Sholom Aleichem
Sholom Aleichem
Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich, better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem, was a leading Yiddish author and playwright. The musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on his stories about Tevye the Dairyman, was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe. The Hebrew phrase Shalom aleichem literally means "Peace be upon you", and is a greeting in traditional Hebrew and Yiddish...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth2 March 1859
CountryRussian Federation
When you die, others who think they know you, will concoct things about you... Better pick up a pen and write it yourself, for you know yourself best.
When have you ever heard of a cantor or any artist turning anyone down when he is strongly urged to perform?
You see how it is, my dear friends. There's no pleasing everyone. It's hopeless to even try, and the more you play the peacemaker, the less peaceful things become.
When the heart is full it runs out of the eyes.
A cantor, when he starts singing, it's like rain - once it starts, it's hard to stop.
They say that children become men, and men become children. Many generations have grown up, become men, and gone hence.
I never turn down a drink. Among friends it’s always appropriate. A man is only a man as they say, but brandy is still brandy. You’ll find that in the Talmud too.
If somebody tells you you have ears like a donkey, pay no attention. But if two people tell you, buy yourself a saddle.
Barking dogs don't bite, but they themselves don't know it.
Each Jew must either give or take tzedakah [charity] for Passover.
A wise word is not a substitute for a piece of herring.
A bachelor is a man who comes to work each morning from a different direction.
To make people laugh was almost a sickness with me.
Remember, you must not sleep at the Seder. If you do, Elijah the Prophet will come with a bag on his shoulders. On the two first nights of Passover, Elijah the Prophet goes about looking for those who have fallen asleep at the Seder, and takes them away in his bag.