Traditions and Encounters
What do Sholem Aleichem and Mark Twain have in common? These writers became known for using a pseudonym during their literary career. The American, who was Samuel Clemens in real life, penned the Great American Novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. The Yiddish author, on the other hand, wrote several stories about Tevye the Dairyman.
Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich was born on the Kiev Oblast on March 2, 1859. He was a prolific writer, where his materials recalled the pogroms that forced the Jews to leave southern Russia. Aleichem's hardship and efforts to make ends meet for his family would take a toll on his health. He died at the age of 57, only two years after setting foot in New York. His funeral was one of the largest in the city's history.
Far From the Home I Love
“As Abraham said, 'I am a stranger in a strange land'...”
- Tevye
"Fiddler on the Roof" was one of the most beloved Broadway musicals, which sealed Aleichem's legacy. It won't be hard to recall Tevye's stories after hearing “Sunrise, Sunset". He was a poor milkman in the Russian shtetl of Anatevka in 1905, living with Golde, his sharp-tongued wife, and their five daughters.
Those who were more familiar with the play would remember how his three oldest daughters followed what their hearts desired. Marriage must be arranged, and in Tevye's case, her daughters' strong-willed actions tested his deep-rooted beliefs in Yiddish tradition. Some would see Robinson Crusoe in Tevye - and their guess was far from wrong. Aleichem counted Daniel Defoe's novel as one of his favorites. The milkman felt the isolation; poverty might have prompted the Jews to be closer, but they were considered as outcasts. It was the winds of change, where Aleichem didn't live long to witness the Bolshevik Revolution. The place he used to live won't be the same anymore.
Tevye would learn to smile at the adversity. Some believed that the singing masked their tragedy. But this was the triumph of the will.
To Life
The big-screen version of Tevye's stories would mislead those who haven't read it. True love prevailed, against all odds. A timid tailor impressed the old man, a childhood sweetheart of Tzeitel, his oldest daughter. Hodel, his second eldest, was an intelligent, free-spirited girl. She fell in love with a scholar, and breached a custom by not asking for his father's consent. The middle girl, a book lover, eloped with someone who didn't share their religious beliefs.
Tevye's stories brought back a bygone era, a period that left a lot of scars on the survivors. But it was a tale of the people who managed to live on. They would always have the shtetl to remember.
