“Back from the Draft” - A Short Story by Sholom Aleichman- 1904

Yiddish Literature on The Reading Life

Sholeim Aleicham - Born Ukraine 1859,died New York City, 1916, by far best known Yiddish writer.  His stories are the basis for Fiddler on the Roof.

Nicholas II, the Last Russian Czar (reigned 1894 to 1917) issued an order requiring all Jewish boys (some were drafted at age six) to report to the Draft Board to determine if they are fit for service.  It meant twenty five years in the Russian Army.  Nicholas II, not the brightest guy, thought this would deprive the Jews of any identity but that of Russian and help unify the country.  It had the exact opposite impact and caused wide spread Jewish hatred for the Romanovs.  If a boy was the only surviving son of a family he was exempted and if he was medically unsound he received an exemption.

Our narrator, wonderfully played by Jerry Stiller, Is outraged.  His only son has a “first class exemption” so why does he get a letter saying report to the Draft board.  He and his wife had another son but long ago he was killed in an accident at age one.  The narrator finds out the government Rabbi, who kept records, never bothered to report this death so it looks like the exemption is invalid.  He gets this, he thinks, fixed but one crazy thing after another keeps happening.  

“Back from the Draft” is a very funny story.  Anyone who was ever subject to a very unwanted military Draft will totally relate to this story.

Mel u

”The Search” - A Short Story by Sholom Aleichem - 1899, translated from Yiddish

A detailed bio from The Yiyo Encyclopaedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 

From Blazing Saddles.  

Yiddish Indians 

“Yiddish has not yet said its last word. It contains treasures that have not been revealed to the eyes of the world. It was the tongue of martyrs and saints, of dreamers and Cabalists - rich in humor and in memories that mankind may never forget. In a figurative way, Yiddish is the wise and humble language of us all, the idiom of frightened and hopeful Humanity.”  - Isaac Singer 

Sholom Aleichman (pen name for Akasholem Rabinowitz, born 1859 in the Ukraine 1859, died in New York City in 1916) is the most loved, best known Yiddish Language writer. Fluent in Russian and Hebrew he choice to write in Yiddish, then the language of the “commen man”.  The movie Fiddler on The Roof was based on his characters.  He was a hugely prolific author, with easily over 250 short stories, numerous novels and plays as well as journalism.  Famously when he met Mark Twain he said “People call me the Jewish Mark Twain”, to which Twain replied “And they call me the American Sholom Aleichman”. 

I have been able to find about fifteen of his stories online either as texts or Podcasts.  The works in Yiddish are now in The Public Domain but most of the translations are under Copyright protection.  I will this month post on his “The Search”. (1899 is my guess for date of publication, if you have first publication data, please leave a comment.). 

“The Search”, podcast time about twenty minutes and perfectly read by Jerry Stiller, is set in a small shtetl in Eastern Europe.  A stranger has stopped in the synagogue to pray on a holy day.  He sets his bag down as he prays and when he goes to retrieve it 1800 Rubles are missing!  He goes nuts, yelling and screaming.  It was not his money but that of his boss, he will be ruined. The Rabbi says we will ask everyone here to empty their pockets.  Everyone complies but the spoiled son in law of the richest man in town.  The Rabbi tells him he must allow, he doesn’t want the synagogue to get known as a house of thieves.  Refusing all the while, saying it is an insult to him, and claiming the visitor is lying about having the money to try to make a claim on the synagogue he is forcibly searched.  It turns out he was hiding a pocket full of throughly chewed chicken bones and some dried plums.  To find out what happens with the money, listen to the podcast.

Probably the rest of the book blog world already knew this, but about two months ago I discovered what a literary treasure trove there is on  YouTube.

On Yiddish culture alone on YouTube there are lots of great stories and lectures by experts.  Yiddish Short Stories can be read without a knowledge of the history of Yiddish culture but the more you know the more you will get from them.  I will link some of the lectures in future posts. 

Mel u