Sholom Aleichem was born on March 2, 1859, in Pereiaslav, a place he left behind as his life and career carried him far from his origins. A citizen of the Russian Empire by birth, he would eventually also hold citizenship in the United States, a trajectory that mirrored the broader movement of Jewish life during his era.

He worked as a writer, playwright, film screenwriter, and humorist, producing his work primarily in Yiddish, though he also wrote in Hebrew and Russian. Among his notable works is Tevye the Milkman, which follows a dairyman navigating poverty and family upheaval. Menahem-Mendl offers a portrait of a restless schemer through a series of letters, while Motl, Peysi the Cantor's Son traces a young boy's journey through a child's narration. Stempenyu: A Jewish Novel and Wandering Stars round out a body of fiction that moved between intimate domestic worlds and the wider landscape beyond them. His comic sensibility ran through all of it, earning him recognition as a humorist alongside his standing as a serious literary figure.

His path eventually led to the United States, where he took up citizenship. New York City, the great receiving ground for so many who made that crossing, became part of his own geography in the later years of his life.

He died in New York City on May 13, 1916. The Library of Congress authorized form of his name records him as "Sholem Aleichem, 1859–1916," a span of fifty-seven years that began in Pereiaslav and ended in one of the largest cities in the world.