Sholem Aleichem is a pen name. The actual man was named Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich. He was born in the Ukraine town of Pereyaslav and grew up in a densely packed Jewish area. He was a well known author and playwright, and his name is celebrated throughout modern day Ukraine. The musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on his stories about Tevye the Milkman, was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe.
Why is this? Tradition!
Maybe it is a way to celebrate a more illustrious past. Lviv is known as a poor but beautiful city in the post-Soviet era. But it has a more glamorous history, and maybe that is what Sholem Aleichem represents. It is their way of saying 'To Life!". It harkens back to a time when Jews abounded on the streets of Ukraine's cities. It is said that Lviv lost 90% of it's population post-WWII. The Poles went back to Poland, the Germans went back to Germany, the Jews that survived went to Israel and the United States, and the Russians moved in. Perhaps they want to remind us that Ukraine was a country where things that mattered were created. Things we know and remember. They are singing 'If I Were a Rich Man' and they want us to sing along.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Sholem Aleichem Celebrated in Ukraine
Sholem Aleichem is a pen name. The actual man was named Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich. He was born in the Ukraine town of Pereyaslav and grew up in a densely packed Jewish area. He was a well known author and playwright, and his name is celebrated throughout modern day Ukraine. The musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on his stories about Tevye the Milkman, was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe.
Why is this? Tradition!
Maybe it is a way to celebrate a more illustrious past. Lviv is known as a poor but beautiful city in the post-Soviet era. But it has a more glamorous history, and maybe that is what Sholem Aleichem represents. It is their way of saying 'To Life!". It harkens back to a time when Jews abounded on the streets of Ukraine's cities. It is said that Lviv lost 90% of it's population post-WWII. The Poles went back to Poland, the Germans went back to Germany, the Jews that survived went to Israel and the United States, and the Russians moved in. Perhaps they want to remind us that Ukraine was a country where things that mattered were created. Things we know and remember. They are singing 'If I Were a Rich Man' and they want us to sing along.
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