My father often told me that, when he was young, his home was bilingual. He and his brothers spoke both Yiddish and English. My grandfather’s decade in South Africa prior to immigrating to the United States provided him with fluency in English, but he continued to speak and read Yiddish.
In the Lithuanian village that was the home of the Karol family, a number of languages were spoken, especially Yiddish. I learned some Yiddish words when I was growing up, and my father taught me how to “decode” the Yiddish language (to correctly pronounce words in a written text) using a Yiddish-Hebrew bible.
You probably know a few Yiddish words without realizing it. Spiel (to play or present), maven (an expert), schlep (to drag/carry an object), bagel, and others have migrated into the English language.Perhaps some of you have seen the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” which portrays Jewish life in a small town in Russia in 1905. The original script, with memorable songs by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, featured a smattering of Yiddish expressions, because Yiddish would have been the main language spoken in such a community.
This show, which opened on Broadway in 1964, has been performed in many languages around the world. It is no surprise that “Fiddler” was also translated into Yiddish in 1966 by Warsaw native Shraga Friedman.
The Yiddish version is especially significant, because the musical was based on Yiddish stories about Tevye the dairyman, written by Sholom Aleichem.
In 2018, Joel Grey, best known as the “Master of Ceremonies” in the movie “Cabaret” (and father of Jennifer Grey, “Baby” of Dirty Dancing) took on the challenge of directing the first performances of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish in the United States.
On February 11, the well-attended production moved to an Off-Broadway theater on 42nd Street in New York City from its original host venue at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York’s Battery Park.
Rhonda and I attended the February 16 performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish.
Most everything looked familiar, as compared to other performances of “Fiddler.” This one included a projection onstage of simultaneous translation of all lyrics and dialogue into English and Russian.
In an interview about the production, Joel Grey noted that the Yiddish added “gravitas” to the musical, as well as an authenticity that recalls the original tales of Tevye.
One of my favorite moments came as Tevye blessed his grandchild before they left their village for the last time to make their way to America. In this production, we could clearly hear him intone the Hebrew of the Priestly blessing, “May the Eternal One bless you and keep you,” from the book of Numbers. That was not called for in the original script.
As we watched this performance, Rhonda and I felt that the Yiddish was just....right. Staging this version of “Fiddler on the Roof” in 2019 makes an unabashed declaration that exploring and rediscovering our roots is not only possible, but crucial.
It was fitting that, on that very day, a distant cousin of mine contacted me, having read one of my previous Bulletin columns about my grandmother. My grandmother Anna and his great-grandmother Minnie were sisters who immigrated to this country over a century ago.
Of course, they both spoke Yiddish.
We can, and should, always remember from where we have come.
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