Sholem Aleichem

Sholem Aleichem
Sholem Aleichem in 1907
Born
Shalom Rabinovich

March 2 [O.S. February 18] 1859
DiedMay 13, 1916(1916-05-13) (aged 57)
New York City, United States
Pen nameSholem Aleichem
(Yiddish: שלום עליכם)
Occupationwriter
LanguageYiddish, Hebrew, Russian
Genre
  • novels
  • short stories
  • plays
Literary movementYiddish revival
Signature

Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (Russian: Соломон Наумович Рабинович; March 2 [O.S. February 18] 1859 – May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem, was a Jewish author and playwright who wrote in Yiddish and lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States. The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on Aleichem's stories about Tevye the Dairyman, was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe.

The Hebrew phrase שלום עליכם (shalom aleichem) literally means "[May] peace [be] upon you!", and is a greeting in traditional Hebrew and Yiddish.