Tevye the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories

by Sholem Aleichem

  193 Wailing Wall—The western wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the one remaining feature of the destroyed Temple and the holiest of Jewish shrines.

  194 Rachel’s Tomb—A small mausoleum near Bethlehem supposedly containing the grave of the matriarch Rachel, who died in childbirth, according to the Bible, on her way to that city. It is traditionally a place where Jews, particularly women, come to ask for their prayers to be granted.

  195 Cave of the Patriarchs—A structure in Hebron which is a shrine for Jews and Moslems. According to popular belief it houses the graves of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah.

  196 Kheyt shekhotosi lefonekho—“The sin that I have sinned before Thee.” A recurrent phrase in the confessional section of the Yom Kippur prayer.

  197 Vayisu vayakhanu.

  198 Im eyn ani li mi li—“He [Hillel the Elder] said, If I am not for myself, who will be? And if I am for myself what am I? And if not now, when?” The Ethics of the Fathers.

  199 Veyoda shor koyneyhu—“The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib.” Isaiah, 1:3. Tevye is punning here, as koyneyhu, “his owner,” can also mean “his buyer.”

  200 Zeh khelki mikoyl amoli—“And this was my portion of all my labor.” Ecclesiastes, 2:10.

  201 Each of the hundred-and-seven-and-twenty lands of King Ahasuerus—Esther, 1:1.

  202 Harey ani keven shivim shonoh.

  203 Shmo’eyni—“And Abraham … spoke unto Ephron, saying … I pray thee, hear me.” Genesis, 23:12–13.

  204 What Bible reading—The Pentateuch is traditionally divided into fifty-four weekly readings (there are occasional doublings), each chanted in the synagogue on one Sabbath of the year. Each reading is named for one or two of the words occurring in its first verse; thus the third reading in Genesis, which starts with Genesis, 12:1, is called Lekh-Lekho, “Get thee out.”

  205 Lekh-lekho … meyartsekho … umimoyladitkho … el ha’orets asher arekko—“And the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.” Genesis, 12:1.

  206 Al tashlikheynu le’eys ziknoh—“Cast us not away [O Lord] in our old age.” From the penitential and High Holy Day prayers.

  207 Al hatoyroh ve’al ha’avoydoh—“Simeon the just … said that the world rests on three things: on Torah and on work and on charity.” The Ethics of the Fathers. Tevye is being ironical, of course: the only “Torah” Motl knew was work itself.

  208 Vayomos Moysheh—“And Moses died.” Deuteronomy, 34:5.

  209 The battel prayer.

  210 Mekimi … mi’ofor dal.

  211 Oylim veyordim.

  212 Be’al korkhekho atoh khai.

  213 Nakhzor le’inyoneynu harishon—“Let us return to our original matter.” A rabbinic expression used to terminate a digression in a scholarly discussion.

  214 The story of the Amalekites—Exodus, 17.

  215 “Then came Amalek and fought with Israel.” Exodus, 17:8.

  216 Bo’u mayim ad nefesh.

  217 Ka’asher ohavti—“And Isaac … called Esau, his eldest son, and said unto him … make me savory meat, such as I love.” Genesis, 27:1,4. Tevye, however, means “such as you love.”

  218 Vayehi bimey Mendel Beilis—“And it came to pass in the days of Mendel Beilis.” On the Beilis case, see Introduction, this page.

  219 Zdrastvoytye—“Good day” in Russian.

  220 Tsoras rabbim khatsi nekhomoh—“The troubles of others are half a comfort [for one’s own].” A rabbinic proverb.

  221 Mah onu umeh khayeynu.

  222 Li hashomayim veli ha’orets—“The heavens are mine and the earth is mine.” Psalms, 89:12; there, though, it says, “The heavens are Thine and the earth is Thine too.”

  223 Lekh-lekho meyartsekho.

  224 El ha’orets asher arekko.

  225 Ad kan oymnm beshabbes hagodol.

  226 Kerakheym ov al bonim.

  227 Eyl erekh apoyim—A long-suffering God.

  228 Solakhti kidvorekho.

  229 Bonim uvney vonim—“Sons and sons of sons.” A rabbinic expression for “sons and grandsons.”

  230 Mi ke’amkho yisro’eyl goy ekhod—“And who in the whole earth is like the one nation, thy people Israel?” Samuel II, 7:23. A vintage Tevyism. Whereas in the Bible the word goy simply means “nation” and refers here to the Israelites themselves, Tevye construes it in the postbiblical sense of “Gentile” and ungrammatically but ingeniously reinterprets the verse to mean: how can even one goy (goy ekhod) be like a Jew (ke’amkho yisro’eyl)?

  231 Ashrekho yisro’eyl—“Happy art thou, 0 Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord?” Deuteronomy, 33:29.

  The Railroad Stories

  232 Places Jews are barred from—See this page–this page.

  233 “As much as a catcall on Purim bothers Haman”—On the holiday of Purim, when the Book of Esther is read in the synagogue, it is customary for the congregation to boo, stamp its feet, and jeer whenever the name of Haman is mentioned.

  234 Darovanomu konyu vzuby nye smotryat—Russian: “One doesn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

  235 Rashi.

  236 Vedno pana po kholavakh—Russian: “You can tell a squire by his boots.”

  237 Sukkos.

  238 Eating a chicken cooked in butter—Jewish dietary laws forbid the eating of meat and dairy products together.

  239 Going beardless or hatless—Not shaving one’s beard and keeping one’s head covered at all times are two of the hallmarks of the Orthodox Jew and (a litmus test mentioned more than once in The Railroad Stories) the chief signs by which he is immediately recognized as such by other Jews.

  240 Matsoh Fund—In the days before Passover it was customary in Jewish communities to collect money for the poor to enable them to buy matsos—the flat, unleavened bread eaten on the holiday—and other necessities.

  241 A lulav and esrog—The lulav, or palm shoot, and esrog, or citron, are both part of the Sukkos ritual. Since neither was grown in Russia, they had to be brought by special dealers from abroad.

  242 Chto nada—Russian: “Is there something [that you want]?”

  243 Chtotakoye, golubchik—Russian: “What is the matter, my pigeon?”

  244 Nichevo—Russian: “There’s no need.”

  245 Purishkevich—V. N. Purishkevich (1870–1920), leader of the anti-Semitic faction in the Duma, the Russian parliament, and founder of “the Black Hundreds” (see this page).

  246 Azef—Yevno Fishelevich Azef (1869–1918), a secret agent of the Russian police planted in the illegal Social-Revolutionary Party, where he rose to a top position while informing on its members and activities.

  247 Nikolai the First—Czar of Russia from 1825 to 1855.

  248 Blessing the New Moon—In accordance with the lunar nature of the Jewish calendar, it is customary among Orthodox Jews to hold a prayer for the new moon at the beginning of every month. The ceremony is held outdoors—where, the moon being young, there is little light in the absence of artificial illumination.

  249 Emigration Committee—An arm of the Jewish Colonization Association, an organization established by the Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch (1831–1896) for the purpose of encouraging Jewish rural settlement in Argentina.

  250 Yeshiva—An advanced school for Talmudic studies and the training of Orthodox rabbis.

  251 Hanukkah candles.

  252 Elul—The last month of the Hebrew year, occurring in late summer; it is followed by the month of Tishri with its High Holy Days. During Elul it is customary for observant Jews to rise each day before dawn for special penitential prayers in the synagogue and to visit the graves of loved ones.

  253 Artsybashev—See this page.

  254 Bohopoli, Heysen, etc.—Towns in the southern Ukraine, several hundred miles southwest of the Kiev (“Yehupetz”) region.

  255 Witte—Count Sergei Yulievich Witte, Russian s
tatesman and a rail-road engineer himself. He served as minister of communications in 1892.

  256 Poliakov—Lazarus Poliakov, a rich Russian Jewish banker who lived in Moscow.

  257 Hoshana Rabbah—See note to p. 67 on the Book of Life. 1861 Sukkos.

  258 Waved his palm branch

  259 It’s only half a holiday—The major Jewish holidays, such asSukkoth, are divided into yomim toyvim (singular, yom tov), days on which most of the restrictions in force on the Sabbath, including that on work and travel, apply, and khol hamo’ed, days on which they do not. Hoshana Rabbah is a khol hamo’ed day, but the following day, Shemini Atzeret, the Day of Solemn Assembly, is a yom tov. It is followed by Simchat Torah.

  260 The Book of Life.

  261 Simkhes Toyroh—The holiday of Simchat Torah, which celebrates the completion of the yearly cycle of Torah readings. It is a day on which there is much dancing, singing, and sometimes drinking, and is considered the merriest festivity of the Jewish year.

  262 A married woman’s hair—Among Orthodox Jews a married woman’s hair must be covered at all times. (Among the extreme Orthodox, it is commonly shaved before marriage, the bare scalp being covered by a kerchief or wig.)

  263 Put up his samovar on the Sabbath—Among the many Sabbath restrictions is one on lighting fires and cooking food.

  264 Tisha b’Av—A fast day, commemorating the destruction of the Temple, occurring in midsummer.

  265 Koshering his dishes for Passover—In accordance with the prohibition on keeping any leaven or leavened foods in the house during the eight days of Passover, observant Jews either change all their dishes for the holiday or else “kosher,” that is, ritually purify, the dishes they have been using.

  266 Tallis koton—A small, rectangular undergarment that slips over the head and has fringed tassles hanging from each of its four corners. It is worn at all times by observant male Jews, in obedience to the commandment, “And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying, Speak unto the Children of Israel and bid them that they make them fringes on the borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a riband of blue.” Numbers, 15:37.

  267 Tefillin—The phylacteries, or leather thongs, to which are attached small, hollow cubes containing verses written on parchment, that a Jew binds to his arm and forehead every morning when praying. This is in accordance with the biblical commandment, “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” Deuteronomy, 6:8.

  268 General Tolmachov—The governor of Odessa and a well-known and-Semite.

  269 Sixty-six—A two-handed card game belonging to the pinochle family. It is played with a 24-card deck, containing the ace, king, queen, jack, ten, and nine of each suit, and the cards rank in that order except for the ten, which is next-highest to the ace. Points are scored for king-queen melds or marriages (40 for a trump marriage, otherwise 20) and for tricks taken, and the first player to score 66 points wins the hand. If his opponent has over 33 points, the winner is awarded one “game-point”; under 33, two game-points; and none at all, three game-points. Seven game-points generally win a match.

  270 Tallis—The fringed prayer shawl worn by observant Jews during the morning prayer.

  271 Tefillin.

  272 Hanukkah.

  273 A two in arithmetic—In the Russian system, students were graded on a scale of one to five.

  274 Chto vam ugodno—Russian: “What is it that you want?”

  275 Gospodin Direktor, etc.—These words, spoken in broken Russian, are translated by the father himself in the lines that follow.

  276 Tak chto-zhe vam ugodno—Russian: “But what is it that you want?”

  277 A guaranteed … exemption—Only sons, according to Russian law, were automatically excused from the army.

  278 Itsik—An affectionate form of Yitzchok, the Hebrew for “Isaac.”

  279 Alter—When a child was seriously ill or otherwise feared for, it was the custom among East European Jews to change his name for good luck. Alter, which means “old one” in Yiddish, was one of the substitute names most frequently used, the belief being that it would throw the Angel of Death off the child’s tracks.

  280 Eisik—The Germanized form of “Isaac,” which also had currency among Yiddish-speaking Jews as a name.

  281 Government rabbi—As a way of tightening its control over the Jewish communities under its rule, which preferred to conduct their internal affairs with minimal recourse to civil authority, the Russian government enacted a law in 1857 requiring each community to employ a publicly licensed or “crown” rabbi, who was a graduate of a state-run rabbinical school. Such rabbis, who acted as go-betweens for the community and the government bureaucracy, were held in low esteem by the Jewish population, which made as little use of them as possible.

  282 Molodyets—Russian: “wonderful!”

  283 Stupaytye—Russian: “Get out of here!”

  284 Stupaytye, vi nodoyedli veyevrei—“Get out of here, you Jewish pest!”

  285 Baron de Hirsch.

  286 Amo pezizo—“The impulsive people.” A rabbinic epithet for the Jews, based on a traditional commentary on the Israelites’ answer to Moses when making ready to receive the Law at Mount Sinai (Exodus, 24:7), “We will obey it and hear it”—for, as the rabbis pointed out, “We will [first] hear it and [then, if it suits us] obey it,” would have been the more prudent response. On the narrator’s use of Hebrew quotations, see this page–this page.

  287 Oylom keminhogoy.

  288 Bekharbi uvekashti—“Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.” Genesis, 48:22.

  289 Kidibo’ey—“As is proper.” A common Talmudic term.

  290 Begapoy yovoy uvegapoy yeytsey.

  291 Al tehi boz lekhoyl bosor—“Show disdain for no man”; a misquotation from The Ethics of the Fathers, which has odom instead of bosor. Although bosor also means “man,” its primary meaning is “flesh” or “meat,” which may be why the narrator associates it with garlic. In any case, though, he clearly does not know what he is saying.

  292 Koyl yisro’el khaveyrim—“All Jews are brethren.” A rabbinic saying.

  293 Hamibli eyn kvorim bemitsrayim—“And they said unto Moses, Are there not enough graves in Egypt that thou hast taken us to die in the wilderness?” Exodus, 14:11.

  294 Tovar voborotye—Russian: “The merchandise is moving.”

  295 Ulai yerakheym—“Perhaps He will have mercy.” There seems to be no traditional source for this quote.

  296 Pshoyt neveyloh … ve’al titstoreykh—“[Better to] skin carcasses in the marketplace [for a living] rather than depend on others.” A Talmudic proverb.

  297 Koyl dikhfin yeysey veyitzrokh.

  298 Hekhiloysoh linpoyl … nofoyl tipoyl—“Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him [Haman], If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but thou shalt surely fall before him.” Esther, 6:13.

  299 Tallis kotons.

  300 Tomus nafshi im plishtim—“Let me die with the Philistines.” Judges, 16:30.

  301 Purishkevitch.

  302 A heder teacher—The heder was a schoolroom in which small children were taught beginning subjects, mostly religious ones.

  303 The Torah reader—Reading the weekly portion of the Torah in the synagogue is a highly specialized task, as the reader must know by heart the chant notes, vocalization, and punctuation of the text, none of which appear in the Torah scroll itself.

  304 Pravozshitelestvo, Gospodin Yevrei—Russian: “Your permit, Mr. Jew!”

  305 Khorosho, Gospodin Obradchik—“All right, Mr. Cleric.”

  306 Prayer group—Though any Jew can pray privately, ten male Jews (a minyan) are needed for public prayer to be held.

  307 Deathday—On the Hebrew anniversary, the yortsayt, as it is cal
led in Yiddish, of a family member’s death, a memorial candle is lit and the male survivors are expected to say the kaddish—which can only be recited in a minyan.

  308 Girded his waist—Extremely pious Jews belt their jackets at the waist when they pray, in order to symbolically divide the upper or “spiritual” part of themselves from the lower or “animal” part.

  309 Ashrey yoyshvey veysekho ….

  310 On the eighth day—The day of life on which, barring illness, all Jewish male children are circumcised. The circumcision too must be performed in the presence of a minyan.

  311 Sholem aleykhem—See this page–this page.

  312 After the candles had been lit—The lighting and blessing of the Sabbath candles on Friday evening marks the onset of the day of rest.

  313 Hallah—The braided bread that is blessed after the wine and the ritual washing of hands at the beginning of the Sabbath meal.

  314 But it was the holy Sabbath—Among the many acts prohibited on the Sabbath are lighting and extinguishing a fire. Jewish law, of course, permits the Sabbath to be violated when human life is endangered, but to a sufficiently pious Jew the mere burning down of his house does not fall into that category. Furthermore, though a non-Jew is allowed to put out the fire, the Jew must not openly request him to do so, for that too would be a violation of the Sabbath laws.

  315 Chvedka, serdtse—Russian: “dearest Chvedka.”

  316 Never before … had he been without a hat.

  317 Tefillin.

  318 Kiddush wine—The wine, generally sweet, that is blessed at the beginning of Sabbath and holiday meals.