In the month of July, I saw Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish and went to an Orthodox Jewish wedding. Since July seems to be the month I am really connecting with my Jewish heritage, July’s Playwright Profile is on the Jewish playwright, Sholem Asch.
Sholem Asch was born in Poland on November 1, 1880. He was born to poor parents and was one of ten surviving children (Encyclopædia). His father was a cattle trader and his mother was a housewife (Culture). Growing up, Asch received a “traditional religious education and a more secular Yiddish education” (My Jewish Learning).
Asch moved to Warsaw in 1900 and under the guidance of I.L. Peretz, he wrote his stories in Yiddish rather than Hebrew (“Asch's Passion”). His first semi-autobiographical short story, “The Little Town”, was written in 1904. This short story about shtetl life was acclaimed by both Jewish and non-Jewish readers (My Jewish Learning).
In 1903, he married the daughter of a semi-wealthy poet and Hebrew teacher, which allowed Asch to focus his time on his writing (Culture).
In 1907, Asch published his play, God of Vengeance. It was the first Yiddish play to debut at the famous Deutsches Theater in Berlin (My Jewish Learning). Due to the play’s subject matter, including a lesbian relationship, God of Vengeance became a very controversial play. I.L. Peretz supposedly told Asch to “Burn it”, but the play went on to have a successful run in Europe and America (“Asch's Passion”). However, the play was shut down and faced an obscenity trial when it reached Broadway. [To learn more, read my piece, “The Yiddish Play that Stirred the Theater World].
Asch emigrated to New York City in 1916 and became a United States citizen in 1920. He moved back to Poland but then returned to America in 1938.
While in America, Asch published a book trilogy that “novelized the rise of early Christianity” – The Nazarene (1939), The Apostle (1943), and Mary (1949). In these three books, Asch talked about Jesus, St. Paul, and the Virgin Mary (My Jewish Learning). The Nazarene was praised by the American press and brought Asch financial security (“Asch's Passion”). However, the Jewish press criticized the trilogy and Asch was accused of being a Christian sympathizer. Many thought he was converting to Christianity (My Jewish Learning). Asch and his wife ended up leaving France, where they were living at the time, because of the worsening situation in Europe and because of Asch’s critics. They moved to Connecticut, where Asch then wrote The Apostle and Mary (“Asch's Passion”).
For the last years of his life, Asch lived in a suburb of Tel Aviv. He continued to write novels and died in England in 1957 (My Jewish Learning). I highly recommend reading his play, God of Vengeance.
Works Cited
“Asch's Passion.” Tablet Magazine, 19 Oct. 2015, www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/801/aschs-passion.
“Sholem Asch.” Culture.pl, culture.pl/en/artist/sholem-asch.
Sholem Asch.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 July 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Sholem-Asch.
“Sholem Asch.” My Jewish Learning, My Jewish Learning, 16 Aug. 2009, www.myjewishlearning.com/article/sholem-asch/.
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