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Who was Mendele the Book Peddler in S.Y. Abramovitsh's works?

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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.

In the works of S.Y. Abramovitsh, Mendele the Book Peddler (Mendele Moykher Sforim) is a folksy, recurring persona who serves as the narrator for several of the author's most significant literary pieces.1

First introduced in the 1864 novel Dos kleyne mentshele ("The Little Man"), the character functions as a bridge between the traditional world of eastern European Jews and the author's critical perspective. Abramovitsh utilized this persona to provide a panoramic view of Jewish life while simultaneously injecting ironic criticism of outmoded social practices, corruption, and community failures.1

The character became so iconic that Abramovitsh himself became widely known by the pseudonym "Mendele Moykher Sforim," and this name frequently appeared as the author on his books. Because of his foundational role in establishing modern Yiddish narrative literature, the author is often referred to as the "grandfather of Yiddish literature".21