Golde
A Fiddler on the Roof story. Because I love it.
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She watched Tzeitel and Motel, two young birds growing up. Tzeitel, her own bird, her oldest daughter, her beautiful child, and Motel, the quiet, the shy boy, stealing her daughter's heart.
And she his.
And they were happy, together, happy as two children can be, happy as they can be when growing up in their shtetl, their home Anatevka.
Maybe Tzeitel grew up in poverty, in the woes of the moment, but she had a clear head and an eager heart. She had no doubt her Tzeiteleh would make it, and if it were with a poor tailor, so would it be. They would know happiness.
The new ways of the youth were a mystery to her at times, and at other times, she wondered if she would have preferred it that way, too. Would it have made any difference? Would she have chosen Tevye still?
After 25 years of marriage they could still work together as a couple. He was not that bad a husband. He did his chores, loved his children and said his prayers. A good man.
Hodel, her beautiful Hodel… She had always known Hodel was not one to stay in Anatevka. Her fate lay beyond, wherever destiny would lead her. Quiet, thoughtful Hodeleh, with a mind of her own and a tongue to explain it. Tevye had said she had his wit, and her tongue, and she thought it was a good combination.
Hodel and Perchik… Perchik was a strange man, a man with new traditions to start, but not a bad man. Idealistic, surely, in a world she doubted could ever change the way he wanted it to, but was that a bad thing?
Tevye seemed to think it did, but eventually accepted it. For Hodel? She would never know.
And Chava… her delicate flower, her cheerful caretaker, always with a smile… Chava who had changed her family so much, maybe without even knowing it. Her little Chaveleh, brave enough to leave and follow her heart with Fyedka… A man who seemed decent, a change from the normal Russian, a good man. Chava could have done worse…
What was in store for Shprintze and Bielke? What was God's plan for them? She could not tell yet, but if they followed their sister's path, she knew it would be a turbulent path.
In America… Far away from this little shtetl where she'd grown up, where her parents and grandparents had grown up, where she had loved and lost, given birth and seen death, suffered happiness and sadness. In her heart she already ached for Anatevka's fate. What would become of their homes? How long would anyone remember them?
America. The future, leaving Hodel and Perchik in Siberia, leaving Chava and Fyedka in Cracow, leaving them somewhere only God knew.
The future.
--
She watched Tzeitel and Motel, two young birds growing up. Tzeitel, her own bird, her oldest daughter, her beautiful child, and Motel, the quiet, the shy boy, stealing her daughter's heart.
And she his.
And they were happy, together, happy as two children can be, happy as they can be when growing up in their shtetl, their home Anatevka.
Maybe Tzeitel grew up in poverty, in the woes of the moment, but she had a clear head and an eager heart. She had no doubt her Tzeiteleh would make it, and if it were with a poor tailor, so would it be. They would know happiness.
The new ways of the youth were a mystery to her at times, and at other times, she wondered if she would have preferred it that way, too. Would it have made any difference? Would she have chosen Tevye still?
After 25 years of marriage they could still work together as a couple. He was not that bad a husband. He did his chores, loved his children and said his prayers. A good man.
Hodel, her beautiful Hodel… She had always known Hodel was not one to stay in Anatevka. Her fate lay beyond, wherever destiny would lead her. Quiet, thoughtful Hodeleh, with a mind of her own and a tongue to explain it. Tevye had said she had his wit, and her tongue, and she thought it was a good combination.
Hodel and Perchik… Perchik was a strange man, a man with new traditions to start, but not a bad man. Idealistic, surely, in a world she doubted could ever change the way he wanted it to, but was that a bad thing?
Tevye seemed to think it did, but eventually accepted it. For Hodel? She would never know.
And Chava… her delicate flower, her cheerful caretaker, always with a smile… Chava who had changed her family so much, maybe without even knowing it. Her little Chaveleh, brave enough to leave and follow her heart with Fyedka… A man who seemed decent, a change from the normal Russian, a good man. Chava could have done worse…
What was in store for Shprintze and Bielke? What was God's plan for them? She could not tell yet, but if they followed their sister's path, she knew it would be a turbulent path.
In America… Far away from this little shtetl where she'd grown up, where her parents and grandparents had grown up, where she had loved and lost, given birth and seen death, suffered happiness and sadness. In her heart she already ached for Anatevka's fate. What would become of their homes? How long would anyone remember them?
America. The future, leaving Hodel and Perchik in Siberia, leaving Chava and Fyedka in Cracow, leaving them somewhere only God knew.
The future.