Fiddler on the Roof
Back in Czarist Russia,
Tevye is a Jewish milkman with three daughters yet to wed.
Though he may be struggling and poor,
Still he keeps his family fed.
Tzeitel is the eldest;
And the matchmaker has found the perfect match, or so she thinks,
Lazar Wolf, a wealthy butcher man,
Though he is quite old and stinks.
Tevye goes to see him;
After going back and forth on whether to approve the match,
He assents and both then celebrate,
But there is an unknown catch.
Tzeitel loves a tailor,
Which her father learns once he has spent a night out with the bottle.
Though he’s angry at this sudden change,
He says she can wed her Motel.
At his daughter’s marriage,
Tevye sees his second daughter Hodel dancing with a man.
Though this shocks the many wedding guests,
He joins in because he can.
But the celebration
Is disrupted by a group of soldiers, who attack the Jews.
Mostly they harm property and such,
Yet it can’t help but confuse.
Later Hodel tells him
She and Perchik want to marry, though he’s leaving for a time.
They seek blessing, not his permission,
And to him, this seems a crime.
Tevye thinks it over:
Things are changing and he might as well accept love will prevail;
He consents, and Perchik leaves for town,
But he soon is sent to jail.
Hodel wants to join him
In Siberia and sadly leaves her father and her home.
Tevye’s sad to see his daughter go,
But he bids his child Shalom.
His third daughter Chava
Asks her father to accept her own forbidden love somehow,
But this Gentile isn’t of their race,
And this Tevye won’t allow.
They both wed regardless.
Tevye turns his back on Chava and regards his daughter dead.
He will only bend so very far,
Though there are still tears to shed.
Then comes even worse news:
Their town constable declares that all the Jews must quickly leave.
Anatevka must be emptied soon,
And the Jewish people grieve.
Tevye and his family
Leave their home to seek America but do not stay aloof.
Their tradition keeps them balanced yet
Like a fiddler on a roof.