Jewish happiness

An exhibition has opened in the Moscow Jewish Museum and the Center for Tolerance , dedicated to the reflection of Sholom Aleicham's work in the visual arts, theater and cinema. In Russia today, this is perhaps the most famous Jewish writer, and his most famous work is the Tevye-Younger. If only because he was more often filmed.

They also show the film at the exhibition at the Jewish Museum, only this is not a “cholor”, but a more rare tape- “Jewish happiness” , where Solomon Mikhoels first starred. Two random interlocutors are found in the courtyard. Hearing the question: “And what a respected Jew does,” in response, the cramp rotates a finger. I’m spinning, they say, as I can. The film is dumb, it was shot in 1925. The lack of speech in it is replenished with credits, plastic, facial expressions and gestures. Much later, the sad smile that does not converge from his face as the hero of Mikholes will see with Rolan Bykov in the film "Commissar". And it doesn’t matter that Alexander Askoldov removed the “commissioner” based on the story of Vasily Grossman, and not Sholom Aleichem. I won’t be surprised if it turns out that he worked with an eye on the “Jewish happiness” director Granovsky. Too many are there at least implicit, but intersections.

The expression "Jewish happiness" has always been ironic. An unnecessary poor man, burdened with a horded kids, is the type that entered art, thanks to Sholom Aleichem.

Only experts remember that in the first half of the 20th century there was a short heyday of national Jewish theaters, on the scenes of which Yiddish language sounded. This was evidenced by old theatrical posters and photographs of scenes from performances based on the works of Sholom Aleicham. These are unique exhibits, and many of them first left archival storage facilities. According to the curator of the exhibition of historian Grigory Kazovsky , Goset (State Jewish Theater) acted not in Moscow, where Solomon Mikhoels shone:

- At our exhibition, you can see materials related to both the Baku state, and with Kyiv, and from the city of Chernivtsi. There are also exhibits from the Bialystok Jewish Theater. That is, the Jewish National Theater was very developed and reached a very high level. In essence, it was one of the leading theaters of his time.

Isaac Rabinovich. The sketch of the costumes for the play "Feast in Kasrilovka" according to the works of Sholom Aleicham. Belorussian Goset, 1926

On the map of the world, Russia was only one of the centers of Jewish theatrical art. And when the Jewish theater in the USSR was banned, many actors left for America.

The Jewish theater had its own meaningful, specific tasks. It sounded some actual motives. For example, the fight against religion, with prejudices, the struggle for universal education. But in artistic culture, of course, the Jewish theater, like other national theaters, relied on examples of European stage art. In Yiddish, they played not only Jewish writers, also Sophocles and Meterlink. There were different theories. For example, there were the theory of "Jewish gesture", which allegedly emphasizes Jewish dynamics, and the theory of the mystical theater.

The poster of the play "200 000"

Photographs with scenes from the play "200,000" have been preserved. This is a comedy on the "large win" Sholom Aleicham. The main character sees a dream in which he suddenly wins two hundred thousand. From a simple tailor, he turns into a rich man, and the attitude of people to him changes sharply. The role of this dreamer was played by Mikhoels. He wrote out fantastic cesels! The drawing of his role was similar to the biomechanics of Meyerhold. That is, this is the stylistics of the avant -garde theater of that time. By the way, also with characteristic makeup, characteristic facial expressions and gestures of characters.

At the exhibition, we did not set ourselves the task of isolating something specifically Jewish. Despite the distance that today separates us from Sholom Aleichem and, perhaps, from that departed culture, the understanding of which requires some humanitarian tension, this is good literature! It is no accident that among the books presented at the exhibition, more translated publications than books in Yiddish. We wanted to emphasize the versatility of this writer and his inclusion in the general cultural context, ”says Grigory Kazovsky .

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Grigory Kazovsky about the Jewish Theater

Armalist philologist, employee of the Department of Judaic at the Institute of Asia and Africa Alexander Polyan says that many information about Sholom Aleichem has been silent for a long time:

- What we know about him is the results of the activities of Soviet literary editors, Soviet publishers and literary ideologists who needed to make a national Jewish writer in all articles "passing". Therefore, not all of his works were published. Everything that was somehow connected with Zionist motifs was naturally thrown out of there. In the same way, much of what was connected with the life of Shole-Aleicham abroad was thrown out. Not everything was published. And what was published was with bills and often without comment. Meanwhile, comments are necessary.

The fact is that Sholom Aleichem, like all Jewish writers of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, wrote quite a lot about traditional Jewish realities. About life, about holidays, about religious traditions. He mentioned this as a natural part of life, which then completely did not require comments. For the Soviet reader, starting from the early post -war period, it was all already distant things. They were already incomprehensible, they needed to be explained. But there were usually no such explanations in Soviet publications. Or they were very brief and, in general, forcedly helpless. Naturally, commentators could tell more about this, but vowels and unspoken bans interfered. As a result, a distorted image of Sholom Aleichem arose. He is diligently reduced, diligently adapted to ideological goals and very incomplete.

The program for the performance of the Azerbaijani Goset with a libretto in Russian for spectators who do not understand Yiddish

As a rule, the knowledge of the work of Sholom Aleichem is limited to what was included in six volumes of the famous Soviet collected works of 1959, which was prepared for the centenary of the writer's birth. In fact, he created much more. Actually, he wrote all his life. In addition, it is very difficult to reflect in any collected works, except for the most complete academic, constant history of rewriting and editing. Indeed, over his most famous works-over the "boy Motle", and over "Tevye-little one", and on the novel cycle in the letters "Menachem Mendl"-he worked for a very long time. These things went out in parts, for several decades.

The initial plans, apparently, were some others. Over time, they were adjusted. Say, in the first text about Tevye, this same Tevye is still very similar to Menachem Mendla. This is someone like a small crook, a rogue who does not really understand what to do. Only then Sholom Aleichem realizes what potential lies in the separation of these heroes, how can one contrast one of them.

For the exhibition, we found several autographs of Sholom Aleichem. In particular, the letters that he wrote to Tolstoy and Chekhov. This happened after the bloody Jewish pogroms of 1903, which claimed a lot of lives and destroyed a huge number of people. In order to somehow help these people, Sholom Aleichem and several more writers decided to publish a collection, and transfer funds from sale to the victims. And so Sholom-Aleichem turned not only to Jewish writers, but also to the Russians with a request to give something for this collection, some kind of work or, perhaps, some kind of sketch, or at least some kind of preface written by them personally.

Letter's letter to Lev Tolstoy

In a letter to Leo Tolstoy there are such lines:

Judging by how sensitively you follow all the currents and phenomena of society and peoples, you cannot allow you to go without due attention past the egregious deed that was happening during the “bright” holiday of Christ in the provincial city of Chisinau, according to the teaching of evil people. Reading newspapers, you could not help but shudder at the thought that in our century such ugliness as the beating of the Jews in Chisinau in the continuation of two days in front of the police and the local intelligentsia, the vile violence over the girls in front of the parents, the extermination of infants and the like horrors of the time of barbarism.

The author of these lines has the honor not only to belong to this eternally persecuted, despised, but in their great people, but to be a modest exponent of their feelings, thoughts and ideals. In short - I am a Jewish people's householder.

Russian writers responded. For example, in a letter to Chekhov, Sholom-Aleichem reports that he had already received three fairy tales from Count Leo Tolstoy, " and these tales have already been translated into the Jewish language ."

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Alexander Polyan about Sholom Aleichem

Among other things, Sholom-Aleichem is still a great spotlight and a myphotrape in the literature for Yiddish. Among the rare books - lifetime publications, we show the Jewish People's Library magazine.

Jewish Folk Library magazine edited by Sholom Aleichem

The writer had for many years a project to turn literature into Yiddish into full-fledged European literature, which would not be considered something provincial and second-rate. To do this, he, in particular, was the first to start publishing a fat magazine. For comparison: Russian literature existed then in the form of thick magazines. The most famous works of the 19th century came out first in magazines and only then were printed by separate books. Sholom Aleichem decided to repeat this experience, and in 1888 he published the first volume of the "Jewish People's Library". In the preface, he talks in detail about his plan to create a magazine precisely in Yiddish so that the attitude towards Yiddish would not be neglecting. So that this language is perceived as worthy of literary creativity and that the writer comes to his people. He really managed to collect a worthy round of the authors and managed to publish it all well. By the way, it is evidenced by the fact that there is a section of critics in the journal. And this is a rare thing for those times for the Jewish press. That is, we are dealing with a phenomenon when a literary tradition, which, it would seem, was of a small opinion of itself, begins to comprehend itself. Attracting critics, of course, sharply increases its status.

I must admit that Sholom Aleichem was not endowed with business talents. The "Jewish People's Library" did not last long. Two volumes were published, after which Sholom Aleichem ruined: the inheritance that got from a rich father-in-law ended, and that’s all the journal’s publication ceased. He tried to publish something else after that, but these were already rather unsuccessful attempts.

Nevertheless, this magazine is famous in Kyiv. He became an important milestone in the history of Jewish literature. In particular, also because it was the first edition in which the writers paid fees, ”says Alexander Polyan .