Lessons from "Fiddler on the Roof"

Shalom Aleichem is an ancient Hebrew greeting used among Jews which has its roots going back to the first century A.D. It means "peace be upon you", and the response is Aleichem Shalom". The singular form is found in a Dead Sea scroll dated to around 30 B.C. The plural form first appears in the Jerusalem Talmud around 400 A.D. The popular Hebrew song Hevenu Shalom Aleichem is based on this greeting. The phrase is also a special greeting used on holidays.

The Jewish author and playwright Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich used the phrase as a pen name in the early 20th century. He wrote a series of stories about a character named Tevye the Dairyman. Those stories were based on his experiences living in pre-revolution Russia and the United States. His stories later became the basis of a popular Broadway musical play called "Fiddler on the Roof" which premiered in 1964. It starred Zero Mostel, set a record for the longest run, and won awards. In 1971 the play was adapted to the screen with an actor named Chiam Topol playing Tevye.

Although it is an entertaining story with famous songs such as "If I Were a Rich Man", it is a profound story with deep spiritual meaning. The main character Tevye lives in the fictional village of Anatevka in Tsarist Russia. The opening scene and the first song lay out the main message. It starts with Tevye speaking directly to the audience explaining the meaning of the title. Living the Jewish life in that setting required a balance between maintaining Jewish traditions which served to give them their identity and clarity of purpose, and adapting to the cultural and political changes happening around them. The first song immediately follows his narration. "Tradition" describes the roles of the members of the family - father, mother, sons, and daughters. He describes several Jewish traditions but admits he doesn't know why they do them. Knowing the what without knowing thy why is not sufficient. There is an illustration of this (not in the story) where a newlywed wife cuts the end of a roast off and cooks it in a separate pan. Her husband asked her why she did that, and she said that when she was a child that was the way her mother always did it . The next time they saw her mother, he asked why she did it that way. She said they used to have a small oven and the roast wouldn't fit.

Several times Tevye has conversations with God. He complains about his adversity. One time he says, "I know we're your chosen people, but once in a while couldn't you choose someone else?" The Holocaust is a grievous and extreme example of suffering. Some Jews drew closer to God, and others abandoned their faith altogether. We cannot always choose our circumstances, but we can choose our responses to them. We don't have to like everything that happens, but we can seek to know what God is doing in them. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28)." It doesn't say all things are good. It says that God makes them all work for the ultimate good. We can learn to find peace in God despite the circumstances (Jn 14:27, Jn 16:23).

Some of the residents of Anatevka could not read. There was one villager who could and got a newspaper every week. There was some bad news in the paper that the Jews in another village were forced to leave. They have a discussion about whether they should pay attention to the troubles in the outside world or just focus on their own lives in their village. The correct answer is both in balance. We should not just stick our proverbial heads in the sand, but neither should we let the bad news of the world dominate what we focus on.

During this conversation, a young Jewish man named Perchik arrives in Anatevka from the university in Kiev. He is not inured to the old ways still preserved in the small village. He has embraced communism. He makes an arrangement with Tevye to give his daughters lessons in exchange for food. He is the first outside influence in the story. Tevye invites Perchik to celebrate the Sabbath with his family. Perchik casts his eye on Tevye's second daughter named Hodel.

In Jewish culture, the family name and lineage passes through the male descendants. However, Tevye has five daughters and no sons. He loves his daughters but bemoans his lack of sons. His three oldest daughters become the illustrations of the progressing intrusion of the culture into their traditions. They had a tradition of a matchmaker whose job it was to match boys with girls for marriage. The father had the authority to approve or disapprove the match. The matchmaker made a match of Tevye's oldest daughter Tzeitel with the butcher Lazar Wolf. Lazar was wealthy but was old enough to be Tzeitel's father. Tevye approves the match, and they go to celebrate. Tevye's neighbors join the celebration in Jewish style. However, there are also Russians present who congratulate them and celebrate in their style. They invite the Jews to join them, and all but Tevye decline. The scene proceeds with Jews simultaneously singing and dancing their way with the Russians doing the same their way. This is an allegory for the main theme of the story.

The following morning, Tevye tells Tzeitel, she begs him not to force her to marry Lazar, and he relents despite the tradition. He then learns that Tzeitel has been in love with the poor tailor Motel Komzoil. To their delight, he approves the match. It was a strange idea for people to marry because of love instead of who was chosen for them without their consent. Tevye wonders about his own marriage. Do they truly love each other or are they just stuck in this arranged marriage whether or not they love each other? After considering this question, they conclude that they have grown to love each other over the last 25 years. Love is only love when it is chosen. That is why Calvinism and determinism are not true. From the garden of Eden until today, God gives man a choice (Gen 3, Deut 30:15-20, Josh 24:15). He even gives us opportunities to correct our bad choices. God knew exactly where Adam was (Gen 3:9), where Abel was (Gen 4:9), and what Judas had done (Mt 26:25, Jn 6:71, Jn 13:11 & 26-27). Yet He asked Judas when he came to the garden, "Friend, wherefore art thou come (Mt 26:50)?" He wasn't asking for information. He was giving them a chance to make a choice.

The young loverbirds Motel and Zteitel experienced Proverbs 13:12, which says "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life." At Motel and Tzeitel's wedding, Perchik dances with Hodel. The people are astonished at this breach of tradition. They ask the rabbi if this is a violation of their law and he says not exactly. Perchick takes down the rope separating the men from the women and Tevye dances with his wife. Another tradition is broken.

Perchik and Hodel fall in love and marry. Since the tradition of arranged marriages has already been breached, this is just another step away from it. The problem is Perchik gets arrested for being a communist and is sent to Siberia. Hodel chooses to follow who she loves despite it meaning she will have to leave her family and her isolated village life. Families usually stayed close and often several generations lived together. So, this is another breach of tradition.

Tevye's next daughter Chava falls in love with a young Russian man and marries him against her father's will. For Tevye, this is a bridge too far. To him, this means she is renouncing more than just a manmade tradition. This is a breach of their identity as Jews in covenant with God. To Tevye, this is the same as renouncing their God. He renounces his daughter and says it is as though she died. He will no longer talk to her. This may seem harsh, but the Bible is clear in both the Old and New Testaments that interfaith marriages are not approved. We might be inclined today to say Tevye could have expressed his disapproval without completely disowning his own daughter. In the early days of modern Jewish life, there was an attempt to be more lenient with the policy on marriage, but it didn't take long to realize that the people involved in these interfaith marriages were losing their Jewish identity, so they returned to promoting Jewish to Jewish marriages.

The lesson here is that the balance between tradition and adapting has to have a line which cannot be crossed, Some things have to be immutable or the whole package becomes meaningless. A little leaven leavens the whole lump (1Cor 5:6, Gal 5:9). Rules that are manmade may have a place, but when we become more occupied with maintaining tradition than with keeping God's commandments, we become superficial religious hypocrites (Mt 23, Mk 7). Man's traditions can be changed, but the word of God will never change (Ps 100:5, Ps117:2, Is 40:7-8, Mt 5:18, Mt 24:35). There are different covenants in the Bible, but God's moral laws are a reflection of His holy nature and that never changes (Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8).

The Bible makes it clear that believers should not marry outside their faith. The

tendency is for the unbeliever to pull the believer away from their faith, not the other

way. The sons of God (which were in this case men, not angels – Mt 22:30, Lk 24:39,

Heb 1:13-14, Heb 2:16, and 1Jn 3:2) before the flood married women from ungodly

families. The resulting descendants were so wicked God was sorry He created man, and

destroyed the world with a flood (Gen 6:1-13). Abraham took Hagar the Egyptian who

gave him Ishmael. God rejected Ishmael from His covenant, and his descendants are the

Arabs who have troubled the descendants of Isaac ever since (Gen 16:1-16, 17:18-21,

21:9-14; and Gal 4:22-31). Abraham forbade Isaac from marrying a pagan Canaanite

(Gen 24:2-9). Esau married two Canaanites and the daughter of Ishmael. These wives

were a grief to his parents (Gen 26:34-35, 27:46, and 28:6-9). Jacob was forbidden from

following his brother Esau’s marital choices (Gen 27:46-28:5). Dinah created a serious

family problem by marrying a Hivite (Gen 34). Judah took an Adullamite, and a

Canaanite. God killed both the sons of the Canaanite because they were wicked (Gen 38). Joseph married the daughter of the pagan high priest of Egypt (Gen 41:45). Moses married the daughter of the priest of Midian. He later married an Ethiopian. It is usually assumed that his family had a racial bias against it. Could it be it was a matter of faith? His marital problems are described above (Ex 2:16-22, 4:24-26, 18:1-8, and Num 12:1).

Israel was warned repeatedly not to marry the Canaanites because they would turn them

from God (Ex 23:28-33, Ex 34:11-16, Num 33:55-56, Duet 7:1-6, Josh 23:11-33, Jud 2:1-3, and Jud 3:1-7). The law of Moses forbade planting two kinds of seed in the same field, plowing with two kinds of animals together, and making clothes out of two kinds of material (Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9-11). This was to teach the principle of separation vs. mingling. The priests were not allowed to marry a whore, nor a profane nor a divorced woman (Lev 21:7). The high priest could only marry a virgin Israelite, and not a widow, a divorcee, nor profane, nor a harlot. He was not to profane his seed (Lev 21:13-15).

Balaam was hired by Balak to curse Israel, but God would not allow it. Instead, Balaam

got Israel to curse themselves by teaching them to worship idols. Idol worship often

included fornication, as it did in this case. The Israelites joined themselves to the women

and idols of Moab and Midian. God ordered Moses to slay all who participated, and He

sent a plague in which 24,000 people died (Num 22-24, and 25:1-9). God ordered

Moses to destroy the Midianites (Num 25:16-18). The Israelite army destroyed all the

males, but saved the women and children and brought them back. Moses was angry and

reminded them that these were the very women that led Israel into sin. He had all the

women who were not virgins put to death (Num 31:1-20 and 35). This event was still on

the conscience of Israel a generation later (Josh 22:17), and was used as an example of

this evil in the New Testament (2Pet 2:13-19, Jude 11, and Rev 2:14).

     A man named Zelophehad had five daughters, but no sons. A rule was made because

of them that the inheritance should pass to the daughter if there was no son, but the

daughter must marry into her own tribe to preserve the inheritance in its proper place

(Num 27:1-11 and Num 36:1-12). If an Israelite soldier wanted to marry a woman taken

captive in war, she had to completely sever from her past first (Deut 21:10-13). New

Christians that are single should take some time to establish their relationship with God

before they pursue other relationships in dating. Samson was called by God to a special

purpose before he was even conceived, and he was to be a mighty deliverer for Israel.

However, he continually pursued improper relationships with women that did not believe

in God. This cost him his place with God and Israel, his eyes, his freedom, and his life

(Jud 14:1-3 and 15-20, 15:1-2, and 16). When those men that remained of the tribe of

Benjamin after a civil war were left without wives, a clever scheme was arranged to

prevent them from going outside their faith (Jud 21). Naomi’s sons died in Moab after

marrying outside their faith (Ruth 1:1-5). King Solomon was the wisest of all, the son of

David, and the builder of the temple of God; but even he was turned away by pagan

women (1Kings 11:1-14, 23, and 26, and Neh 13:23-27). His sin brought judgment upon

himself and the whole nation. King Ahab was led to the depths of idolatry and depravity

by his wife Jezebel the Zidonian (1Kings 16:31). Jehoram was the son of the good king

Jehoshaphat, but he followed the ways of the house of Ahab instead of his father because

he married Ahab’s daughter (2Kings 8:16-18). After the captivity of Israel the returned

exiles should have learned their lesson. Instead, they fell right back into the same

mistake, and married outside their faith. (Ezra 9:1-10:44, Neh 10:28-30, 13:1-3 and 23-

27). Malachi condemned this (Mal 2:11-12). Hosea was used by God as an example of

Israel’s infidelity to Him by his marriage to a harlot who broke his heart. (Hos 1:2-11 and

2:1-13). The New Testament teaches Christians to only marry Christians (1Cor 6:15-20,

1Cor 7:39, 2Cor 6:14-7:1, and James 4:4-5).

At the end of Fiddler on the Roof, the Tsar declares that the Jews must evacuate. Although Anatevka was a small village where the Jews were considered second class and most of them were poor, it was their home. Being driven out only added to the pain. Yet God can even use persecution to advance His cause and bless His people. When the early church was persecuted in Jerusalem, it only served to spread the gospel (Acts 3-9). When the Jews were driven from their homes, many returned to their ancestral home which eventually led to the rebirth of their nation. Others went to America where they could prosper.

While the play and film version of Fiddler on the Roof are enjoyable because of the rich characters, the interesting story, and the music, it is an important message to all people of faith that are pursuing a true relationship with God. We need to avoid the things that make us swing the pendulum to extremes and find a balanced way to obey the word of God and also live in this present world.