Sholem Asch

Sholem Asch , 1880-1957, Jewish novelist and playwright, b. Poland. He first came to the United States in 1909, was naturalized in 1920, and lived in various parts of Europe and the United States. He settled in Israel in 1956. One of the most widely known Yiddish writers, he won his first success with the play The God of Vengeance, produced by Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1910 and given in many languages and places since then. Among his works available in English translations are the novels Mottke the Thief (1917), Uncle Moses (1920), Three Cities (1933), The War Goes On (1935), The Nazarene (1939), The Apostle (1943), One Destiny (1945), East River (1946), Mary (1949), Salvation (1951), Moses (1951), A Passage in the Night (1953), and The Prophet (1955). His two collections of short stories and novelettes are Children of Abraham (1942) and Tales of My People (1948). Asch's writings often depict Jewish life in Europe and in the United States, and later works reflect the common spiritual heritage of Jews and Christians. Several of his plays were very successful in the Yiddish theater in New York City.

Asch, Sholem (Name Also Spelled Shalom or Sholom)(1880–1957), Polish‐born novelist, came to the U.S. in 1914 and later lived in New York City and in London. His books are written in Yiddish or German, and among those which have been translated into English are Uncle Moses, Chaim Lederer's Return, and Judge Not, republished as Three Novels (1938); The Mother (1930, new translation 1937), the story of a Polish family in New York City; Three Cities (1933), a realistic trilogy of 20th‐century Jewish life in Russia and Poland; Salvation (1934), a novel of Polish Jews of the 19th century; The War Goes On (1936), a plea for tolerance and humanity set in a story of Jews in postwar Germany; East River (1946), a novel of Jewish life in New York at the opening of this century; A Passage in the Night (1953), about a Jewish businessman discovering faith on approaching death; and a trilogy: The Nazarene (1939), presenting Jesus as the last and greatest Jewish prophet; The Apostle (1943), about St. Paul; and Mary (1949), about the Virgin. The Prophet (1955) is a novel about Isaiah. His many Yiddish plays include Mottke the Vagabond (1917), new translation, and Mottke the Thief (1935). What I Believe (1941) is a testament of faith.