Marie Waife (; 29 October 189230 November 1985) was an American writer best known for writing the 1968 biography, ''My Father,

Sholem Aleichem Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (; May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem (Yiddish language, Yiddish and , also spelled in Yiddish orthography#Reform and standardization, Soviet Yiddish, ; Russian language, Russian and ), ...

'', about the brilliant

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

author and playwright.

Biography

Marie Waife was born in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, Russian Empire (now

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), in 1892, as the fifth child of Sholem Aleichem and his wife Olga (). She lived in various locations throughout Europe including Switzerland, Germany, and Italy due to financial insecurity until 1914, when she and her family migrated to the United States, residing in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

of New York City. She married the writer and journalist Benjamin Waife (known by his pen name

Ben Zion Goldberg Benjamin Waife (January 9, 1895 – December 29, 1972), better known by his pen name Ben Zion Goldberg, was a Belarusian-born Jewish-American journalist. Life Goldberg was born on January 9, 1895, in Halshany, Russia, the son of Moses Waife and ...

) in 1917 and had two sons: Sholom and Mitchell. In 1968, Waife published a biography of her father titled ''My Father, Sholem Aleichem'', the first complete biography of the famous writer. She was known for holding meetings at her New York residence on the anniversary of Aleichem's death to read his works. Waife died in 1985 and was survived by her sons.

References

1892 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American women writers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Jewish women writers Jewish writers Odesa Jews Writers from New York City Sholem Aleichem 20th-century American biographers American women biographers 20th-century American Jews {{US-bio-writer-stub