A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask 'Why do we stay up there if it's so dangerous?' Well, we stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: tradition!
(Opening lines of Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Norman Jewison, script by Sholom Aleichem, music by Joseph Stein)
Tradition. I can't hear that word without superimposing a Russian/Jewish accent onto it. Indelibly carved into my brain is the image of the actor Topol standing, legs apart, arms spread, extending that word in song for what seems like an eternity.
Tradition. The movie, and I assume the play as well, Fiddler On The Roof has as one of its themes the intrusion of modern life into a small Jewish farming village, or shtetle as they were known in Yiddish, in pre-communist Russia. With these intrusions come conflicts between what has always been done, tradition, and increasingly liberal attitudes.
Tradition, we are told from the beginning, via the song of the same name, is the glue that keeps the fabric of the community together. It is our instruction manual and blueprint for leading the good life. The song asks, without traditions where would we be?
Tradition tells us who we can marry, what we can eat, how to treat our neighbours, and how to pray. From the moment we are born, our feet follow in the steps of our forebears, without deviation. With tradition as our guide, we can't go wrong.
What happens when tradition and want come into conflict? When is the time for tradition to bend and be flexible? When does tradition stop being the beautiful tapestry of our past, illustrating life, and become the shackle that ties us into backwardness and bigotry?
Tevye is faced with increasing demands upon his willingness to bend with the times, until he is no longer able to do so, and snaps. His tests come in the form of his daughters and their choices of husbands. In the case of his eldest, it is simply her desire to marry for love instead of following the dictates of the matchmaker. Although it means surrendering his dreams of wealth, he is able to bend with grace and allow her to follow her heart.
Article comments
1 - Bryan McKay
Very interesting post, gypsyman. I've been very interested in traditional folk music lately, so this makes me want to look at some of those traditional songs in a different way. Not exactly the focus of your piece, of course, but you did manage to make me think!
2 - Vic tor Lana
Excellent writing and analysis of a rather complex issue. We are all victims of tradition: in families, in relationships, at school, and in the workplace. Traditions = culture for many people.
Think of going to a new job. You try something to make your mark, but someone pulls you aside and says, "That's not the way we do things here." You have just become a victim of tradition. A way of doing things.
All of this points to the larger issues of intolerance. Tradition is fine if everyone involved is happy with it. I am guessing many women in the Islamic world are not too keen on traditions that keep the repressed.
In schools, we have the tradition of The Pledge of Allegiance to start the day. Again, fine if all in the class are okay with it, but what about the one or two kids who are not? In the end, they are victims. If they refuse to recite the pledge, they may become victims of intolerance as well.
Great article that really got me thinking. Thanks, Gypsyman.
3 - Hershl Hartman
Your comments on tradition are very close to those of most Secular and Humanistic Jews: we value the past but are not dominated by it.
Not at all by the way, "script by Sholom Aleichem" is terribly inaccurate. "Fiddler" was based on a series of Yiddish stories written over a 21-year period (1895-1916), none of which contain the explicit glorification of tradition embodied in the Broadway musical. Rather, Sholom Aleichem, in his 1916 will, wrote:
“On the anniversary of my death I ask that my…family and friends gather at my grave and…if saying the kadish prayer may be against their religious convictions, I ask that they…choose one of my stories " one of the funniest and most lively " and to read it in whatever language is most familiar to them.
“My children and children’s children may have whatever religious convictions they wish, but I ask that they preserve the heritage of their Jewish people.”
Fairly close to your point, no?
Hershl Hartman, Secular Jewish Vegvayzer/Leader