Fiddler on the Roof: Notes and Discussion Guide

printable version here

 Location 

Anatevka, Russia, in 1905: a small Jewish fictional village, located somewhere in the Pale of Settlement. (Jews weren’t allowed past those borders.)

Russia is ruled by Czar Nicholas II (Romanov dynasty) 

Characters 

All the characters in this story are fictional but based on stories of the time. 

Tevye: father, patriarch, milkman. He has a chatty and open relationship with God. 

Golde: his wife. Golde wants her daughters not to live in poverty. 

Tzeitel: oldest daughter, has arranged marriage to rich butcher Lazar, but chooses the poor tailor Motel instead

Hodel: second daughter, marries revolutionary radical Perchik

Chava: third daughter, marries Fyedka, a Christian man, so she is considered dead to family

Constable: Gentile law enforcement of town. He is friendly to Tevye but still looks down on Jews. He follows orders to terrorize and eventually evict the entire Jewish population of their small town. 

Judaism

Over 4,000 year old religion, culture, and people group.

Rabbi: faith leader of a community

Synagogue: meeting house for religious practice

Sabbath: Holy Day of rest. Begins Friday night at sundown and lasts until Saturday night at sundown.

Torah: Holy Book

In this story, there are many traditional gender roles, and community roles like arranged marriage and matchmakers. Touching the opposite gender was inappropriate, and touching gentiles (non-Jews) made you unclean. Some traditional communities still follow these practices.

Anti-semitism: hostility and prejudice against Jews. Russia (and other countries) at this time (and many other times) made anti-Jewish propaganda, and they enacted evictions and pogroms (organized killing of a minority). The pogroms in Russia and around the world culminated in the Holocaust (1941-1945) where 6 million Jews were murdered. 

Eastern Orthodox Christianity

11th Century: Schism with Roman Catholics (doesn’t follow the Catholic Pope.)

Common faith in Eastern Europe and Russia. 

Although they live in the same town as the Jewish characters, the movie shows different music and dance styles as an example of different cultures living side by side. 

Marxism

1848: Karl Marx writes “The Communist Manifesto” about class conflict between workers and business owners. The relationship is inherently exploitative, because the goal of capitalism is to make a profit. Marxism aims for fairness when the workers own the means of production and get rid of class differences. 

The character Perchik went to university in Kiev, where he probably learned these new ideas. He teaches his young students the Rachel and Leah story, and says the moral is “never trust an employer.” Perchik returns to Kiev to protest. He gets arrested Bloody Sunday Massacre, in which the Czar’s troops killed hundreds of unarmed protestors. He is sent to Siberia (central/east Russia, very cold and rural). 

Czar Nicholas made temporary parliament in response to allow changes. He abdicated in 1917 after the February Revolution. In
the same year, after the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks took power. They executed the Czar and his family in 1918. They formed the Soviet Union which lasted from 1922 - 1991. 

Discussion

Do you practice special family or cultural traditions? What are they?

How do you decide which traditions are worth keeping and which should go?

Is the Constable a friend to Tevye? What should people in power do to help the oppressed?

Anti-semitism is at the root of most conspiracy theories. How should Christians fight against this? 

Tevye wishes he could be a rich man; Golde wants her daughters out of poverty. Marxist Perchik thinks the rich are oppressors. How do these ideas conflict, and how could they agree?