75 Minutes | Documentary | USA | English

Produced under the aegis of The National Center for Jewish Film

Director: John Lollos / Narrator: Alan Alda

Portraits of two beloved icons--Sholom Aleichem and Theodore Bikel--are woven together in the enchanting documentary, Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem, which combines Bikel's charismatic storytelling and masterful performances with a broader exploration of Aleichem's remarkable life and work. The two men have much in common: wit, wisdom and talent, all shot through with deep humanity and Yiddishkeit.

Theodore Bikel, the unstoppable performer whose career spanned more than 150 screen roles (including an Oscar-nominated turn in The Defiant Ones) and countless stage and musical productions, was also the foremost interpreter of Sholom Aleichem's work. Bikel played Tevye the Milkman on stage more than 2,000 times and animated Aleichem's work through his creation of two celebrated musical plays about the great Russian author.

A pioneer of modern Jewish literature who championed and luxuriated in the Yiddish language, Sholom Aleichem created dozens of indelible characters. His Tevye the Milkman, Motl the Cantor's Son, and Menachem Mendl all remain invaluable windows into pre-war Eastern European Jewish life, real and imagined.

Following the film, Aimee Ginsburg Bikel will continue the celebration of Theodore Bikel's (z"l) Centennial year, sharing stories of her late husband’s remarkable career and legacy. She will be joined onstage for a concert of Theodore Bikel’s greatest hits performed by acclaimed Yiddish musical artist (and Detroit favorite!) Mikhl Yashinsky and musical director Dr. Lorry A. Black, Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

Presented by SAJE (Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment) and the Lenore Marwil Detroit Jewish Film Festival. Promotional Partners Detroit Jewish Book Fair, Henry & Delia Meyers Library, and JLearn.

This program is made possible by generous support from Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring and Bronze Film Sponsor Jewish Historical Society of Michigan Sholem Aleichem Institute Yiddishkeit Programming Fund.

SAJE is endowed by a generous gift from Cis Maisel and supported by Carol & Ronald P. Fogel, Sheri & David Jaffa, and Elaine & Michael Serling through The J’s Pillars of Light Program.