GOLDFADN, AVROM

(orGoldfaden), (1840-1908)

Born Avraham Goldenfudim in Russia, Avrom Goldfadn spent most of his working life there as the "Father ofYiddish Theatre." He first visited New York in 1887 to establish an American Yiddish theatre in a similar style. Many of his plays became major successes, includingKoldunye;or, The Witch(1877),The Fanatic;or, The Two Kuni Lemls(c. 1880),Bar-Kokhba;or, The Last Days of Jersusalem(1883), andSchulamis;or, The Daughter of Jerusalem(c. 1883). His final play,Ben-Ami;or, Son of My People(1908), was produced in New York shortly before Goldfadn's death. Although his work was by then considered passé, over 30,000 people participated in his funeral procession in Brooklyn, New York. Goldfadn's dramas were recognized as Yiddish theatre classics to be frequently revived. Comic characters like Shmendrik and songs like the lullaby "Raisins and Almonds," composed forSchulamis, won enduring fame.