Ruth Leon recommends… Fiddler in Yiddish

Fiddler in Yiddish

Click here to watch 
This week in New York, the wildly successful revival of Fiddler on the Roof reopens for its third run. One of the greatest and most resonant of American musicals, Fiddler was written in English by Sheldon Harnick (lyrics), Jerry Bock (music) and Joseph Stein (book).

This revival is performed in Yiddish, a language spoken today by a small contingent of Orthodox Jews but once the lingua franca of most of the Jewish world, mainly in the Pale of Settlement.

The Pale was a vast area of the Tsarist Russian empire which included Belarus, Lithuania and Moldova, much of Ukraine, Latvia and Poland. Jews were only allowed to live within the Pale and forbidden to reside, even temporarily, beyond it.

The story of Fiddler, like the story of the Jews, is circular, and by the end of the show, Tevye the Milkman hitches his lame horse to his cart and lugs his family’s belongings around the stage, on his way out of the district. They trudge in a circle, mirroring the movements of the show’s jubilant beginning but upended by the constants of Jewish life – disruption and reinvention. A Tsarist edict has expelled the whole community from Anatevka, their village, their shtetl, the only place they know. 

This soaring production, brimming with life and fresh as on the first opening night, wrestles with two duelling traditions: the broad appeal of the original show and the specificity of an ethno-language that was once universal among Eastern European Jews, but is now spoken by fewer than a million people.

The show’s signature song, ’Tradition’, spells out the key to Jewish life and survival. When ‘Tradition’ becomes ‘Traditsye,’  in this production,  we can see it demonstrated in even subtler ways.

Here is ‘Tradition’ or ‘Traditsye’ from rehearsal footage for the current off-Broadway revival. Steven Skybell as Tevye. This is to me somehow even more poignant when performed, as here, in the cast’s contemporary street clothes, particularly when, just looking at them, it is clear that many of the cast are not Jewish but have learned Yiddish especially to appear in this production.

Directed by Oscar and Tony winner Joel Grey  Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish,  stars  Steven Skybell,   who recreates his award-winning performance as Tevye, a milkman navigating family, faith, and changing traditions in the little Russian shtetl of Anatevka.

If you’re in New York or planning on a trip there, this is an unmissable theatrical event but hurry, it’s running only until Jan 1.

The show has English and Russian subtitles projected throughout.

If you want to know what they’re singing about, here are the lyrics in English, the language in which they were written by Sheldon Harnick.

“Tradition” 
(Tevye)
“A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no?
But 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?
We stay because Anatevka is our home…
And how do we keep our balance?
That I can tell you in one word… Tradition.”

(Chorus)
Tradition, tradition… tradition

(Tevye)
“Because of our traditions,
We’ve kept our balance for many, many years.
Here in Anatevka we have traditions for everything…
how to eat, how to sleep, even, how to wear clothes.
For instance, we always keep our heads covered
and always wear a little prayer shawl…
This shows our constant devotion to God.
You may ask, how did this tradition start?
I’ll tell you – I don’t know. But it’s a tradition…
Because of our traditions,
Everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do.”

(Tevye & Papas)
Who day and night
Must scramble for a living
Feed the wife and children
Say his daily prayers
And who has the right
As master of the house
To have the final word at home?

(All)
The papa, the papas… tradition

(Golde & Mamas)
Who must know the way to make a proper home?
A quiet home, a kosher home
Who must raise a family and run the home
So papa’s free to read the holy book?

(All)
The mama, the mama… tradition

(Sons)
At three I started Hebrew school
At ten I learned a trade
I hear they picked a bride for me
I hope… she’s pretty

(All)
The sons, the sons… tradition

(Daughters)
And who does mama teach
To mend and tend and fix
Preparing me to marry
Whoever papa picks?

(All)
The daughters, the daughters… tradition

(Tevye)
“And in the circle of our little village,
We have always had our special types.
For instance, Yente, the matchmaker…”
“And Nahum, the beggar…”
And most important, our beloved Rabbi…”
“And among ourselves, we get along perfectly well.
Of course, there was the time when he sold him a horse,
but delivered a mule, but that’s all settled now.
Now we live in simple peace and harmony and…”

(All)
Tradition, tradition… tradition
Tradition, tradition… tradition

(Tevye)
“Tradition. Without our traditions,
Our lives would be as shaky as… as a fiddler on the roof!”