Lesson 1:   SHOLEM ALEICHEM

READING ASSIGNMENT:
Tevye the Dairyman (entire part)
The Modern Jewish Canon, pp. 32-64

WHO WAS SHALOM ALEICHEM?

The most beloved of modern Jewish writers, Sholem Aleichem developed a literary style and an approach to life that became so popular many readers assumed it was the style of Jewishness itself. Born Sholem Rabinovitch in 1859, in a small city in Ukraine, he adopted the pen name Sholem Aleichem — a term of democratic greeting that extended welcome to readers of all ages, regions, and persuasions. The 1880s when he began publishing were years of mass Jewish migration and socio-political upheaval. The author was part of that process of change. But his humor seemed to suggest that Jews were sufficiently resilient and essentially united to weather all storms and outmaneuver all enemies.

INTRODUCTION TO STORY

Tevye der milkhiker, translated Tevye the dairyman, is Sholem Aleichem's best-known work, the model for the musical and film Fiddler on the Roof. While the first episode describes how Tevye became a dairyman, the Yiddish term milkhiker also refers to his milky personality, his ability to roll with the punches, to take hardships in stride.

Yet Tevye is also a very strong character: he out-argues the local priest, and, when need be, takes issue with God Himself. Although he bends to the wishes of his wife and daughters, he refuses to budge when the core of his life is at stake.

Many of the stories follow a similar pattern, like variations on a theme. Tevye is such a gifted raconteur that I have suggested we consider him the first Jewish stand-up comedian. But as the episodes were written over a period of twenty years, beginning when Sholem Aleichem was a buoyant writer in Kiev and ending just prior to his death in NewYork, they reflect some of the major crises that were facing all traditional Jews during that extended period.

The stories darken as the work progresses. Tevye loses a great deal, and is ultimately driven from his home. But he seems to gain in moral confidence, and when he sets out at the end to an unknown destination, he sounds more like an ironic version of the patriarch Abraham than like a dispossessed refugee.

QUESTIONS FOR ONLINE DISCUSSION

When Tevye interpolates his own running commentary on his prayers as he is running after his horse, is Sholem Aleichem making fun of Tevye's faith or showing its power?

Do you enjoy Tevye's art of quotation, or do you share his wife Golda's impatience with it?

Tevye is often mistaken for a "typical" East European Jew, and yet he is utterly atypical: Most Jews lived in towns or cities, he is the only Jew in his village. Most Jews dealt in commerce or small crafts and industry, he is a dairy farmer. Most Jews prayed with a minyan every day, he does so only on his parents' anniversaries, twice a year. Why, then, do you think he is considered typical?

How would you contrast and compare Tevye with his wife's relative Menahem Mendl? They are both "optimistic" by nature, but are they altogether alike in their enthusiasm?

The daughters represent escalating challenges to their father and to his way of life. What are these challenges? How does Tevye respond to each?

When the Tevye stories were turned into drama and film, the greatest variations of interpretation involved the character of Chvedka and the priest. Some directors painted them very black, others tried to make them friendly — especially Chvedka, whom Fiddler on the Roof turned into a hero. How does Sholem Aleichem treat them in his original story?

How come Tevye gets along so well with the rich Jew in the first episode, and so badly in the episodes of Shprintse and Beilka?