soviet Union]] [[postage stamp]] commemorating the centennial of Sholem Aleichem's birth]]
[[File:Sholom Alekhem stamp 1959.jpg|upright|thumb|Israeli postal stamp, 1959]]
[[File:Музей Шолом-Алейхема.jpg|thumb|Museum of Sholem Aleichem in [[Pereiaslav]]]]
Sholem Aleichem's will contained detailed instructions to family and friends with regard to burial arrangements and marking his ''[[yahrtzeit]]''.

He told his friends and family to gather, "read my will, and also select one of my stories, one of the very merry ones, and recite it in whatever language is most intelligible to you." "Let my name be recalled with laughter," he added, "or not at all."<!--BROKEN LINK [http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.05.16/fast2.html] --> The celebrations continue to the present day, and, in recent years, have been held at the Brotherhood Synagogue on Gramercy Park South in New York City, where they are open to the public.<ref>Haberman, Clyde. [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18nyc.html A Reading to Recall the Father of Tevye]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. May 17, 2010.</ref>

He composed the text to be engraved on his tombstone in Yiddish, given here in transliteration:

{{Verse translation|lang=yi-latn|
Do ligt a yid a posheter
Geshriben yidish-daitsh far vayber
Un faren prosten folk hot er geven a humorist a shrayber

Di gantse lebn umgelozt geshlogen mit der welt kapores
Di gantse welt hot gut gemakht
Un er - oy vey - geveyn oyf tsores

Un dafka demolt geven der oylem hot gelacht
geklutchet un fleg zikh fleyen
Doch er gekrenkt dos veys nor got
Besod, az keyner zol nit zeen

|Here lies a Jew a simple one,
Wrote Yiddish-German (translations) for women
and for the regular folk, was a writer of humor

He circled the world like [[Kapparot]]
The whole world does well,
and he, oh my, was in trouble.

But when the world is laughing
applauding and slapping their knee, 
he sickened - only God knows this
in secret, so no-one sees.
|attr2={{Whose translation|date=March 2022}}
}}

In 1997, a monument dedicated to Sholem Aleichem was erected in [[Kyiv]]; another was erected in 2001 in [[Moscow]].

The main street of [[Birobidzhan]] is named after Sholem Aleichem;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255450652192&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|title=Back to Birobidjan|first=Rebecca|last=Raskin|publisher=[[Jerusalem Post]]|access-date=June 12, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813161029/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255450652192&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|archive-date=August 13, 2011}}</ref> streets were named after him also in cities in Ukraine, including [[Kyiv]], [[Odesa]], [[Vinnytsia]], [[Lviv]], and [[Zhytomyr]]. In New York City in 1996, East 33rd Street between Park and Madison Avenue is additionally named "Sholem Aleichem Place". Many streets in Israel are named after him.

Postage stamps of Sholem Aleichem were issued by Israel ([[Scott catalogue|Scott]] #154, 1959); the Soviet Union (Scott #2164, 1959); Romania (Scott #1268, 1959); and Ukraine (Scott #758, 2009).

An [[impact crater]] on the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] also bears his name.<ref>[http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?page=2&gallery_id=2&image_id=122 MESSENGER: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914020345/http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?page=2&gallery_id=2&image_id=122 |date=September 14, 2014 }}</ref>

On March 2, 2009, 150 years after his birth, the [[National Bank of Ukraine]] issued an anniversary coin depicting and celebrating Aleichem.<ref>[http://photo.unian.net/eng/themes/11715 Events by themes: To 150th years from the birthday of Sholom-Aleichem NBU issued an anniversary coin], [[UNIAN]] photo service (March 2, 2009)</ref>

[[Vilnius]], [[Lithuania]] has a Jewish school named after him and in [[Melbourne]], [[Australia]] a Yiddish school, [[Sholem Aleichem College]] is named after him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sholem.vic.edu.au/?p=PG&cri=3|title=Sholem Aleichem College|website=www.sholem.vic.edu.au|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> Several Jewish schools in [[Argentina]] were also named after him.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}}

In [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]] a library named BIBSA – Biblioteca Sholem Aleichem was founded in 1915 as a [[Zionist]] institution by a local Jewish group.  Next year, in 1916, the same group that created BIBSA founded a Jewish school named Escola Sholem Aleichem; it closed in 1997. BIBSA had a very active theatrical program in Yiddish for more than 50 years since its foundation and consistently performed Sholem Aleichem plays. In 1947 BIBSA became Associação Sholem Aleichem, under which name it continues to exist.  Both the library and club became communist institutions due to a normal transition of power in the founding group, although non-communist members left to found their own school, Colégio [[Eliezer Steinbarg]], in 1956. It is named after the first director of Escola Sholem Aleichem, a Jewish writer born in [[Romania]] who immigrated to Brazil.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eliezermax.com.br/|title=Eliezer Max|website=www.eliezermax.com.br|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://liessin.com.br/|title=Colégio Liessin|website=Colégio Liessin|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref>

In the Bronx, New York, a housing complex called The Shalom Aleichem Houses<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.6tocelebrate.org/site/shalom-aleichem-houses/|title=SHALOM ALEICHEM HOUSES – Historic Districts Council's Six to Celebrate|website=www.6tocelebrate.org|date=August 13, 2013 |access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> was built by Yiddish speaking immigrants in the 1920s, and was recently restored by new owners to its original grandeur. The Shalom Alecheim Houses are part of a proposed historic district in the area.

On May 13, 2016, a Sholem Aleichem website was launched to mark the 100th anniversary of Sholem Aleichem's death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sholemaleichem.org/ethical-will/|title=The Ethical Will|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> The website is a partnership between Sholem Aleichem's family,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/8841/sholom-aleichem-the-next-generation/|title=Sholom Aleichem: The Next Generation|date=May 16, 2003 |access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> his biographer Professor [[Jeremy Dauber]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-8216the-worlds-of-sholem-aleichem8217-by-jeremy-dauber-1387570582|title=Book Review: 'The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem' by Jeremy Dauber|first=Frederic|last=Raphael|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=December 20, 2013|access-date=June 12, 2017|via=www.wsj.com}}</ref> [[Citizen Film]], Columbia University's Center for Israel and Jewish Studies,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iijs.columbia.edu/ |title=The Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies |access-date=April 8, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114042954/http://www.iijs.columbia.edu/ |archive-date=January 14, 2016 }}</ref> The Covenant Foundation, and [[Yiddish Book Center|The Yiddish Book Center]].<ref>"[http://sholemaleichem.org/about/ About this site]" ''Sholem Aleichem''. sholemaleichem.org. Retrieved July 11, 2018.</ref>  The website features interactive maps and timelines,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sholemaleichem.org/life-times/|title=Life & Times – Sholem Aleichem|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> recommended readings,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sholemaleichem.org/recommended-reading/|title=Recommended Reading – Sholem Aleichem|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> as well as a list of centennial celebration events taking place worldwide.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sholemaleichem.org/events/|title=Events – Sholem Aleichem|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref> The website also features resources for educators.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sholemaleichem.org/student-activities/|title=Student Activities – Sholem Aleichem|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sholemaleichem.org/syllabi/|title=Syllabi – Sholem Aleichem|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sholemaleichem.org/call-to-action/|title=Call to Action – Sholem Aleichem|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref>

[[Hertz Grosbard]] recited many of his works in so called "word concerts". A reading in Yiddish of his monologue ''If I Were a Rothschild'' and several others can be found on [http://grosbardproject.com/word-concerts/word-concert-vol-6/ the Grosbard Project].

The writer's brother, Wolf Rabinovich, published the memoir "My Brother Sholom Aleichem" in Kyiv, [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], in 1939.<ref>Wolf Rabinovich, ''Mayn Bruder Sholem Aleykhem'', Kiev, Melukhe-farlag, 1939</ref>

Sholem Aleichem's granddaughter, [[Bel Kaufman]], by his daughter Lala (Lyalya), was an American author, most widely known for her novel, ''[[Up the Down Staircase]]'', published in 1964, which was adapted to the stage and also made into a motion picture in 1967, starring [[Sandy Dennis]].

==Published works==
[[File:Portrait of Shalom Aleichem by Mitchell Fields.JPG|thumb|Portrait bust of Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916) sculpted by [[Mitchell Fields]]]]

===English-language collections===

* ''Tevye's Daughters: Collected Stories of Sholom Aleichem'' by Sholem Aleichem, transl Frances Butwin, illus Ben Shahn, NY: Crown, 1949. The stories which form the basis for ''[[Fiddler on the Roof]]''.
* ''The Best of Sholom Aleichem'', edited by R. Wisse, I. Howe (originally published 1979), Walker and Co., 1991, {{ISBN|0-8027-2645-3}}.
*''Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories'', translated by H. Halkin (originally published 1987), Schocken Books, 1996, {{ISBN|0-8052-1069-5}}.
*''Nineteen to the Dozen: Monologues and Bits and Bobs of Other Things'', translated by Ted Gorelick, Syracuse Univ Press, 1998, {{ISBN|0-8156-0477-7}}.
*''A Treasury of Sholom Aleichem Children's Stories'', translated by Aliza Shevrin, [[Jason Aronson]], 1996, {{ISBN|1-56821-926-1}}.
* ''Inside Kasrilovka, Three Stories'', translated by I. Goldstick, Schocken Books, 1948 (variously reprinted)
* ''The Old Country'', translated by Julius & Frances Butwin, J B H of Peconic, 1999, {{ISBN|1-929068-21-2}}.
* ''Stories and Satires'', translated by [[Curt Leviant]], Sholom Aleichem Family Publications, 1999, {{ISBN|1-929068-20-4}}.
*''Selected Works of Sholem-Aleykhem'', edited by Marvin Zuckerman & Marion Herbst (Volume II of "The Three Great Classic Writers of Modern Yiddish Literature"), Joseph Simon Pangloss Press, 1994, {{ISBN|0-934710-24-4}}.
* ''Some Laughter, Some Tears'', translated by [[Curt Leviant]], Paperback Library, 1969, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68–25445.

===Autobiography===
* פונעם יאריד ''Funem yarid'', written 1914–1916, translated as ''The Great Fair'' by Tamara Kahana, Noonday Press, 1955; translated by [[Curt Leviant]] as ''From the Fair'', Viking, 1986, {{ISBN|0-14-008830-X}}.

===Novels===
* ''[[Stempenyu: A Jewish Novel]]'', originally published in his ''Folksbibliotek'', adapted 1905 for the play ''Jewish Daughters''.
* ''[[Yosele Solovey]]'' (1889, published in his ''Folksbibliotek'', first English translation: ''The Nightingale'' (1985))
* ''Tevye's Daughters'', translated by F. Butwin (originally published 1949), Crown, 1959, {{ISBN|0-517-50710-2}}.
* ''[[Motl, Peysi the Cantor's Son|Mottel the Cantor's son]]''.  Originally written in Yiddish. English version: Henry Schuman, Inc. New York 1953, Translated by Tamara Kahana (6a), the author's grand daughter.
* ''In The Storm''
* ''[[Wandering Stars (Aleichem novel)|Wandering Stars]]''
* ''Marienbad'', translated by Aliza Shevrin (1982, G.P. Putnam Sons, New York) from original Yiddish manuscript copyrighted by Olga Rabinowitz in 1917
* ''The Bloody Hoax''
* ''[[Menahem-Mendl]]'', translated as ''The Adventures of Menahem-Mendl'' by Tamara Kahana, Sholom Aleichem Family Publications, 1969, {{ISBN|1-929068-02-6}}.
* ''Moshkeleh Ganev'', translated as ''Moshkeleh the Thief'' by [[Curt Leviant]], University of Nebraska Press, 2021, {{ISBN|978-0-8276-1515-1}}.

====Young adult literature====
* ''The Bewitched Tailor'', Sholom Aleichem Family Publications, 1999, {{ISBN|1-929068-19-0}}.

===Plays===
* ''The Doctor'' (1887), one-act comedy
* {{Transliteration|yi|Der get}} (''The Divorce'', 1888), one-act comedy
* {{Transliteration|yi|Di asife}} (''The Assembly'', 1889), one-act comedy
* {{Transliteration|yi|[[Mazel Tov (play)|Mazel Tov]]}} (1889), one-act play
* {{Transliteration|yi|Yaknez}} (1894), a satire on brokers and speculators
* {{Transliteration|yi|Tsezeyt un tseshpreyt}} (''Scattered Far and Wide'', 1903), comedy
* {{Transliteration|yi|Agentn}} (''Agents'', 1908), one-act comedy
* {{Transliteration|yi|Yidishe tekhter}} (''Jewish Daughters'', 1905) drama, adaptation of his early novel ''Stempenyu''
* {{Transliteration|yi|Di goldgreber}} (''The Golddiggers'', 1907), comedy
* {{Transliteration|yi|Shver tsu zayn a yid}} (''[[It's Hard to be a Jew]]'' / ''If I Were You'', 1914)
* {{Transliteration|yi|Dos groyse gevins}} (''The Big Lottery'' / ''The Jackpot'', 1916)
* {{Transliteration|yi|Tevye der milkhiker}}, (''Tevye the Milkman'', 1917, performed posthumously)

===Stage===
*"The World of Sholom Aleichem

===Television===
"The World of Sholom Aleichem"

Airdate:  December 14, 1959 [https://www.nytimes.com/1959/11/14/archives/miss-berg-levene-in-play-of-week-signed-to-star-in-world-of-sholom.html]

Channel: [[WNTA-TV]] Channel 13, New York City

*Written by [[Arnold Perl]]
*Directed by [[Don Richardson (director)|Don Richardson]]
*Produced by [[David Suskind]] & [[Henry T. Weinstein]]

Included 3 short tele-plays:
* "A Tale of Chelm" a folktale (author unknown)
* "Bontche Schweig" by [[I.L. Peretz]]
* "The High School" (aka "Gymnasium") by Sholem Aleichem.

Starring:
*[[Gertrude Berg]] as Hannele ('The High School')
*[[Morris Carnovsky]] as Rabbi David ('A Tale of Chelm'); Presiding Angel ('Bontche Shveig'); Aaron Katz ('The High School')
*[[Sam Levene]] as Narrator
*[[Zero Mostel]] as the Melamed ('A Tale of Chelm')
*[[Nancy Walker]] as Rifkele ('A Tale of Chelm')
*[[Charlotte Rae]] as Angel ('A Tale of Chelm')
*[[Lee Grant]] as Avenging Angel ('Bontche Shveig')
*[[Jack Gilford]] as Bontshe Shveig ('Bontche Shveig')
*[[Henry Lascoe]] as Dodi the Innkeeper ('A Tale of Chelm'); Principal ('The High School')

===Miscellany===
* ''Jewish Children'', translated by Hannah Berman, William Morrow & Co, 1987, {{ISBN|0-688-84120-1}}. <!-- Does anyone know what this is and whether it is worth retaining? http://www.babelguides.com/view/work/15090 says it is only 30 pages-- [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] | [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 20:30, March 23, 2005 (UTC) -->
* numerous stories in Russian, published in ''Voskhod'' (1891–1892)

{{clear}}

==See also==
* 1918 film: ''Bloody Joke'' (Кровавая шутка), based on the works of Sholem Aleichem, by director and screenwriter [[Alexander Arkatov]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''My Father, Sholom Aleichem'', by Marie Waife-Goldberg
* ''Tradition!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World's Most Beloved Musical,'' by Barbara Isenberg, (St. Martin's Press, 2014.)
* [[Sol Liptzin|Liptzin, Sol]], ''A History of Yiddish Literature'', Jonathan David Publishers, [[Middle Village, NY]], 1972, {{ISBN|0-8246-0124-6}}. 66 ''et. seq.''
* ''A Bridge of Longing'', by [[David G. Roskies]]
* ''The World of Sholom Aleichem'', by [[Maurice Samuel]]

==External links==
{{commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://sholemaleichem.org/ The Official Sholem Aleichem Website]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=32393| name=Sholem Aleichem}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Sholem Aleichem}}
* {{Librivox author |id=4655}}
* [http://www.haaretz.com/misc/iphone-article/.premium-1.565413 Haaretz article] ''A stenographer for his people's soul''
* [https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/searchSholem.cgi The complete works of Sholem Aleichem (searchable and editable; Yiddish letters only).]

{{Fiddler on the Roof|state=collapsed}} 
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