Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor's Son

Sholem Aleichem, the towering genius of Yiddish literature, created two of the most celebrated characters in all of Jewish fiction -- Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor's Son. Tevye is the lovable, Bible-quoting father of seven daughters, a modern Job whose wisdom, humor, and resilience inspired the lead character in the classic "Fiddler on the Roof." And Motl is the mischievous nine-year-old boy who journeys with his family from their Russian "shtetl" to New York, and whose comical, poignant, and clear-eyed observations capture with remarkable insight the struggles, hopes, and triumphs of Jewish immigrants to America at the dawn of the 20th century. Newly translated by the foremost Aleichem translator, Aliza Shevrin, these lively interpretations reveal why, when the two famous authors finally met, Mark Twain told Aleichem that he thought of himself as the "American Sholem Aleichem."