Sholem Aleichem—that iconic, versatile Yiddish writer—explores Passover themes in these three short stories, newly translated into English:

“An Early Passover” is a satire about a Hasidic refugee from Eastern Europe who finds himself living among middle-class Reform Jews in Germany. “A Village Passover” explores the idyllic friendship between a little Jewish boy and a Christian boy in the Ukrainian countryside during Passover. “The Lovebirds” is an oddity: a Passover horror fantasy involving food, death, and kidnapping.

It concludes with excerpts from the author’s Passover letters to family members, expressing his longing to have everyone together at the Seder.