12.02.07
Spinster on the Roof ^_^
- Matchmaker
The daughters, the daughters! A
matchmaker was fundamental for them so they could “settle down” and escape the
fate of being branded a worthless woman… and how accomplished a young
woman would be if her match were a wealthy man! Love was not an issue in their marriages, social and material comfort was.
Jewish tradition? No. There are subtle traces of that mentality even in our culture… even in well-meaning friends. Truth be told, the Jews were meritable for not concealing such intentions.
Darling
matchmakers in my life, I have enough comfort right here at home with
my family, and if love (or a perfect match to be more precise) were to
find me, do you think love would need a matchmaker? One of you might be an instrument though… but come to think of it… love… this is the most powerful force we are talking about. We need not worry about finding “him” too late lest I become “worthless,” and some of us need not be so picky when it comes to what a man has to offer… after all, it’s not for us to pick, but for love to pick me.
(yeah, yeah… I know… that’s only what spinsters say. =P)
- If I Were A Rich Man
…the line immediately reminds us of a man complaining about his pennilessness, but let us take a deeper look.
“I see my wife, my Golde,
looking like a rich man’s wife
With a proper double-chin.
Supervising meals to her heart’s delight.
I see her putting on airs
and strutting like a peacock.
Oy, what a happy mood she’s in.
Screaming at the servants, day and night…
The most important men in town
would come to fawn on me!
They would ask me to advise them…
And it won’t make one bit of difference
if I answer right or wrong.
When you’re rich, they think you really know!”
Yes, yes, that’s right. We failed to notice the satire there before. Rest assured I have nothing against the rich. In fact, I have good-hearted and generous wealthy friends… but you see… Daidle, deedle, daidle, digguh, digguh, deedle, daidle dum…
- Miracle of Miracles
Divine victory of love against tradition and convention!
“When David slew Goliath, that was a miracle.
When God gave us manna in the wilderness, that was a miracle too.
But of all God’s miracles large and small,
The most miraculous one of all
Is the one I thought could never be:
God has given you to me.”
Hmmm… I wouldn’t also mind being someone’s miracle, especially when it is in accordance to a divine plan. Rich or poor, we are all entitled to some happiness.
- Sunrise, Sunset
Swiftly, fly the years… but I know there’s a canopy in store for me.
- Do You Love Me?
After 25 years of being married, Tevye and Golde awkwardly confess their love for each other… I “suppose” they did. Hehehe
Having
parents who are terribly sweet as a couple, this certain song strikes
me uneasily, realizing that there are really people who spend their
whole lives in relationships without even considering love as a
priority.
- Far From the Home I Love
Ahh… my favorite Fiddler song. Despite
my incomparable relationship with Mama, I must admit that I’m a daddy’s
girl. (Well, I should be. I’m his only daughter. =P) That’s why this
song touches me as the lyrics says it all for a daughter when the time
comes that she should tell her father she has to leave as she chooses
to be with the man she loves despite sacrificing the comforts of home.
How can I hope to make you understand
Why I do what I do,
Why I must travel to a distant land,
Far from the home I love.
Once I was happily content to be
As I was, where I was,
Close to the people who are close to me,
Here in the home I love.
Who could see that a man could come
Who would change the shape of my dreams.
Helpless now I stand with him,
Watching older dreams grow dim.
Oh, what a melancholy choice this is,
Wanting home, wanting him,
Closing my heart to ev’ry hope but his,
Leaving the home I love,
There where my heart has settled long ago
I must go, I must go, I must go,
Who could imagine I’d be wand’ring so
Far from the home I love
Yet there with my love, I’m home.
