Sholem Aleichem’s "Motl, the Cantor’s Son"

Resource Kit by
Joshua Logan Wall

Module Content

Introduction

Introduction

In Motl, the Cantor’s Son (Motl Peysi dem khazns), the iconic Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem (1859–1916) explores one of the central experiences of modern Jewish history: immigration from Eastern Europe to the United States. Motl was written in two bursts. The first part, taking place in Europe, was composed during and in the aftermath of Sholem Aleichem’s disappointing 1906–1907 visit to the United States and published serially in the New York Yiddish newspaper, Der Amerikaner. After a long hiatus, he returned to the character of Motl in 1915, picking up with Motl’s arrival in New York. Unfinished at the time of the author’s death, this second part was serialized in Yiddish in Di Varhayt and, in a contemporaneous, illustrated English translation, in the New York World and more than twenty other Pulitzer-owned papers. This kit provides resources that will allow teachers to explore how Sholem Aleichem brought his defining humor, character sketches, and attention to the details of everyday life to bear on encounters with immigration, the English language, and American cities.
 
Cover image: Book cover of The Adventures of Mottel the Cantor's Son, translated by Tamara Kahana and illustrated by Ilya Schor, 1953.