Hillel Halkin is a widely respected translator of Yiddish and Hebrew and a frequent contributor to Commentary, the Jewish Daily Forward, and the Jerusalem Post. Sholem Aleichem, pseudonym of Solomon Rabinovitsh (1859–1916), was one of the preeminent classical writers of modern Yiddish literature. His literary pseudonym was derived from the Hebrew expression “shalom aleichem, ” meaning “peace be with you.” He arrived in New York in 1906 (after barely escaping a pogrom the previous year) as the world”s most famous Yiddish writer. Attesting to his popularity in the New World, Aleichem”s funeral was among the largest New York had ever seen.