Sholem Aleichem

Born Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich in 1859 in Pereiaslav, in the Russian Empire (now in Ukraine), he became famous under the pen name Sholem Aleichem, a traditional Yiddish greeting meaning "peace be with you." He wrote in Yiddish at a time when that choice itself mattered, helping raise the language's literary status and bringing its humor, rhythms, and sorrows to a wide readership.

His work often drew on the lives of ordinary Jewish families facing poverty, migration, and social change. Rather than treating those experiences solemnly from a distance, he wrote with a lively, conversational voice that made his characters feel immediate and deeply human. Among his best-known creations is Tevye the Dairyman, whose monologues blend comedy, faith, frustration, and resilience.

He died in New York City in 1916, after years shaped by travel, financial hardship, and exile. Even so, his writing endured far beyond his own lifetime, and he is still widely remembered as one of the central figures of modern Yiddish literature.