"Sholem Aleichem" – Collection of his Handwritten Letters; Leaflets and Notices – Visit to Vienna and an Evening ...

"Sholem Aleichem" – Collection of his Handwritten Letters; Leaflets and Notices – Visit to Vienna and an Evening devoted to his Storytelling, 1906

Collection of letters, handwritten and personally signed or stamped by Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem (Sholem Rabinovich), and an assemblage of cards, leaflets, and notices. Europe (one letter from New York), early decades of the 20th century. Yiddish and German.

Included in the collection:

1-7: Seven letters handwritten by Sholem Aleichem, in beautifully eloquent Yiddish, bearing his distinctively handsome style of handwriting. Addressed to his friend M. Hammer of Vienna, who produced rubber stamps (incl. Sholem Aleichem’s own, personal rubber stamp). Hammer was a member of several Viennese organizations that acted on behalf of the Jews of Galicia (southeastern Poland and southwestern Ukraine of today). Most of the letters were sent between March and May of 1906, while Sholem Aleichem was conducting a lecture tour, visiting various European cities. The letters deal with preparations for an evening in Vienna of readings of his stories, on behalf of Jewish refugees from Russia; in the margins of two of these letters, Sholem Aleichem writes out (by hand) his proposed program for the evening of storytelling; the collection also includes a printed leaflet/program bearing the final version of the sequence of the evening’s events. Some of the issues addressed by Sholem Aleichem in the present collection of letters are summarized in the following excerpts from the text:

"I have more faith in a "meshumed" [derogatory Yiddish term for a convert from Judaism, usually to Christianity] than I have in a rabbi. And especially the type of "meshumed" who devotes himself to [the cause of assisting] Jews. But I fear the entire affair in Vienna will be superfluous. What if Heaven forbid there’s no audience for me in Vienna?"; "There is no cure for assimilation… Only if you think Vienna is big enough that a number of folks with some connection to Sholem Aleichem could be found [there]… So it would be good to hold this evening [gathering] on the last day of Passover… I was thinking, rather than creating a big hullabaloo, it would be far preferable to restrict the evening [gathering] to a limited group and under appropriate circumstances. The smaller the audience, the more joyful the feast"; "I received a telegram today from the city of Lemberg [Lvov, Lviv] with only three words: Come [to] Vienna [on] Thursday… I’m here in Romania until May 3, the ‘world’ won’t leave me alone…" "I arrived fully enchanted from Switzerland. God Almighty! The same Lord who created the Kasrilevka of Russia also created the Bern and Zurich of Switzerland. A Divine wonder!" (from the Yiddish).

In some of the letters, Sholem Aleichem relates to the personal rubber stamp Hammer made for him, modeled after the author’s personal hand signature (the inked stamps made with this rubber stamp appear numerous times on the letters themselves):

"When I look at it, I can [easily] be mistaken and think that this is my own [hand] signature… The black ink is good…"; "Your Sholem Aleichem was stolen from me in Bukovina! I fear that Heaven forbid there will now be two ‘Sholem Aleichem’s. He [the ‘other’ Sholem Aleichem] will mark [a document] with your rubber stamp and say: ‘See here, whose signature is this?’ I’ll be forced to provide evidence that I am the real Sholem Aleichem, and that the ‘other’ Sholem Aleichem is [nothing more than] Hammer’s artistic creation! But who will ever believe me?" (from the Yiddish).

One of the letters in the collection dates to a later period, specifically 1913 (written on the official stationery of the hotel in the Italian fishing village and seaside resort of Nervi, near Genoa); here, Sholem Aleichem informs his friend M. Hammer of Vienna regarding his failing health.

8-10: Three printed leaflets concerning the evening dedicated to Sholem Aleichem’s storytelling, which finally takes place on May 5, 1906, in the grand ballroom of Vienna’s Continental Hotel: a neatly organized program listing the evening’s events and the works to be read out loud as the main feature, and two different promotional leaflets issued by the organizing committee (M. Hammer’s name appears on both leaflets – he is identified as one of the member of the committee, and as the address for purchasing cards; and on one of the leaflets, the names of the eight men and more than 40 women on the organizing committee are listed; the addresses in Vienna of all the women on the list are given next to their names, in handwriting). Vienna, [1906]. German.

11. Undated, unsigned, and unaddressed letter; based on its content, it can be assumed to have been written by M. Hammer, Vienna, and sent to Sholem Aleichem. The letter deals with Sholem Aleichem’s anticipated visit to Vienna, and for the evening of storytelling on behalf of Jewish emigrants and refugees from Russia. At the end of the letter, the writer relates to the incident involving the theft of the rubber stamp in Bukovina. [Vienna, 1906]. Yiddish.

12. Sholem Aleichem’s personal business card, printed in London.

13-14: Two mailing envelopes bearing the handwritten name and address (in Vienna) of "M. Hammer"; one envelope was sent from Lvov (Lviv) in 1906, and the other, dated 1907, from New York.

Varying sizes and condition. Overall good condition.

Enclosed: • A public appeal in German titled "Ausruf der galiz. Juden aus Wien" – a call to Jews originating from Galicia and currently residing in Vienna to support the candidacy of Nathan Birnbaum in elections to the Austrian parliament as the representative of the eastern Galician constituency which includes the cities and towns of Buchach, Sniatyn, Zalishchyky, Tlumach, and Borszczów (Borshchiv) [Vienna, 1907]. At the bottom of the page is a list of the names of members of the Committee of Jews from Galicia Residing in Vienna; among these names is M. Hammer (on the side of the page, it is stated tat M. Hammer is in possession of some 3,000 original signatures from Jews originating from Galicia and currently residing in Vienna). • A notice issued by the Viennese journal "Jüdische Abende" (lit. "Jewish Evenings"): an invitation to participate in a third evening of readings of works selected from the body of Yiddish literature (again, the name "M. Hammer" appears here among the members of the evening’s organizing committee). Vienna: Ignaz Spitz, printer, [early 20th century]. • Two Yiddish newspaper clippings reporting on Sholem Aleichem’s visit to the United States.

Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.