Sholem Aleichem is a Jewish conversion that common people exchange at a meeting. “Peace to you” is what it means. This fictitious name was chosen by a young author who wrote about ordinary people in their native language - Yiddish. Here is Sholom Aleichem - a writer. The photo shows a man with good penetrating eyes and with humor, which he transferred to the pages of his stories, novels and novels.
Childhood
Sholom Nokhumovich Rabinovich was born in 1859 in a poor family in Pereyaslavl in Little Russia. Then the family moved to the town of Voronkovo, also in Ukraine. Childhood from 13 years old was poisoned by a stepmother. In winter, in the cold, he often sat on the street near the house, where he was not allowed. Now, if a cart or a cab drove up, then the boy could have taken them to an unfriendly house, where there were several lockers with bunks for guests. Then he himself could warm himself. But in winter, wealthy guests travel who do not stop at the house of Nokhum Rabinovich. They prefer the hotel of Naum Yasnogradsky. The freezing Sholom wants to find a treasure that is buried somewhere in Voronkov, and now, after the family went broke, they again live in Pereyaslavl. So Sholom lived in a large ruined family, where there were siblings, sisters, and stepmother's children. The Jews respected their studies very much, they always had a reverent attitude towards the book. Therefore, everyone, even the poorest boys, went to school (for girls this was considered optional). The first “work” he wrote was a list of curses from his stepmother, which he arranged alphabetically. It is at home that Sholom Aleichem looks at the changing guests. His biography is replenished with acquaintance with many people who will then go to the pages of his books. After school, the young man graduated from college and dreamed of continuing his studies in Zhitomir at the institute and becoming a teacher.
Wanderings
But the young Sholom Aleichem must earn his living. He roams in small places, working as a tutor. No one is ceremonial with him. He often has a floor instead of a bed, and his hunger annoys the hosts, who are watching fiercely as food disappears from the table. It even happens to cradle young children at night. Finally, Sholom was lucky. At the age of 17 he got into a very rich house, in which he teaches a fourteen-year-old girl. All is well. But, as has been described more than once in literature, a teacher and a student begin to have tender feelings for each other. This is noticed by a father who is well versed in people. That will become Sholom Aleichem. The photo shows a kind, but impractical person.
The girl’s father immediately realized that in a young man there is no entrepreneurial streak. Such a son-in-law is not suitable. From this glorious dreamer, even a good assistant in business will not work. Therefore, secretly at night the whole family leaves. Waking up in the morning, Sholom Aleichem, whose biography suddenly makes a terrible turn,
discovers that he is completely alone in the house. He was clearly paid and that’s all. Where to find your love is unknown.
Marriage
Sholom wandered around Little Russia for more than a year, until he persuaded his beloved to run away from home. They got married against the wishes of her parents. And two years later the father-in-law died, and a huge fortune fell on a young family in 1885. An inexperienced player on the Kiev and Odessa exchanges quickly lost the entire inheritance in five years. He is not a businessman - the simple-minded Sholom Aleichem. His biography, as the father-in-law anticipated, will go a different way.
Becoming a writer
In 1888, Sholom Aleichem began to engage in publishing activities for the remainder of his funds. From the press there are collections of the Jewish People's Library. He looked for Jewish talents throughout huge Russia and found them in shops, in shoe shops, in funeral homes. He paid very high fees and financially supported elderly writers. He began to write and publish himself. His novels “Stempenu” and “Iosele the Nightingale” come out. And in 1894 he begins a new, the main in his life, the novel “Tevye the Milkman”. So gradually Sholom Aleichem is born - a Jewish writer.
Jewish pogroms
In 1903–1905, the writer’s family did not live well on literary fees in Kiev. She is big, she has six children. And in the south and south-west of the country there is a terrible wave of Jewish pogroms. People are tortured before death, tortured.
Innocent people are beaten with stones, shovels, axes, women and girls are raped. Jewish houses and shops are thundering, property is being destroyed, synagogues are being destroyed, and sacred books are being destroyed. And the police are silent, as if nothing is happening, and if they react, they are very sluggish. At this time, the writer actively writes pamphlets, feuilleton, and stories dedicated to these nightmares (Gold, Shmulik, Joseph). From these horrors, the writer’s family first goes to Switzerland, and then to the United States. So it becomes a wanderer Sholom Aleichem. Biography leafs through new pages.
Over the ocean
The first time in the "land of freedom" is developing successfully. He is advertised by both the Jewish press and American publications, comparing it with Mark Twain. But it quickly stops. In less than a year, the printing of his new book, The Motl Boy, was being stopped, and the writer and his family were forced to return to Russia.
At home
There is no money in the family, and the writer travels with readings of his books around the country. In 1908, he contracted tuberculosis. He has been engaged in literary activities for 25 years, he is loved and appreciated, and publishers profit from his works.
The family is poor. And now, Jews all over the country are raising money to buy back the rights to publish his books. This succeeded, and they were transferred to the author. A sick writer goes to Germany for treatment. There he finds a world war. He and his family are being sent to Russia. But due to military operations it is impossible to return to it.
America again
Here he will spend two years before his death, dreaming of returning to his native land and being buried next to his father in Kiev. His grandchildren are already growing up. Bel Kaufman, who wrote “Up the Stairs Leading Down,” is his own granddaughter, who left many fond memories of her grandfather.
In 1916, in America, far from his homeland, Sholom Aleichem will die. The biography, summarized, has come to an end. I must say that he will be buried with a huge crowd of people in a cemetery in New York. And his books live and read with no less interest than at the time when they were written.