''Wandering Stars'' (

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

: ''Blonzhende Stern'' or ''Blundzhende Shtern'') is a novel by

Sholem Aleichem ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Pereiaslav, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = New York City, U.S. , occupation = Writer , nationality = , period = , genre = Novels, sh ...

, serialized in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

newspapers from 1909 to 1911. In it, Leibel, the son of a wealthy

shtetl A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...

family, falls in love with

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

's daughter Reizel, and both fall for a traveling

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...

group. Separating and becoming successful performers in the West, under the names of Leo Rafalesco and Rosa Spivak, they eventually find each other again in America. Two English translations of the novel exist: a 1952 abridged version by Frances Butwin (''Wandering Star''), and a 2009 unabridged version by Aliza Shevrin (with a foreword by

Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage he's most known for his seminal work ''Angels in America'' which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. At the turn ...

). Yiddishpiel, a Yiddish theatre in Israel, adapted a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

-stage production based on the novel, with book by Aya Kaplan and

Joshua Sobol Joshua Sobol ( he, יהושע סובול; born 24 August 1939), is an Israeli playwright, writer, and theatre director. Biography Joshua Sobol was born in Tel Mond. His mother's family fled the pogroms in Europe in 1922 and his father's family imm ...

and direction by Aya Kaplan. The production opened in January 2016 and closed by March 2016.

References

External links

Online Yiddish Book: Wandering Stars
1911 novels Novels by Sholem Aleichem Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Polish newspapers 20th-century Russian novels Picaresque novels {{Yiddish-stub