Wikipedia's first sentence called it “popular humorist and russian jewish author of yiddish”. Today it says “jewish author and playwright who wrote in yiddish and lived in the russian empire and in the united states”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
He did much to promote Yiddish writers, and was the first to pen children's literature in Yiddish. The musical comedy " Fiddler on the Roof " (1964), based on Sholom Aleichem's stories about his character Tevye the Milkman , was the first commercially successful English-language play about Eastern European Jewish life. Born Sholem Yakov Rabinowitz ( ru : Рабино́вич ) to a poor patriarchal Jewish family in Pereyaslav (near Kiev ), Ukraine . Sholem's mother died when he was 13. His first writing was alphabetical vocabulary of the epithets used by his stepmother. At the age of fifteen, inspired by Robinson Crusoe , he composed his own, Jewish version of the famous novel and decided to dedicate himself to writing. He adopted the pseudonym Sholom Aleichem , a common greeting meaning "peace be with you". After completing Pereyaslav local school with excellent grades in 1876, he left home in search for work. They had six children, including painter Norman Raeben , whose teaching Bob Dylan credits as an important influence on Blood On The Tracks . At first Aleichem wrote in Russian and Hebrew , but from 1883 on, he produced over forty volumes in Yiddish, to become a central figure in Yiddish literature by 1890. Most writing for Russian Jews at the time was in Hebrew, the language used exclusively by the learned Jews. In 1888-1889, he put out two issues of an annual , Die Yiddishe Folksbibliotek ("The Yiddish Popular Library") which gave important exposure to many young Yiddish writers. A third issue was edited, but never printed, because he lost his entire fortune in a stock speculation in 1890. Over the next few years, while continuing to write in Yiddish, he also wrote in Russian for an Odessa newspaper and for Voskhod , the leading Russian Jewish publication of the time, and in Hebrew for Hamelitz and for an anthology edited by Y.H. Sholom Aleichem was often referred to as the "Jewish Mark Twain " because of the two authors' similar writing styles and use of pen names . Both authors wrote for both adults and children, and lectured extensively in Europe and the United States. When the two finally met late in life, however, Twain retorted that he considered himself the "American Sholom Aleichem." After 1891 Sholom Aleichem lived in Odessa , but as waves of pogroms swept southern Russia in the early 1900s , he emigrated with the family in 1905, settling first in Switzerland , and in 1914, in the United States , where he made his home in New York City . He died there at the age of 57 and was laid to rest at the Brooklyn cemetery. In 1997, a monument dedicated to Sholom Aleichem was erected in Kiev ; another was erected 2001 in Moscow .1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16197919.
The opening as it stood in 2010 19 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Sholem Aleichem ( , Russian and ) (March 2, 1859 - May 13, 1916) was the pen name of Sholem Naumovich Rabinovich , a leading Yiddish author and playwright.The musical Fiddler on the Roof , based on his stories about Tevye the Milkman , was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe .
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Sholem Aleichem statue in Netanya, Israel Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich , better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem ( and Hebrew ; Russian and ) (March 2 [ O.S.February 18] 1859 – May 13, 1916), was a leading Yiddish author and playwright. The musical Fiddler on the Roof , based on his stories about Tevye the Dairyman , was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668163127.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Sholem Aleichem statue in Netanya, Israel Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich , better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem ( Yiddish and , also spelled in Soviet Yiddish , ; Russian and ) (March 2 [ O.S. February 18] 1859 – May 13, 1916), was a leading Yiddish author and playwright. The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof , based on his stories about Tevye the Dairyman , was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe . The Hebrew phrase שלום עליכם ( shalom aleichem ) literally means "[May] peace [be] upon you!", and is a greeting in traditional Hebrew and Yiddish.Beit Hatfutsot . : CS1 maint: url-status ( link ) The parallel greeting in Arabic is السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ ( As-salamu alaykum ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 961408166.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Russian Jewish author and playwright This article is about the writer. Sholem Aleichem statue in Netanya, Israel Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (Соломон Наумович Рабинович), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem ( Yiddish and , also spelled שאָלעם־אלייכעם in Soviet Yiddish , ; Russian and ) (March 2 [ O.S. February 18] 1859 – May 13, 1916), was a Yiddish author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States. The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof , based on Aleichem's stories about Tevye the Dairyman , was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe . The Hebrew phrase שלום עליכם ( shalom aleichem ) literally means "[May] peace [be] upon you!", and is a greeting in traditional Hebrew and Yiddish. The parallel greeting in Arabic is السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ ( As-salamu alaykum ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176450475.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Russian Jewish author and playwright (1859–1916) This article is about the writer.Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich ( Russian : Соломон Наумович Рабинович ; March 2 [ O.S.February 18] 1859 – May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem ( Yiddish and Hebrew : שלום עליכם , also spelled שאָלעם־אלייכעם in Soviet Yiddish , [ˈʃɔləm aˈlɛjxəm] ; Russian : Шо́лом-Але́йхем ), was a Yiddish author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States. The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof , based on Aleichem's stories about Tevye the Dairyman , was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe . The Hebrew phrase שלום עליכם ( shalom aleichem ) literally means "[May] peace [be] upon you!", and is a greeting in traditional Hebrew and Yiddish. The Arabic cognate is السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ [ʔæs.sæˈlæːmu ʕæˈlæjkʊm] ( As-salamu alaykum ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296244565. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “popular humorist and russian jewish author of yiddish”. Today it says “jewish author and playwright who wrote in yiddish and lived in the russian empire and in the united states”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
popular humorist and russian jewish author of yiddish
Now
jewish author and playwright who wrote in yiddish and lived in the russian empire and in the united states
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
