Sholem Aleichem, Internet Star

By Alex Weisler June 22, 2009

Sholem Aleichem probably never imagined he’d end up an Internet star.

But the noted Yiddish writer is the subject of an episode of the new series Penguin Classics on Air — an online radio show devoted to rediscovering classic literature. The episode, subtitled “Yiddish Classics by the Creator of Tevye from ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’” includes a lively discussion with Aleichem translator Aliza Shevrin — read about her translation of Aleichem’s “Wandering Stars” here and an excerpt from it here — and a reading from “Tevye the Dairyman” by Penguin editor and associate publisher Stephen Morrison.

Listen here.

Alex Weisler is a former journalist and the senior video and digital content producer for JDC, the global Jewish humanitarian organization.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO