Today, Mendele Mocher Sforim is known as a quiet, Bauhaus-filled street that runs from Hayarkon to just past Shalom Aleichem. Yet in the late 18th century, Mendele Mocher Sforim, or ‘Mendele the book peddler,’ was an author who depicted the world of the shtetl (village) with all of its poverty and decay. He is now considered the grandfather of Yiddish literature and one of the founders of ‘modern’ Jewish literature. He ‘wanted to be useful to his people rather than gain literary laurels,’ and his satirical, critical stories got him chased from town.
Text:
Of Bygone Days, Translated by Rayomond P. Scheindlin.
In A Shtetl and Other Yiddish Novellas, Ed. Ruth Wisse. Wayne State University Press, 1986.
Music:
Photo: The Odessa literary group in 1916; from left to right: Yehoshua Ravnitzki, Shloyme Ansky, Mendele M. Sforim, Hayim N. Bialik, Simon Frug.
It’s so wonderful to discover this podcast episode about Mendele Mocher Sforim. Like the author, my grandmother was born and raised in Kapulye. She came to the United States in her teens – and Mendele’s writings have helped me understand life in her shtetl (probably not during her lifetime, but certainly in her parents’). I did not realize that the author has a street named after him in Tel Aviv. As an audiobook narrator, I am participating in a charity project to raise money for Ukraine relief. Many professional narrators are donating their services to produce an audiobook in English with many different stories. Since Mendele did nearly all of his writing in what is now Ukraine (even though Kapulye is now in Belarus), I can simultaneously tell stories from Ukraine while also honoring my grandmother. I have had trouble finding works by Mendele Mocher Sforim whose English translations are in the public domain. If you have any idea of where I might find one – or if you know of an English translation that is covered under a Creative Commons license, please let me know. So far, the only work I’ve uncovered is the introduction to the original, shorter version of Fishke The Lame.
Thank you,
David Swerdloff,
Pompano Beach, FL USA