About This Site
The Sholem Aleichem online project grows out of the New Media in Jewish Studies Initiative, a joint initiative of Citizen Film and the Institute of Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University.
This project is a collaboration between Citizen Film, Columbia University, Riverside Films, the National Yiddish Book Center and the Sholem Aleichem Foundation, made possible through generous support from the Sholem Aleichem Foundation and the Covenant Foundation.
THE SHOLEM ALEICHEM NETWORK, INC. helps keep the legacy of the great Yiddish author and playwright Sholem Aleichem alive, into the 21st Century. Through our work, the Russian emigre to New York who so excited readers and audiences one century ago remains alive in our memories today. While our communities no longer live in the shtetls of ages past, the humor and wisdom that Sholem Aleichem wrote into them remains timeless, most well known in the tales of Tevye that were the basis for the musical Fiddler on the Roof.
THE INSTITUTE FOR ISRAEL AND JEWISH STUDIES, Columbia University’s center for the academic study and discussion of Jewish life, history, and culture, has long been a national and international leader in the field. Its scholars and students have produced lasting and central works of scholarship in a field that continues to grow exponentially across the United States. The Institute is dedicated to the academic study and discussion of Israel and Jewish Studies. Committed to blending rigorous scholarship with cutting edge teaching and intellectual opportunities, IIJS explores the best that’s been thought and said in the field and examines the length and breadth of Jewish history and culture, as well as Israel and all of its complexities.
CITIZEN FILM is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 production company dedicated to crafting emotionally resonant documentary stories with care and dignity. Our work has been featured at many of America’s most prestigious venues, from Sundance to MoMA New York. We specialize in collaborating with civic and educational institutions to create films and multimedia exhibitions that foster constructive engagement in cultural and civic life.
THE YIDDISH BOOK CENTER is a nonprofit organization working to tell the whole Jewish story by rescuing, translating, and disseminating Yiddish books and presenting innovative educational programs that broaden understanding of modern Jewish identity. Saving a million Yiddish books was just the beginning. Our priority now is to advance knowledge of the content and literary and cultural progeny of the books we’ve saved.
THE COVENANT FOUNDATION recognizes the diversity of strengths within the field of Jewish education in North America, across all denominations and settings. By honoring outstanding Jewish educators and supporting creative approaches to programming, the Foundation works to strengthen educational endeavors that perpetuate the identity, continuity and heritage of the Jewish people..