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Marie Waife (née Marusi Solomonovna Rabinovich; 29 October 1892 – 30 November 1985) was an American writer best known for writing the 1968 biography, My Father, Sholem Aleichem, about the brilliant Yiddish author and playwright.

Biography

Marie Waife was born in Odessa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine), in 1892, as the fifth child of Sholem Aleichem and his wife Olga (née Loyeva). 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 of New York City.

She married the writer and journalist Benjamin Waife (known by his pen name Ben Zion Goldberg) 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

1. "Marie Waife in the U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
2. ^ "Marie Aleichem Waife (1892–1985)". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
3. Huttner, Jan Lisa (2014-12-02). Tevye's Daughters: No Laughing Matter. FF2 Media. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-9850-9644-1. OCLC 910517466.
4. Levitan, Eilat Gordin. "Ben-Zion Goldberg (nee Benjamin Waife)". Eilat Gordin Levitan. Archived from the original on 2020-01-11. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
5. ———— (1968). My Father, Sholom Aleichem. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-5750-0166-4. LCCN 78370959. OCLC 43334. OL 4330291M – via Internet Archive.
6. "Marie Waife". The New York Times. 1985-12-03. Retrieved 2016-07-19.

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