Sholem Alejchem

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Scholem Alejchem , photo and signature in a volume (Tevye der Milchiger and other stories) of the New York edition

Sholem Alejchem ( שלום עליכםTranscription Šolem Alejxem ; also: Scholem Alechem, Schalom Alechem , Shalom Aleichem, Schulem Aleichem and similar written, Ashkenazi- Hebrew for “Peace be upon you”; Pseudonym of Scholem Jankew Rabinowitsch, Schalom Yakov Rabinowitsch, Schalom ben Menachem Nachum Rabbinowicz, Shalom Rabinovitz etc .; born on February 18th jul. / March 2,  1859 greg. in Perejaslav near Kiev ; died on May 13, 1916 in New York ) was one of the most important Yiddish-speaking writers and, together with Mendele and Perez, is considered the founding father of Yiddish literature . He was also called "the Jewish Mark Twain ". His literary oeuvre, which has been translated and adapted for the stage and film, includes literary newspaper and magazine articles, short stories, novels, plays and scripts for silent films.

Life, meaning

Scholem Alejchem, humorist and satirist , described, among other things, the life of Jewish immigrants to the USA, also wrote children's books and brought the everyday life of Jews in Eastern Europe closer to the American audience at the turn of the century. His first works appeared in Russian or Hebrew , the language of the learned Jewish upper class. He decided, however, to write in Yiddish, which was the language of millions of Eastern European Jews, but in which there was hardly any established literature. In contrast to Mendele, Scholem Alejchem does not look down from above at his fellow Jews, who need to be brought up, but makes himself part of the world he describes, a world of transition in which nothing counts unasked, everything is shaken.

Schalom Rabbinowicz was born the son of a landlord who traded in wood and grain and had a license to carry mail. The boy received a strict Jewish upbringing in the cheder , showed special skills as a child and emerged early as an imaginative jester. He occupied himself with non-Jewish literature from the age of fifteen, but did not neglect his Talmudic studies, which he pursued with zeal . In 1876 he graduated from the Russian high school. From 1877 to 1880 he was tutor to the wealthy landowner Elimelekh Loyew. After his dismissal due to a love affair with his eldest daughter Olga, he successfully ran for election as state rabbi in Lubny and held this office from 1880 to 1883.

Scholem Alejchem began his writing in 1877 with novels , dramas , songs, reports and articles for the two largest Hebrew daily newspapers of the time, HaZefirah and HaMeliz . He then worked for Zederbaum's Jüdisches Volksblatt .

In 1883 he married Olga Loyew and decided to write in Yiddish from then on. His wife died in 1885.

In 1888 he went to Kiev , where he inherited a few hundred thousand rubles from his rich father-in-law, and began to speculate on the stock market without neglecting his literary work. In particular, he succeeded in establishing the Jewish People's Library, a series of epoch-making critical-literary yearbooks in the Yiddish language (see below).

In 1890 Sholem Alejchem went bankrupt and had to flee abroad temporarily from his creditors. His debts were later paid by his mother-in-law. He returned after brief stops in Paris, Vienna and Chernivtsi and the family settled in Odessa , where he now spent the most difficult years of his life. In 1893 Sholem Alejchem returned to Kiev and became a dedicated collaborator at Spektor's family friend .

In the late 1890s, Sholem Alejchem - increasingly disappointed in socialism - joined the Zionist movement and wrote some agitation brochures for them, as well as the Zionist novel Moshiach Tzaitn ("The Times of the Messiah"). From 1899 the Zionist Yiddish weekly newspaper Der Jid appeared , later he also wrote for other Yiddish magazines ( Frajnd, Tog, Weg etc.).

Mendele , Scholem Alejchem, Ben-Ami, Bialik , Odessa 1910

Due to pogroms , he emigrated from Odessa in 1905, and a long wandering period with many different stops ( The Hague , Berlin , longer lecture tours through Russia, a temporary stay in Denmark, etc.) began. First he went to Lviv , visited various cities in Galicia and Bukovina , then to Switzerland , England , and the USA . In 1907 he returned to Europe disappointed, in 1914 he went again to the USA, where he lived (with interruptions) in New York, which was dominated by Jews, until his death.

Scholem Alejchem died on May 13, 1916. On the day of his funeral, all Jewish shops in New York were closed and hundreds of thousands accompanied him on his last journey. The monthly Der Jude wrote on the occasion of his death in 1917:

“Scholem-Alejchem is dead. The only free, full, uninhibited laughter, the only laughter for the sake of laughter in the ghetto (Mendeles is heavy and bitter) has faded away. Scholem-Alejchem was perhaps the only Jewish poet who could not be harmed by the spirit of heaviness, for he had the gift of making everything difficult. The hardest life in the world, the Jewish wandering life, turns into a series of surprises and adventures in his hand. "

With the deaths of Alejchem, Perez and Mendele towards the end of the First World War, the classical epoch of Yiddish literature ended, but not yet its further rise. Alejchem's works became even more popular. The translation into Hebrew by his son-in-law Isaak Dow Berkowitz and the translations into most European and other languages ​​made his works known to many readers (including non-Jewish) and some of his literary figures world-famous. After his death, Hebrew and Yiddish theaters performed his plays, and in particular the dramatic version of the Tevye story series.

In the 1960s, became of Tevye the famous musical Fiddler on the Roof (premiered in 1964 on Broadway in New York, then played on stages around the world, performed on Broadway more than 3,000 times; German premiere as Anatevka in February 1968 in Hamburg; Walter Felsenstein brought the musical to East Berlin in 1970).

Scholem Alejchem wrote countless letters during his decades of creative life. About 500 of these were published in various press publications.

In 1964, a Scholem Alejchem Museum was established in Tel Aviv , dedicated to the memory of the writer and the cultivation of Yiddish culture. Since March 2, 2009 there is also a museum dedicated to him in Kiev .

Sholem Alejchem had six children. His daughter Lala (Lela) Kaufman (1887–1964) also worked as a writer and journalist.

The Israeli writer David Grossman said in an interview in 2019: “Scholem Alejchem changed my life because it was through him that I understood, more than anyone else, what power a story can have. [...] Because of him I became a writer. "

Works (selection)

Rachel Szalit-Marcus , Portfolio Mentschelech un stsenes (1922)

Appearance or date of origin known

  • Natascha , 1884 (novel)
  • Di jidische folksbibliotek , Kiev 1888 ff. (Yiddish annual journal )
  • Stempenju , 1888 (novel)
  • Reb Sender Blank un sajn filgeschezte familje , 1888
  • Josele Solovei , 1889
  • Schimele , 1889
  • Menachem Mendel's letters , written between 1892 and 1913
  • Tewje der milchiker (" Tewje, der Milchmann "), was made between 1894 and 1916 (from which later in 1964: Fiddler on the Roof or Anatevka and 1971 the film of the same name )
  • Moschiachs zajtn , 1898 ff. (Zionist novel)
  • The Yid, 1899 ff. (Zionist weekly newspaper)
  • Zesejt un zeschprejt , 1905
  • Motl Peysse dem chasns , created between 1907 and 1915
  • Blondzhende schtern, 1911 (" Wandering Stars ", novel about Jewish artists)
  • Funem jarid ("From the fair"), autobiographical novel (written 1913–1916)
  • Difficult to sajn a jid , 1914

Works without year or not determined

  • A chussen a dokter (satirical game)
  • Agents (drama)
  • At the doctor's (monologue)
  • At the prisiv (monologue)
  • The high school (monologue)
  • The office business (early drama)
  • The panorama
  • The misfortune
  • The bewitched tailor
  • The level-headed Schluri
  • The progress in Kasrilevke
  • Di Goldgreber (or: The Ojzer = "The Treasure")
  • The violin (children's story)
  • The world tour (early satire)
  • Dos Bintl flowers
  • Dos grojsse Gewins ("The great price", comedy)
  • Dos Messerl (children's story)
  • A novel without love
  • Railway stories
  • Poems without rhymes
  • History of jargon literature
  • Child's play
  • Kleine Menschelech (humorous descriptions)
  • Masel tow (drama)
  • Rabchik (dog story)
  • A novel without a novel
  • Schimale Soroker (Drama)
  • Broadcaster Blank and his household (novel)
  • Sweet Dreams
  • Zwej Schtejner
  • Farbitene jojzres (drama)
  • Scattered and scattered, performed in Jaffa in February 1909 by the Association of Lovers of the Hebrew Stage
  • "Dictionary of Yiddish Curses"
  • The level-headed Schluri II

Film compositions (selection)

  • The blitiger fun
  • The Mabel
  • Jewish Glicken
  • Molie Pesse the Chasens

Total expenditure

  • Warsaw 1909-1919 (15 volumes)
  • Folksfond Ojsgabe, New York 1917–1925 (28 volumes)

German-language editions (selection)

  • From the Middle East. 1914.
  • Tevye's history of the milk merchant. 1914.
    • Tevye the milkman. Illustrated by Anatoly Kaplan . Dresden 1967.
    • Tevye, the milkman. Translated from Yiddish by Armin Eidherr. Manesse Verlag, Zurich 2016.
  • The first Jewish republic. 1919.
  • Menachem Mendel. 1921.
  • Stempeniu. 1922.
  • A wedding without musicians. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1961 (extended edition: Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1988.)
  • Mottl, the cantor's son. Translation of Grete Fischer . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1965.
  • The bewitched tailor. With 26 color lithographs by Anatoli Kaplan. Berlin 1969
  • The progress in Kasrilevke and other old stories from more recent times. With 26 lithographs by Anatoli Kaplan. Berlin 1990.
  • Railway stories. Übers. Gernot Jonas. Jewish publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1995.
  • An omelette like the rich. Monologues and dialogues. Übers. Gernot Jonas. Edition Dodo, Berlin 2003.
  • The Rebbe's daughter. Children's stories. Übers. Gernot Jonas. Edition Dodo, Berlin 2010.
  • Panic in the shtetl: more stories from Kasrilevke. Übers. Gernot Jonas. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2016.
  • Back then in Kasrilewke: More stories from the shtetl. Übers. Gernot Jonas. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2017.

literature

  • Shmuel Niger : Because of Yiddish writers. Warsaw 1913.
  • Shmuel Niger, Israel Zinberg: In memory of Schalem Alechem. 1916.
  • The Scholem Alechem Book , New York 1926.
  • Samuel Meisels : Article Scholem Alechem. In: Jewish Lexicon. Volume IV / 2, Berlin 1927.
  • Shmuel Niger: Shalom Alechem, his most important works, his humor and his place in Yiddish literature. New York 1928.
  • Simon Dubnow : Fun jargon on Yiddish. Vilnius 1929.
  • W. Rabinowitsch: Majn brother Schulem Aleichem. New York 1939.
  • Maurice Samuel: The world of Sholom Aleichem. New York 1943.
  • Marie Waife-Goldberg: My Father Schalom Alechem. 1968.
  • Dan Miron : Shalom Alejchem. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . Volume 14 (1971).
  • Dan Miron: Tevye. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 6: Ta-Z. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2015, ISBN 978-3-476-02506-7 , pp. 70–79.
  • Rosa Kloper: Scholem Alejchem. Life and afterlife. In: Yiddish communications. Scientific half-yearly, Yiddish studies in German-speaking countries. ISSN  0947-6091 University of Trier 1990, issue 3, pp. 10-15.

Web links

Commons : Scholem Alejchem  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to his own statement, he used the pseudonym to hide his identity from relatives. Yiddish writers often used a pseudonym, as Yiddish was despised by the Maskilim and the Russian-speaking Jewish intelligentsia. Scholem Alejchem wanted to transform his pseudonym, which can also mean “How are you?”, Into the trademark of a strange person. His notoriety and popularity rose rapidly, and soon “Scholem Aleichem” became a synonym for “joker” who makes fun of himself and others.
  2. ↑ a b c Dan Miron: Tewje. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture, Volume 6 (Te – Z). J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2015, ISBN 978-3-476-02506-7 , p. 70.
  3. ↑ Therein u. a. the first beginnings of Tevye as a continuation of the Mendel letters.
  4. ↑ Most recently in 1911 and 1914, trips during which he was received triumphantly everywhere as a famous and respected Yiddish writer
  5. ↑ With the help of his friend Löbl Taubes
  6. ↑ Just before his death, he had to take the waters in the Italian Nervi at the Riviera stopped
  7. ^ The Jew - A Monthly Journal , Volume 1, Verlag R. Löwit., 1917, p. 195.
  8. ^ Dieter Lamping: From Kafka to Celan. Jewish Discourse in 20th Century German Literature. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1998, ISBN 3-525-01221-7 , p. 66.
  9. ↑ Scholem Alejchem's works have been translated into over 60 languages
  10. ↑ For the content cf. Anatevka
  11. ↑ Laying of the foundation stone on March 29, 1964, over 300 manuscripts and memorabilia were transferred there from New York.
  12. ↑ official website of the Scholem Alejchem Museum in Kiev ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed June 29, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sholom-aleichem.kiev.ua
  13. ^ [1] NZZ
  14. ↑ His first novel
  15. ↑ "Di jidische Folk Library" rose Yiddish literature at unprecedented levels. The best Yiddish authors wrote her right from the start: Mendele Mocher Sforim , Jitzchak Leib Peretz , David Frischmann and many others.
  16. ↑ The story of a traveling violinist , published in his folk library
  17. ↑ "Josele, the nightingale", novel, 1889, published in his folk library, the story of a wandering cantor
  18. ^ Hebrew short story, published in Sokolows Heassif
  19. ↑ "Letters from Menachem Mendl fun Jehupez", in it the introduction of the later world-famous literary figure of "Menachem Mendel, the speculator", who, always with the prospect of wealth in mind, moves from stock exchange to stock exchange, constantly changes professions, is never successful and in his misery must be sustained by his down-to-earth wife. The city of Kiev was the literary model for his "crazy Jechupetz"
  20. ↑ Three-act drama that depicts the generation conflict and has been performed with great success on many stages
  21. ^ "Motl, son of the cantor Pejße", stories from the children's perspective about the events in "Kasrilewke" and the emigration of the Jewish population to the USA
  22. ↑ Dramatization of the novel "Der blutiker schpas" - The bloody fun; numerous performances in America and Europe. In the story, a Christian and a Jewish student swap roles, whereupon the Christian is now for the first time confronted firsthand with the adversities of Jewish life
  23. ↑ His most famous comedy
  24. ↑ Scholem Alejchem's first Yiddish story ("Zwei Steine"), published in the St. Petersburg Yiddish weekly newspaper Dos Jiddische Folksblat . The experience of his love for Olga served as a literary reproach; unlike his own love, however, the story tragically ends in suicide and madness.
  25. ↑ Scholem Alejchem's first "work", in which he recorded the curses of his stepmother; his mother had died in 1872 of cholera
  26. ↑ or in Kletzkin-Verlag, Wilna:
    I. Fun Kasrilevke
    II. Fun Pesach to Pesach
    III. Stories and fantasies
    IV. Dramatic writings
    V. Tewie the Milky One
    VI. Little human echoes
    VII. In a storm. Novel in two parts
    VIII. Stories for Jewish Children
    IX. Stories for Jewish Children (continued)
    X. Menachem Mendl
    XI. Jewish novels
    XII. Summer loib
    XIII. Old-New-Kasrilevke
    XIV. Jossele Solowei
    XV. Jewish scribes
    XVI. Original and happy
    XVII. Original and happy (continued)
    XVIII. Motl Pese dem Chasens
    XIX. Motl Pese (continued)
    XX. Youth novels
    XXI. Monologues
    XXII. Lkuwed Jomtow
    XXIII. Lkuwed Jomtow (continued)
    XXIV. Comedies
    XXV. Fun two worlds
    XXVI. Vunm Jerid
    XXVII. Vunm Jerid (continued)
    XXVIII. Railway stories
  27. ↑ Many other editions, also under changed titles: Tewje, der Milchmann etc.
  28. ↑ Ed. On the 10th anniversary of the death of friends and admirers, contains rich material, edited and introduced by I. D. Berkowitsch
personal data
SURNAME Alejchem, Scholem
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alechem, Shalom; Rabinowitsch, Schalom; Alechem, Scholem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Yiddish writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Pereyaslav near Kiev
DATE OF DEATH May 13, 1916
Place of death new York