Sholem Aleichem in America
Image by Riverside Films
By Ezra Glinter and Nate LaveyJune 30, 2011
Though Sholem Aleichem is widely known for his depictions of Eastern European shtetl life, the famed Yiddish writer spent a number of years living and writing in America. In a new documentary titled “Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness,” director Joseph Dorman details the life of Sholem Aleichem, from his early successes to his many, painful failures.
After first coming to America in 1906, Sholem Aleichem returned to Europe disheartened, having failed to find success in the Yiddish theater. But only a few years later he returned and found work as a columnist for the Yiddish newspaper Der Tog. Sholem Aleichem’s death and funeral in 1916 was occasioned by a massive outpouring of grief and was a major event in the development of American Jewish identity. The Forward met with Dorman on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to discuss the difficult, but fruitful years Sholem Aleichem spent living in America.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
