27 Facts About Sholem Aleichem

Sholem Aleichem's first venture into writing was an alphabetic glossary of the epithets used by his stepmother.

Sholem Aleichem adopted the pseudonym Sholem Aleichem, a Yiddish variant of the Hebrew expression shalom aleichem, meaning "peace be with you" and typically used as a greeting.

In 1890, Sholem Aleichem lost their entire fortune in stock speculation and fled from his creditors.

Sholem Aleichem's family set up house in Geneva, Switzerland, but when he saw he could not afford to maintain two households, he joined them in Geneva in 1908.

In July 1908, during a reading tour in Russia, Sholem Aleichem collapsed on a train going through Baranowicze.

Sholem Aleichem was diagnosed with a relapse of acute hemorrhagic tuberculosis and spent two months convalescing in the town's hospital.

Sholem Aleichem later described the incident as "meeting his majesty, the Angel of Death, face to face", and claimed it as the catalyst for writing his autobiography, Funem yarid [From the Fair].

Sholem Aleichem thus missed the first Conference for the Yiddish Language, held in 1908 in Czernovitz; his colleague and fellow Yiddish activist Nathan Birnbaum went in his place.

Sholem Aleichem spent the next four years living as a semi-invalid.

At a time when Sholem Aleichem was ill and struggling financially, this proved to be an invaluable gift, and Sholem Aleichem expressed his gratitude in a thank you letter in which he wrote,.

Sholem Aleichem moved to New York City again with his family in 1914.

Sholem Aleichem is buried in the main section of Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens, New York City.

Peretz, and Jacob Dinezon, Sholem Aleichem Rabinovitch started writing in Hebrew, as well as in Russian.

Apart from his own literary output, Sholem Aleichem used his personal fortune to encourage other Yiddish writers.

Sholem Aleichem's narratives were notable for the naturalness of his characters' speech and the accuracy of his descriptions of shtetl life.

Sholem Aleichem was often referred to as the "Jewish Mark Twain" because of the two authors' similar writing styles and use of pen names.

Sholem Aleichem was an impassioned advocate of Yiddish as a national Jewish language, which he felt should be accorded the same status and respect as other modern European languages.

Sholem Aleichem did not stop with what came to be called "Yiddishism", but devoted himself to the cause of Zionism as well.

Sholem Aleichem died in New York on May 13,1916, from tuberculosis and diabetes, aged 57, while working on his last novel, Motl, Peysi the Cantor's Son, and was buried at Old Mount Carmel cemetery in Queens.

Sholem Aleichem's will contained detailed instructions to family and friends with regard to burial arrangements and marking his yahrtzeit.

Sholem Aleichem composed the text to be engraved on his tombstone in Yiddish, given here in transliteration:.

In 1997, a monument dedicated to Sholem Aleichem was erected in Kyiv; another was erected in 2001 in Moscow.

The main street of Birobidzhan is named after Sholem Aleichem; streets were named after him in cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Lviv, and Zhytomyr.

Postage stamps of Sholem Aleichem were issued by Israel ; the Soviet Union ; Romania ; and Ukraine.

Vilnius, Lithuania has a Jewish school named after him and in Melbourne, Australia a Yiddish school, Sholem Aleichem College is named after him.

On May 13,2016, a Sholem Aleichem website was launched to mark the 100th anniversary of Sholem Aleichem's death.

Sholem Aleichem's granddaughter, Bel Kaufman, by his daughter Lala, was an American author, most widely known for her novel, Up the Down Staircase, published in 1964, which was adapted to the stage and made into a motion picture in 1967, starring Sandy Dennis.