Just watched the wonderful 2011 documentary Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness about the Yiddish writer best known for his stories about Tevye the Dairyman, the basis for the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

Aleichem was born Solomon Rabinovich in 1859 in the Russian Empire, now a region of Ukraine. Although he spoke Russian at home, he made the decision to write in Yiddish because it was more accessible to the general population than Hebrew or Russian.

The film is filled with history, personal stories and interviews - the most enjoyable for me, the clips of his 100 year old granddaughter Bel Kaufman, author of the novel Up the Down Staircase (1964).
The documentary, directed by Joseph Dorman can be viewed for free on PlutoTV

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