Sholem Aleichem- Dangerous Novels and Fiddler on the Roof

Sholem Aleichem (1859 – 1916), the brilliant Yiddish writer, was born Sholem Rabinovitz in the Russian Pale of Settlement, taking a pseudonym to hide his identity when he began to write in Yiddish, rather than in the “more respectable” Hebrew or Russian. He was concerned not only with the world of the shtetl, which he fictionalized satirically and poignantly, but also the social and political conditions of the time he lived in, a period of profound change. Gabriella Safran, will discuss Sholem Aleichem and his attitude toward Russian literature and culture, posing the question, “What happens when Tevye’s daughters read Russian literature?” Gabriella Safran is an associate professor at Stanford, where she teaches Russian and Yiddish literature and is writi

This event is co-sponsored by the National Yiddish Book Center, and held at the Bureau of Jewish Education, Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco, California. For more information, visit www.bjesf.org or call Rose Katz at 415-567-3327 ext 703. 7:30 p.m. Cost: Free