Susan Granger’s review of “Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness” (International Film Circuit/Riverside Films)
Like many assimilated American Jews, I first heard about the Yiddish writer named Sholem Aleichem via the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.” His iconic character of Tevye the Milkman was struggling to balance treasured religious tradition with the shattering changes of modern life.
Utilizing archival and newsreel footage, this documentary explores how the literary heritage of Sholem Aleichem evolved, eventually elevating him to the stature of a “Jewish Mark Twain.”
Born in 1859, Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich grew up in Voronko, a tiny shtetl in what is now Ukraine. His father was a rich merchant who lost first his money, then his wife. A cruel stepmother inspired an alphabetical glossary of the curses she hurled at him. At the age of 15, Solomon adopted the pen name of Sholem Aleichem and began to vividly chronicle in Yiddish, the spoken language of Eastern European Jews, the increasing adversity around him, albeit with a uniquely humorous twist.
Written, directed and produced by Joseph Dorman, the Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning creator of “Arguing the World” (1998), it’s enlivened by the candid observations and interpretations of Yiddish translator Hillel Halkin, Columbia’s Dan Miron, Harvard’s Ruth Wisse, David Roskies of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the National Yiddish Book Center’s Aaron Lansky, and Rabinovich’s own granddaughter, Bel Kaufman. They explain the autobiographical relevance of characters like the eternal optimist Menakhem Mendl, whose get-rich-quick financial schemes dismay his practical wife, Shayne Sheyndl, and ebullient Motl, the Cantor’s son. But it’s Tevye who has gained the most universal recognition, drawing parallels among the Italian and Irish immigration sagas, among others – attracting an avid following in Israel and the Soviet Union.
When Sholem Aleichem died in 1916 at age 57, his New York funeral attracted about 200,000 mourners, the largest public funeral the city had ever witnessed, signaling the American Jewish community as a force to be reckoned with.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness” is a poignant, insightful 8, illuminating a specific segment of our cultural heritage.
