This issue of the magazine includes:

• Sholem Aleichem turns 150: Sholem Aleichem’s Two Essays on Mark Warshavsky

We know very little about the life and personality of Mark Warshavsky (1848–1907), the Yiddish poet, composer, and author of Oyfn pripetshik and other popular songs “in the folk style.” Perhaps the main source of our information about him comes from introductory articles written by Sholem Aleichem, which were included in the two editions of Warshavsky’s Yiddish Folk Songs. The first edition was published in 1901 at the initiative of Sholem Aleichem, and the second, an expanded edition, was issued in 1914 after Warshavsky’s death. Sholem Aleichem also passed away soon after the second edition of Warshavsky’s collection was published. These two introductory articles were later included in the complete works of Sholem Aleichem, which were printed in Yiddish many times in many different countries. Here in this magazine, these articles are now published in Russian translation for the first time.

These two essays by Sholem Aleichem are not just biographies of Mark Warshavsky. They are a kind of literary manifesto in which Sholem Aleichem, the famous Yiddish writer, speaks not only about his friend but also about himself, about his generation, about an artist’s fate, and an artist’s mission.

In publishing these materials, this magazine launches a new series of issues which will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sholem Aleichem (1859–1916).

• Looking Through Russian Literary Magazines: Novels and Articles of Jewish Interest

• Jewish Calendar of Significant Dates: March–April 2009

• Bibliography: 80 New Books