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never understands it. An army of
ficer laughs once—when you tell
the joke. He never lets you ex
plain it, and that he is unable to
understand it goes without saying.
But when you start telling a joke
to another Jew, he interrupts you,
“Go on, that’s an old one.’’ And
he proceeds to show you how
much better he can tell it himself.
Sholom Aleichem is the supreme
exponent of Yiddish folk humor.
He captures one’s imagination, I
believe, because he speaks for the
entire Jewish people. In his
unique story-telling he depicts a
whole culture, a culture that has
now disappeared. He has been
called the Jewish Mark Twain.
Mark Twain also portrays a sort
of culture, that of the Western
American, and he describes cer
tain traits, feelings and jokes of a
particular type of American. And
of course, they are both humorists.
However, the stories of Sholom
Aleichem often have a profound
sadness. And unlike Mark Twain,
he becomes so involved and iden-
tifed with his characters, we are
made to feel that even through his
irony and mockery he is defending
an entire culture and tradition
with love. Jews who read Sholom
Aleichem feel that he knows what
is right and true in their own ex
perience.
During the period of Yiddish
literature when Mendele and Per
ez and Sholom Aleichem held
sway there was a very close tie
between the writer and his audi
ence. The literature of that per
iod was a literature of affection
and intimacy. In the stories about
Tevye the Dairyman we notice
that Tevye addresses his remarks
to Mr. Sholom Aleichem. In the
beautiful, poignant story about
Hodel, Tevye’s daughter who has
gone to be with her revolutionist
husband in Siberia, never to re
turn, Tevye ends his narration
with these words, “Forgive me,
Mr. Sholom Aleichem, for acting
like an old woman. If you only
knew what a daughter she is! If
you could only see the letters she
writes! Oh, what a daughter! And
now, let’s talk about more cheer
ful things. Tell me, what news is
there about the cholera in Odes
sa?’’
There is quite a bit of fantasy
in Sholom Aleichem’s writing.
Some of the stories have strange
things happening; a clock strikes
thirteen, money disappears in the
synagogue during Yom Kippur, a
woman's corpse is dragged across
the snow. But, on the whole,
Sholom Aleichem’s world Is
bounded by three major charac
ters—Tevye the Dairyman, Men-
achem Mendel the luftmensch,
whose ideas for making money al-
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