Marie Waife was born in
Odessa, Russian Empire (now
Ukraine), in 1892, as the fifth child of Sholem Aleichem and his wife Olga (). She lived in various locations throughout Europe including Switzerland, Germany, and Italy due to financial insecurity until 1914, when she and her family migrated to the United States, residing on the
Lower East Side of New York City. She married the writer and journalist Benjamin Waife (known by his pen name
Ben Zion Goldberg) in 1917 and had two sons: Sholom and Mitchell. In 1968, Waife published a biography of her father titled
My Father, Sholem Aleichem, the first complete biography of the famous writer. She was known for holding meetings at her New York residence on the anniversary of Aleichem's death to read his works. Waife died in 1985 and was survived by her sons. ==References==