The Remarkable Life and Afterlife of Sholem Aleichem

Thursday, October 17, 2013 | 7pm
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Panel Discussion
Jonathan Brent, Executive Director, YIVO
Jeremy Dauber, Columbia University
Adam Kirsch, The New Republic (Moderator)
Novelist, playwright, journalist, essayist, and editor, Sholem Aleichem was one of the founding giants of modern Yiddish literature. The creator of a pantheon of extraordinary characters, his literature provided readers with a window into the world of Eastern European Jews as they confronted the forces of modernity that tore through Russia at the end of the 19th century. But just as compelling as the fictional lives of his characters, was Sholem Aleichem's own life story. Born Sholem Rabinovitch in Ukraine in 1859, he endured an impoverished childhood, married into wealth, and then lost it all through bad luck and worse business sense. Turning to his pen to support himself, he switched from writing in Russian and Hebrew to Yiddish in order to create a living body of literature for the Jewish masses. Jonathan Brent, Executive Director at YIVO, Jeremy Dauber, author of the recently published book, 'The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem: The Remarkable Life and Afterlife of the Man Who Created Tevye', and Adam Kirsch joined each other on stage for a lively discussion about the fascinating life and work of the "Jewish Mark Twain."

[@nancydudwick2992]

On many levels, Sholem Aleichem was very timely and universal. He described the people, the problems between young people and their parents, and human relations and all of those problems continue to exist throughout the world.