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Sholem Aleichem, one of the best known and most beloved Yiddish writers at the turn of the twentieth century, portrays the vicissitudes of Jewish life from poverty to pogroms while eliciting a smile from his readers. At the same time, his work delves into the foibles of human nature and the dynamics of family and community relationships in ways that are applicable beyond the Jewish setting. In this course, students will examine the many layers of Sholem Aleichem’s work, and in particular his use of language to create dark comedy, by following the trajectory of Eastern European Jews from rural and small-town life to the city and on to America through Sholem Aleichem’s major recurring characters, Menakhem-Mendl, Tevye, and Motl-Peyse, in the original short stories and in film adaptations. All readings, discussion, and written work will be in Yiddish; assignments will be calibrated to accommodate students who have completed either an intermediate or an advanced Yiddish language class.