Asch, Sholem (1880–1957)

Polish-born US novelist and dramatist. He wrote in Yiddish from 1904 onwards, beginning with the story ‘Dos Shtetl/The Little Town’, a classic tragicomedy of life in a small Jewish settlement. His 1907 play Gott fun Nekoma/The God of Vengeance became the first Eastern European Jewish play to be presented on a Western European stage when it was produced by Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1910.

Asch's first stories were written in Hebrew, but under the influence of Isaac Peretz, he began producing works in Yiddish. Asch became a US citizen in 1920, and settled in Israel in 1954. He wrote numerous novels and short stories, such as the novel Der Tilim Yied/Salvation (1934), Tales of My People (1948), and Passage in the Night (1953). He also wrote historical and religious novels, including Kiddush Hashem/For the Sanctification of the Name 1920 and a trilogy on New Testament themes written in English: The Nazarene (1939), The Apostle (1943), and Mary (1949). Asch sought a reconciliation between Christianity and Judaism.