Shalom My Gantseh Megillah Family and Friends,
 
This June, the Saidye Bronfman Center for the Arts in Montreal presented a production of Fiddler on the Roof entirely in Yiddish.  It was a wonderful and vibrant production directed with heartfelt intensity by Bryna Wasserman.  The show was dedicated to her mother, Dora Wasserman who was the founding director and in whose footsteps Bryna follows.  Dora passed away a few months ago, but she would have been enormously proud of her daughter and her inspired and talented cast.
 
I am intimately familiar with Fiddler.  Not only have I seen various productions of this show, but I toured in the role of Motel the tailor back in the late 1970s.  Watching this musical a few weeks ago, brought back many happy memories.

Our cast knew very little about Yiddishkeit.  Their exposure to Jewish customs and lifestyle was extremely limited.  I was the one and only Jew in the entire group.  My first task was getting everyone to stop referring to me as “Moe tell” as in Motel 6.  The big joke was that my name was in lights up and down the main boulevard in town.  This joke wore thin very quickly.
 
Over the weeks of rehearsal, the real magic of this play revealed itself.  The attitude and demeanor of the cast changed.  Slowly but surely, all of these non-Jewish actors developed the correct pronunciations, the right inflections, and mannerisms of the characters they portrayed.  A comfort level emerged with Jewish life that did not exist at the start of rehearsals.  Fiddler speaks in universal themes.  Every community desires to be understood, respected and treated fairly. 
 
The various roles reveal what it is like to be hated for no other reason than being different from the majority. The cast began to inhabit the colourful characters such as Tevye, Golde, the Rabbi, and Lazar Wolf, who are forced to endure tragedy and pain through no fault of their own while still maintaining a zest for life and hope for the future.
 
Pride, determination and courage emanate from these characters as they head off to begin their lives anew in some unknown and far away land.  They never lose faith in God or in their sense of family unity.  No amount of oppression or persecution shakes their beliefs.  This is expressed beautifully when one of the townspeople asks the rabbi as they are packing to leave their beloved shtetl of Anitevka, “Rabbi, our people have waited for so many years for the Messiah, wouldn’t this be a good time for him to come?”  And the wise rabbi responds, “I guess we will have to wait for him somewhere else.”  Never is there one word of doubt that the Messiah will come.  Never do their suffering and pain interfere with their faith or their unshakable belief in their destiny.
 
These lessons and concepts are universal, and although I was working with a troupe of gentiles, after the six weeks of rehearsal, the curtain rose on a cast that had absorbed Yiddishkeit into their beings.  On opening night, when the positive reviews came in, the entire cast shouted “Mazel Tov!”  It was a very proud moment.
 
Speaking of Yiddishkeit, I want to welcome a brand new member to our Megillah family of writers; Rabbi Dan Wiko.  Rabbi Dan will answer questions submitted by our readers every month in his Megillah column.  He will address issues of religious law and practice, as well as life decisions, personal or spiritual questions, or any other subject on which you seek his opinion or counsel.  Please address your email letters directly to the rabbi at rabbidan@pass.to or use the form under the Submit Question button.  We are delighted Rabbi Wiko has agreed to become the personal spiritual advisor for our Megillah family.
 
Have a wonderful July everyone, and see you all in August.
 
Much love to all of you,
Michael D. Fein