Sholom Rabinovich, son of Nokhem (Nakhum). He was born on 2 March 1859, in the town of Pereyaslav in the Poltava region (today'sPereyaslav-Khmelnytsky), to a family of a small shopkeeper. He spent his early years in the town of Voronkiv, not far from Boryspil. In 1887-1890 and 1893—1905, he lived in Kyiv (in his literary works, this city was called “Yehupets”), where he was involved in trade. After the outbreak of pogroms sweeping through the Russian Empire, including Kyiv, that were provoked in 1905 by the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, Aleichem was forced, for the sake of the family, to leave his beloved Kyiv.

Shalom Aleichem:

"The city of Lviv offers a picture of order, breadth, and beauty! A sight to feast the eye… In the heart of the city there unfolds a park where everyone is allowed to walk, even goats. The land of freedom!

On Saturdays Jews are strolling along all the streets, and no one pays attention. And such people who live in Lviv! Pure gold!" (Sholem Aleichem, Lviv, 1906)

Prepared by Noam Zion for Haggadah "For Our Freedom"

Noam Zion is a Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Kogod Research Center at the Shalom Hartman Institute since 1978. He studied philosophy and holds degrees from Columbia University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He studied bible and rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the Hartman Beit Midrash. He has developed study guides on bible, holidays and rabbinic ethics. His publications and worldwide lectures have focused on “homemade Judaism” – empowering families to create their own pluralistic Judaism during home holidays, including Pesach, Hanukkah, and Shabbat.


haggadah Section: Commentary / Readings
Source: Гаґада "За нашу свободу"