150 Years of Sholem

Taking into consideration that Russia wasn’t using the Gregorian calendar until after the Revolution of 1917, today is the day that Sholem Aleichem was born, 150 years ago in what you know as Ukraine. While I harbor a deep, personal love for most Yiddish literature, it could be argued that there is no writer who did more for the language –save for Isaac Bashevis Singer — in terms of bringing the stories of the Shtetl to the masses.  Whether it be the admiration harbored by American literary titan Mark Twain (who said that he was the "American Sholem Aleichem" when the two writers met), or creating one of the most enduring Jewish characters of both page and stage in Tevye the Milkman of Fiddler on the Roof, Aleichem was a true gift to the written word in any language.