Tevye
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Tevye is the protagonist of several of Sholom Aleichem's stories, originally written in Yiddish, most famously the fictional memoir Tevye and his Daughters, about a pious Jewish milkman in Tzarist Russia, and the troubles he has with his daughters (Tevye has six daughters — in the first story there is also mention of a seventh daughter. The six daughters are: Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze, Beilke and Teibel.). The story was adapted for stage and film several times, including several Yiddish-language musicals. Most famously, it was adapted as the Broadway musical and later film Fiddler on the Roof (but in the famous 1971 adaptation starring Topol, Tevye has only five daughters).
Tevye himself is both a tragic and a comic figure. By the end of each story, he has always experienced a mix of good and bad fortune. In good times he befriends the same gentile neighbors who assail him in bad times. Barely in the middle class himself, he is often mildly disdainful of those with a lesser social position. He sees himself through hard times by a quiet resignation and by recalling Talmudic or biblical quotations, usually rather garbled, and he is always true to his generous heart, even when reason tells him to do otherwise.
Tevye is also the name of a 1939 film adaptation of Sholom Aleichem's story (also known as Tevya and Tevye der Milkhiker, and Tevye the Milkman). It stars Maurice Schwartz, Miriam Riselle, Rebecca Weintraub, Paula Lubelski, Leon Liebgold, Vicki Marcus, Betty Marcus and Julius Adler. The movie was adapted by Marcy Klauber and Schwartz from the Sholom Aleichem play based on his own book. Schwartz also directed the film. The production is in Yiddish. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
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References
- Liptzin, Sol, A History of Yiddish Literature, Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, ISBN 0-8246-0124-6. 68-70.he:טוביה החולב