When did modern Yiddish literature begin, and which work marked its start?

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Portrait of Russian author Sholem Aleichem with wavy hair, glasses, and mustache, wearing a suit and tie with medals on his lapel, early 1900s. — Yiddish literature Pen name of Sholem Rabinovitsh, Sholem Aleichem was the most popular and well-known of all Yiddish writers.

Modern Yiddish literature is widely considered to have begun in 1864. This pivotal period was marked by the publication of the short novel Dos kleyne mentshele ("The Little Man"), written by S.Y. (Sholem Yankev) Abramovitsh.12

Abramovitsh, who later became known as "the grandfather of Yiddish literature," serialized this work in the Yiddish periodical Kol mevasser ("The Voice of Tidings"). By utilizing Yiddish as a vehicle for serious narrative fiction, Abramovitsh sought to reach a broader audience than was possible through Hebrew, which was the traditional language of religious and scholarly texts at the time. His work introduced a new era of Yiddish writing that embraced the vernacular to depict Jewish life in eastern Europe with realism, humor, and social critique.321