Boris Thomashefsky was a Ukrainian-born (later American) Jewish singer and actor who became one of the biggest stars in Yiddish theatre; born in Tarashcha ("Yiddish":Tarasche), a shtetl near Kiev, Ukraine, he emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12 in 1881. A year later, barely a teenager, he was largely responsible for the first performance of Yiddish theatre in New York City and has been credited as the pioneer of Borscht Belt entertainment. Wikipedia
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