Fyvush Finkel

Fyvush Finkel — actor with roots in the Russian Empire

Fyvush Finkel was a beloved American actor who spent decades as a star of the Yiddish theatre before finding mainstream fame late in his career in the TV series Picket Fences and Boston Public. He was one of the last great links to the Yiddish theatre tradition of the early 20th century.

Tracing the roots — USA

Born in Brooklyn in 1922 to parents who had emigrated from Poland and Russia (Russian Empire), Finkel grew up immersed in the Yiddish-speaking immigrant world of New York. His decades in Yiddish theatre preserved a cultural form brought directly from the Russian Empire's Jewish communities.

A career defined by ambition