Probably the foremost writer of Yiddish literature, Sholom Aleichem (1859-1916) was a catalyst for its revival at the turn of the century. He is also "The Jewish Mark Twain," a folk artist who faithfully recreated the shtetl, village life of Russian Jews before modernity, anti-Semitism, and war destroyed that world forever.

Sholom Aleichem was born March 2, 1859. He grew up in Woronko, a Ukranian village which he later recalled with affection. When he was 12, his father failed in business and the family moved to nearby Pereyaslav. A year later his mother died and his father remarried. The stepmother harrassed the children, and her curses, which Sholom recorded, became his first writing. He also composed The Jewish Robinson Crusoe, modeled on Daniel Defoe, and The Daughter of Zion, an imitation of a Hebrew novel by Abraham Mapu.

Early Writings

Recognizing Sholom Aleichem's intelligence and talent, his father enrolled him in...