
Watch Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness
"Before there was Fiddler, there was Tevye... and the man who created him."
- NR
- 2011
- 1 hr 33 min
-
7.1 (176)
Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich was known to the world by the pen name Sholem Aleichem. A Jewish writer raised in the Russian Empire during an era of volatile political change, Aleichem is best-known for his stories about Tevye the Dairyman--fiction that eventually inspired the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Through archival resources, in-depth analysis, interviews, and readings of his texts, this documentary presents an in-depth portrait of Aleichem's life. It also discusses the historical events that surrounded him and shaped his stories--and explores the ways in which Aleichem's writing in turn shaped the Jewish community and impacted the larger world.