Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories Read online

  76 Solakhti kidvorekho—“And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word.” Numbers, 14:20.

  77 Vehashtiyoh kedos—“And the king made a feast … and the drinking was according to custom” Esther, 1:5,8.

  78 Borukh shelo osoni ishoh—“Blessed be [God] that hath not made me a woman”; a blessing in the morning prayer, recited by males.

  79 Bonim gidalti veroymamti

  80 Veheym poshu vi—“And they have rebelled against me.” See note to this page on bonim gidalti veroymamti. Here Tevye supplies the second half of the verse that he omitted at the beginning of the story.

  81 Odomyesoydoy mi’ofor vesoyfoy le’ofor. Tevye completes the quote here by adding the words vesoyfoy le’ofor—“and dust is all that remains of him.”

  82 Kabdeyhu vekhoshdeyhu—A rabbinic adage meaning literally, “Respect him and suspect him,” i.e., some people must never be trusted even though you honor them.

  83 Haneshomoh lokh vehaguf shelokh.

  84 Kitoyvas mar’eh hi—“For she was fair to look on.” Esther, 1:11.

  85 Kulonu khakhomim, kulonu nevoynim—“And even though we allarewue, we all are learned, we all are versed in the Torah, we are commanded to recite the story of the exodus from Egypt.” From the Passover Haggadah.

  86 Al tishlakh yodkho—“And he said, lay not thine hand upon the lad.” Genesis, 22:12 (see Introduction, this page).

  87 Vesomakhto bekhagekho—“Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days … and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast.” Deuteronomy, 16:13–14.

  88 Vayehi hayoym.

  89 “Help the jackass of your neighbor”—“If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden … thou shalt surely help him.” Exodus, 23:5.

  90 Vaya’as eloyhim—“And God made … every thing that creepeth on the earth.” Genesis, 1:25.

  91 Kulom ahuvim, kulom brurim.

  92 Bekhoyl levovkho uvekhoyl nafshekho—“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Deuteronomy, 6:5.

  93 Vehayeled eynenu—See note this page.

  94 Vayehi erev vayehi voyker—“And there was morning and there was evening.” Genesis, 1:5 and passim.

  95 Revakh vehatsoloh ya’amoyd layehudim mimokoym akher—See note to this page. Here Tevye completes the verse by adding mimokoym akher, “from another place.”

  96 Akudim nekudim uvrudim.

  97 Yo’oh aniyuso leyisro’eyl—“Poverty is becoming to Israel.” The Talmudic adage implies that God gave the Jews poverty as a gift because it is spiritually good for them, but Tevye reverses its meaning.

  98 Im eyn kemakh eyn Toyroh.

  99 Loy bashomayim veloy ba’orets—“Not in heaven or on earth.” While the phrase bashomayim uva’orets, “in heaven and on earth,” occurs in the Bible and other Jewish sources, its formulation in the negative is Tevye’s own.

  100 Bo’u mayim ad nefesh—“Save me, my God, for the waters are come in unto my soul.” Psalms, 69:1.

  101 Ohavti es adoyni es ishti—“I love my master, my wife.” Exodus, 21:5.

  102 Eyn Esther magedes—“And Esther spoke not of her nativity or her people.” Esther, 2:20.

  103 Eyn koyl ve’eyn kosef—Tevye is thinking of the verse in Kings I, 18:29, “And it came to pass, when midday was past, they [the priests of the Baal] prophesied until the time of the evening sacrifice; yet there was neither voice … nor any heed [e’eyn koyl … ve’eyn koshev]”—but, whether intentionally or not, he has confused the word koshev, “heed,” with kosef, “money,” so that he ends up by saying. “There was neither voice nor money.”

  104 Kerakheym ov al bonim—“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” Psalms, 103:13.

  105 High Holy Days—The solemn holidays of Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which occur ten days apart in early autumn.

  106 Sukkos—The seven-day holiday of Sukkoth or the Feast of Tabernacles, occurring five days after Yom Kippur, during which observant Jews eat and sometimes sleep in a sukkah, a thatch-covered hut or booth erected especially for the festivity.

  107 Atoh … veshorkho … vekhamorkho—“But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: on it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.” Deuteronomy, 5:14. Taking advantage of the fact that the verse fails to mention one’s wife, Tevye parses veshorkho, “thy ox,” to mean “thy wife”—and since the verse makes no mention of horses either, he interprets vekhamorkho, “and thy ass,” to refer to his nag.

  108 Al keyn ya’azoyv ish es oviv ve’es imoy—“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife.” Genesis, 2:24.

  109 Lomoh rogshu—“Why do the heathen rage?” Psalms, 2:1.

  110 The Book of Life—The divine register in which, according to both rabbinic tradition and popular Jewish belief, God annually inscribes the fate of every individual. The predestined year is said to run from one Yom Kippur to the next, the ten-day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur being set aside for entering the next year’s fates, which can still be changed for the better by penitence and good works. At the end of Yom Kippur God’s decision is stamped and sealed—yet the Book of Life is left open for last-minute changes until Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of Sukkoth, thus creating a grace period of several additional days in which one can still ward off a cruel destiny. It is only on Hoshana Rabbah that the Book is shut irrevocably for the year; hence the custom referred to by Tevye of staying up all night in prayer and study on Hoshana Rabbah eve.

  111 Hoydu lashem ki toyv—“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.” Psalms, 136:1.

  112 Tsa’ar gidul bonim—“The sorrows of child raising.” A rabbinic expression.

  113 Ad kan hakofoh alef—“That’s the end of the first hakofoh.” A hakofoh is a circling of the synagogue with the Torah scrolls on the holiday of Simkhat Torah, the Rejoicing of the Law. Seven such rounds, accompanied by singing and dancing, take place. At the end of each the sexton announces, “That’s the end of the ——hakofoh,” and the Torah scrolls change hands for the next round.

  114 Eyl rakhum vekhanun—“And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.” Exodus, 34:6.

  115 Hamekhaseh am mey’Avrohom—“And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” Genesis, 18:17.

  116 Rotsoh hakodoysh borukh hu lezakoys—“Rabbi Hananiah ben Akashya said, The Holy One Blessed Be He wished to bestow merit upon Israel and so He gave them many laws and commandments.” From The Ethics of the Fathers.

  117 Midrash—See this page.

  118 Gorky—Maxim Gorky (1868–1936), Russian writer and revolutionary supporter. Gorky, who burst spectacularly on the Russian literary scene in the 1890s with his stories about the Russian lower classes, was especially popular with young Jewish readers because of his outspoken opposition to anti-Semitism and his sympathy for the Jewish victims of Czarist persecution.

  119 Yegia kapekho ki toykhal—“For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands.” Psalms, 128:2.

  120 Meyayin boso ule’on atoh hoyleykh—“Akavia ben Mehalelel said, Keep in mind three things and you will not fall into sin: know whence you come, and whither you go, and to Whom you will owe an accounting.” From The Ethics of the Fathers.

  121 Ish kematnas yodoy—“Every man as he is able.” Deuteronomy, 16:17.

  122 Hanoyseyn lasekhvi binoh—“Blessed art Thou, O Lord God, King of the Universe, Who giveth the rooster knowledge to tell the dawn from the night.” From the opening blessings of the daily morning prayer.

  123 Shivoh dvorim bagoylem—“The fool has seven traits and so does the wise man: the wise man does not speak to his superior
in knowledge without being spoken to, and does not interrupt his companion, and does not answer rashly, and replies to the point, and puts first things first and last things last, and says ‘I do not know’ when he does not know, and always admits to the truth; and the fool does just the opposite.” From The Ethics of the Fathers.

  124 Holakh Moyshe-Mordekhai—“Off went Moyshe-Mordekhai”; a parodistic pseudo-verse.

  125 Ma pishi uma khatosi—“And Jacob answered and said to Laban, what is my trespass? What is my sin?” Genesis, 31:36.

  126 Mah onu umeh khayeynu—“What are we and what is our life?” From the morning prayer.

  127 Kerakheym ov al bonim.

  128 Al tiftakh peh lasoton—“Do not open your mouth to the Devil.” A rabbinic proverb meaning, Do not speak of what you do not wish to happen, lest the evil eye bring it to pass.

  129 “And against the Children of Israel not a dog stuck out its tongue.” Exodus, 11:17.

  130 The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

  131 Loy omus ki ekhyeh—“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Psalms, 118:17.

  132 Be’al korkhekho atoh khai.

  133 Odom kiveheymoh nidmeh—“Man … that understandeth not is like the beasts that perish.” Psalms, 49:20.

  134 Oylom keminhogoy noyheyg—“The world goes on its accustomed course.” A rabbinic saying.

  135 Al tistakeyl bakankan—“Rabbi [Yehuda Hanasi] said, Look not at the storage jar but at what it stores.” From The Ethics of the Fathers.

  136 Kerakheym ov al bonim.

  137 The ashrey—The opening section of the afternoon prayer, which begins with the verse, Ashrey yoyshvey veysekho, oyd yehalelukho seloh, “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will still be praising Thee, Selah.” Psalms, 84:5.

  138 The shimenesre

  139 Ish lefo’aloy ve’odom le’avoydosoy—“Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor.” Psalms, 104:23.

  140 Ad kan oymrim beshabbes hagodol—“Thus far one says on the Great Sabbath.” On the Sabbath before Passover, “the Great Sabbath,” as it is called, it is customary to recite the opening section of the Haggadah. At the end of this section, therefore, many Haggadahs bear the notation “Thus far one says on the Great Sabbath,” in order to indicate where to stop.

  141 Vayishkokheyhu—“And the chief butler did not remember Joseph. And he forgot him.” Genesis, 40:23.

  142 Pogroms in Kishinev—See this page.

  143 The new Constantution—Tevye is referring to the Constitution of 1905 (see this page), but mispronounces the Russian word. And Sholem Aleichem has made a mistake of his own here, too: since “Hodl” was published in 1904, “Chava” in 1905, and “Shprintze” in 1907, it is inaccurate for Tevye to say in “Shprintze” that the two of them have not met since the time before the 1903 Kishinev pogroms.

  144 Harey ani keven shivim shonoh—“Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said, ’Lo, I am nearly seventy years old, and never did I know that one is obliged to mention the exodus at night until I heard it from ben Zoma.” From the Passover Haggadah.

  145 Be’al korkhekho atoh khai.

  146 Rotsoh hakodoysh borukh hu lezakoys.

  147 Borukh merakheym al ha’orets—“Blessed is He Who hath mercy upon the earth.” From the prayer book.

  148 Vayisu vayakhanu, vayakhanu vayisu—“And they journeyed and they camped, and they camped and they journeyed.” This is not an actual verse but rather Tevye’s version of the Biblical account of the wanderings of the Children of Israel in the desert, with its of trepeated formula of “And the Children of Israel journeyed from—and camped in——.”

  149 Vayehi hayoym.

  150 Shavuos. It was traditional among East European Jews to eat dairy foods on Shavuos, unlike other holidays, when meat (if affordable) was the preferred main course.

  151 Lo blintzu avoyseynu bemitsrayim—Tevye has creatively taken the Biblical verse (Numbers, 10:5), “We remember the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic which we did eat in Egypt,” made a Hebrew verb out of the Yiddish word blintz, and said quite Biblically to Ahronchik, “My wife will serve you such blintzes fit for princes as our forefathers never blintzed in Egypt.”

  152 Kesef vezohov ma’asey yedey odom—“The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.”—Psalms, 115:4.

  153 Hashomayim shomayim ladoynai.

  154 A Jew doesn’t ride on Shavuos—Among the activities that are prohibited to observant Jews on Sabbaths and most major holidays is traveling in any form except by foot.

  155 Hashleykh al hashem—“Cast upon the Lord thy burden.” Psalms, 55:22.

  156 Vayehi erev vayehi voyker.

  157 “The wise man has eyes in his head.” Ecclesiastes, 2:14.

  158 Holakh Moyshe-Mordekhai.

  159 Raboys makhshovoys belev ish—“Many are the thoughts in a man’s heart but the counsel of the Lord shall prevail.” Proverbs, 19:21.

  160 Keshoyshanoh beyn hakhoykhim—“As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” Song of Songs, 2:2.

  161 Sheli shelkho and shelkho sheli—“What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.” Tevye is alluding to the saying in The Ethics of the Fathers that goes, “There are four kinds of men. [He who says,] ‘What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours’ is the average man … [He who says,] ‘What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours’ is the artless man. [He who says,] ‘What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is yours’ is the righteous man. [He who says,] What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine’ is the wicked man.”

  162 There’s a time for everything, as King Solomon once said—“To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose.” Ecclesiastes, 3:1.

  163 My tongue clove to my mouth, as the Bible says—“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my tongue cleave to my mouth.” Psalms, 137:5.

  164 Koyl zman shehaneshomoh bekirbi—“As long as the soul is in me, I shall thank Thee, O God and God of my fathers.” From the daily morning prayer.

  165 Two mountains never meet …—A rabbinic proverb.

  166 Al tistakeyl bakankan.

  167 Im kevonim im ka’avodim—“Judge us whether as [Thy] sons or as [Thy] servants: if as sons, pity us as a father pities his sons; and if as servants, our eyes are cast to Thy mercy.” From the Rosh Hashanah service. Tevye first wrenches the phrase out of its religious context and then, in his next sentence, restores it there.

  168 Ki zeh koyl ha’odom—“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for that is the whole of man.” Ecclesiastes, 12:13.

  169 Mah onu umeh khayeynu.

  170 I hired a Jew to say the mourner’s prayer—During the year following a death in his immediate family, a male Jew is required to recite the kaddish, the mourner’s prayer, several times daily in the synagogue. (The kaddish is one of the few prayers that cannot be said in solitude.) Since there is no synagogue in Tevye’s village and a daily trip to Boiberik or Yehupetz is impractical, he has no choice but to pay someone else to say the prayer for him—a common practice in such circumstances.

  171 Charm is a liar and Beauty a cheat—“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” Proverbs, 31:30.

  172 Makdim rakhamim leroygez—“For all men believe that He is slow to anger: the Merciful One Whose pity comes before His wrath.” From the High Holy Day service.

  173 Vayehi hayoym.

  174 The name rings a bell from the Bible—Tevye is thinking of Gamliel the son of Pedahtsur, the head of the tribe of Menasheh. (Numbers, 2:20.)

  175 Lanokhri toshikh—“Unto a stranger [Gentile] thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother [Israelite] thou shalt not.” Deuteronomy, 23:20. The Bible permits the Israelite to lend money at interest only to the non-Israelite, since to his brother he is commanded to lend it free; Tevye, however, humorously construes “usury” to mean br
ibery.

  176 Lay orkhu hayomim—“Before many days went by.” A pseudo-verse: the phrase orkhu hayomim, “the days went by,” occurs in the Bible, but not in the negative.

  177 Holakh Moyshe-Mordekhai.

  178 Vayeyleykh khoronoh—“And he [Jacob] went to Haran.” Genesis, 28:10.

  179 Mah zeh ve’al mah zeh—“Then Esther called for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains … and gave him a commandment to Mordecai to know what it was and why it was.” Esther, 4:5. Here Tevye makes a question of it, i.e., what’s the point of it all?

  180 Lehoyshivi im nedivim—“He raiseth the poor man up out of the dust … that He may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.” Psalms, 113:7–8.

  181 Royv godloy veroyv oshroy—“The multitude of his riches and wealth.” Tevye is misquoting, apparently unintentionally: the verse he has in mind (Esther, 5:11) reads, “And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him [gidloy; Tevye reads it godloy—“his wealth”].”

  182 Lomoh zeh anoykhi—“And she [Rebecca] said, If it be so, why am I thus?” Genesis, 25:22.

  183 Mah yoym miyomim—“What is [different about] this day among days?” A rabbinic expression.

  184 Mekimi mi’ofor dal—“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust …” Psalms, 113:7. From the hallel prayer.

  185 Meyashpoys yorim evyoyn—“ … And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill.” Psalms, 113:7.

  186 Shloyshoh she’okhlu—“Rabbi Simeon says, Three men who eat together at the same table and speak no words of Torah may as well have eaten the flesh of a pagan sacrifice.” The Ethics of the Fathers.

  187 “A righteous man knows the soul of his beast.” Proverbs, 12:10.

  188 Marbeh nekhosim marbeh da’ogoh—“He [Hillel the Elder] used to say, Much meat, many worms, much possessions, many worries.” The Ethics of the Fathers.

  189 Loy dubim veloy ya’ar.

  190 Holakh le’oylomoy—“He has gone to his world.” A rabbinic euphemism for saying someone has died.

  191 What Onkelos has to say in his Targum.

  192 Miznavto dekhazirto loy makhtmen shtreimilto—A comic concoction of Aramaic and Yiddish meaning, as Tevye tells Podhotzur, that one cannot make a shtreimel, a Hasidic round fur hat, out of the tail of a pig.