Mendele Mokher Seforim

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Sholem Asch is often mentioned in the same breath as other modern Yiddish fiction-writers: Sholem Aleichem, I.L.

Peretz, Mendele Mokher Seforim. But Asch was decidedly quirkier. Not content to write only about shtetl life or the Jewish immigrant experience--though he also covered these themes--Asch explored provocative topics like prostitution and lesbianism, and he even tested the limits of Jewish literature by writing in-depth about Judaism’s historical rival, Christianity. 

Sholem Asch, 1940

 

Early Life

Born in a small town outside Warsaw in 1880, Sholem Asch received both a traditional religious education and a more secular Yiddish education. He moved to the city of Warsaw in 1900, and that year he published his first short story, "Moishele."

In 1904, Asch's semi-autobiographical short story "The Little Town" gained immediate acclaim. In it, he described shtetl life with precise realism, carefully avoiding the kind of "insider" references that often characterized Yiddish literature about the shtetl. This style made Asch’s Jewish content accessible to both Jewish and non-Jewish readers. continue