Fiddler on the Roof is a very special show for me. It was my first show at Loyola; the show at which I met our accomplished choreographer Kenny Beck. Kenny was featured as a bottle dancer, and I, a mere freshman, was belting out the role of Fruma Sarah from my perch atop the shoulders of an administrator who was over six feet tall. Years later, Kenny directed and choreographed while I played Golde in St. Martin’s Episcopal’s first production after Hurricane Katrina. We built the set out of items that fell in the neighborhood and on our campus during the storm; lace curtains from a faculty member’s home that had been submerged in Lakeview were salvaged and repurposed to serve as the chuppah and veil for Tzeitel’s wedding. This show truly is a timeless classic, and it has been a privilege to be a part of it in the past and to now direct it with Kenny for this terrific cast.
For me, Fiddler on the Roof is a show about experiencing and overcoming injustice with dignity. It is a show about family and faith, about tolerance and tradition, about love and hope. It is also a beautiful history lesson. Sholem Rabinovich, under his penname Shalom Aleichem, became the most famous Yiddish writer, the “Yiddish Mark Twain.” He wrote Tevye the Dairyman, on which the musical is based, over a span of twenty years. It was written contemporaneously; as he aged, Tevye aged; as his world changed, so did Tevye’s world. Though the show, set in 1906, comes from only a few chapters of the original work, many of us read the entire book to prepare for our roles. Reading about the Russian Revolution, the bloody pogroms, and the challenges faced by Tevye and his community – and looking at them from our perspective knowing what was still to come during the Holocaust – reminds us how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Our current mayor, Jesuit graduate and Phil, Mitch Landrieu, said the following in a recent television interview on PBS NewsHour:
Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or liberal, one of the things we ought to agree about in America, as Americans, is that there’s no room for white nationalism in the United States of America. And that has taken people into very dangerous places historically, not only in this country, but in other countries. And we can argue about whether or not we want to approach the world through tax cuts or what our positions on war and peace and all that stuff has been on on white nationalism, and the notion that, somehow, white people are superior to brown people or black people. That’s not who we are as Americans. That’s not who we aspire to be.
This story is part of that history Mayor Landrieu is referring to; whether it be race, religion, or gender, judging others to be less than ourselves is wrong and leads to dangerous ideas. Approaching the world with an open-mind and open-heart leads to greater joy – through shared experiences, appreciation of differences, and mutual understanding.
Another thing that strikes me in the show is the character of Nachum, the beggar. Nachum serves an important role in his community; as Tevye says, “It’s a blessing for me to give.” And so it should be a blessing for all of us to give, as St. Ignatius said, “and not to count the cost.” In the Jewish tradition, mitzvah is commandment to act with kindness and generosity – much more complicated than what is often referred to as a good deed. The Phils’ commitment to perform mitzvah is evidenced by our adherence to our call for us to be “people for others.” The service work of the Phils includes supporting Second Harvest Food Bank through our Senior-directed One Act & Improv Festival, producing the Mock Crash with the Sudden Impact program for our school community, and hosting our Miracle League Musical Theatre Workshop*.
But these young people do so much more on their own! Phils tutor other students, produce GIFT productions to perform for the elderly, 3-D print honeybee habitats, volunteer with Operation Upgrade, sing in their church choirs, serve in Scouting, are buddies to Miracle Leaguers, and feed the homeless. They are truly amazing young people. I am privileged and blessed to know each and every one of them.
I hope our production of Fiddler on the Roof reminds us all of our recent history so that we do not repeat it. I hope it encourages us to respect our shared humanity and to treat each other with dignity. And I hope, perhaps most of all, that it inspires us all to commit more daily “mitzvahs” in our own lives.
Kate Arthurs-Goldberg, M.A., Director, Jesuit Philelectic Society *April 17, 2018
