Tevye, the Dairyman – an ALEPH reading guide

From the Publisher: Of all the characters in modern Jewish fiction, the most beloved is Tevye, the buoyant, compassionate, philosophical, Bible-quoting dairyman whose life story formed the basis for the musical Fiddler on the Roof. And no Yiddish writer was more beloved than Tevye’s creator Sholem Rabinovich (1859-1916), who wrote under the pen name of Sholem Aleichem (Yiddish for “hello there.”)

Sholem Aleichem wrote the Tevye stories over the course of more than twenty years, creating one of the most enduring characters in modern Jewish culture. Tevye not only deals with the struggles of maintaining his “tradition” in an ever- changing world, he grapples with the parenting, theology, politics, antisemitism, matchmaking, and more, in a style pioneered by Sholem Aleichem known as gelekhter durkh trern, laughter through tears. Tevye never loses his sense of humor, even as the world around him seems to fall apart. Just as millions of Jews in Eastern Europe must uproot themselves from the land they have called home for hundreds of years, Tevye, too, is uprooted, thrown into exile. As you read Tevye the Dairyman, consider these questions and this year’s ALEPH theme of Home and Exile.

 When Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick wrote Fiddler on the Roof, they borrowed the image of the Fiddler on the Roof from Marc Chagall’s paintings as a metaphor for the balancing act that Tevye must sustain in order to survive.

How does the Tevye of Tevye, the Dairyman keep his balance? Are his strategies successful within the framework of the stories? Are they convincing as survival strategies in the “real world?”

 In this period in Russia, and elsewhere, women were beginning to demand greater equality and more control over their own destinies. This early feminist movement challenged the authority of men as leaders of their households and masters of their families’ destinies, and generated anxiety around issues of gender and power.

Where do these issues arise in the Tevye stories? How does Tevye, a man surrounded by women, portray the women in his life and his interactions with them? Do you think that Tevye’s description of, and attitude toward his daughters, wife and female customers and acquaintances mirrors Sholem Aleichem’s or are there clues that Sholem Aleichem is using Tevye strategically to comment on the relationship between men and women?

 In the stories of “Hodl,” “Chava,” and “Shprintze” the courtship/marriage of each of Tevye’s daughters provides the opportunity to explore one of the social changes that challenge Tevye’s way of life.

What are these changes? Which proves to be the most tragic? Which of these stories, if any, resonate with contemporary Jewish culture?

 Sholem Aleichem wrote “Tevye Strikes it Rich” as an independent story and later decided to incorporate it into a series of stories which became Tevye, the Dairyman.

Do the stories in Tevye function as individual stories or as chapters in a book? Does Tevye change over the course of the stories? Do his methods of coping with his family and the world around him change? How does the penultimate chapter (the original version of the collection ended here) “Tevye Leaves for the Land of Israel” relate to the other stories in the collection? How does this story shape the “plot” of the book?

 Unlike in Fiddler on the Roof, the film/play based on this novel, Tevye does not live in Anatevka, or any sort of insular Jewish community. How does this affect any notions of shtetl life that we might have received from watching the film or play? Why do you think Sholem Aleichem decided to place Tevye where he does in the world?   Hillel Halkin, the translator, claims that the Jewish humor of this period and especially the humor in Tevye the Dairyman served the purpose of “...neutraliz(ing) the hostility of the outside world, first by internalizing it (‘Why should I care what the world thinks of me, when I think even less of myself?’) and then by detonating it through a joke (‘Nevertheless, the world doesn’t know what it's talking about, because in fact I am much cleverer that it is - the proof being that it has no idea how funny I am and I do!’)..." (P. xvi). What do you think about this theory? Is this why Tevye is funny? Do you think that this sort of humor is a useful psychological tool for a people facing oppression?