7
votes
Accepted
Fiddler on The Roof -- Sabbath Prayer -- Authenticity, History, Story behind it
As @ezra commented, the song and lyrics were composed for the musical.
The concept of blessing the children on Friday night is an ancient custom in some families/communities (the earliest written ...
- 11.2k
4
votes
Candle processions in Fiddler on the Roof and Yentl weddings
Although my strong hunch is that Fiddler on the Roof (1971) "set the stage" for dramatic weddings directed by Jews (Yentl was produced for film in 1983 and Cabaret was in 1972), where a small village ...
- 14.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Is taarof allowed?
Welcome to complex Middle Eastern cultures!
Shulchan Aruch says almost this verbatim if you're asked to be chazan -- you're supposed to decline the first two times, then only take them up on the third ...
- 136k
3
votes
Accepted
Taking advantage of cultural customs: Stealing or not?
In general, the concept of דברים שבלב אינם דברים (see Kiddushin 48b) dictates that if one verbally expresses his participation in a legal or halachic process, it is legally binding even if one didn't ...
- 11.2k
2
votes
Candle processions in Fiddler on the Roof and Yentl weddings
There is such a custom brought in the Chiddusei HaRan. The Gemara in Sanhedrin 32b writes that if one sees light of a candle in Beror Chayil (name of a town) it is like they are proclaiming "a party ...
- 42.7k
1
vote
Candle processions in Fiddler on the Roof and Yentl weddings
Maybe a very old custom already mentioned in the Aruch of ten torches with some light changes.
See Sefer Haaruch here for the word לפד
יש מנהג בארץ ישמעאל שמוליכין הכלה מבית אביה לבית בעלה בלילה קודם ...
- 23.1k
1
vote
Source for quote - "Wherever you look there’s something to be seen"
If we assume this isn’t a Talmudic quote, but a Jewish one:
במקום אשר ישים האדם נפשו שם ימצאנה
Quoted in Otzar Hameshalim 1270, from פניני המליצות, ה
——
This is the parallel I saw:
Wherever you ...
- 730
1
vote
Is the profession of selling interview recordings, as depicted on Shtisel, ethical?
As usual, we mess with two different angles here:
Monetary wise:
if there's a written contract covering the rights on the tape and its content, the inheritors can claim nothing against. One can ...
- 28k
1
vote
Accepted
What's up with answering questions with questions in this joke from Family Guy?
@BCLC I suggest that the better source than the Jews Love Questions article is Leo Rosten's wonderful The Joys of Yiddish in which he "not only confirmed this syntax as a specifically Jewish ...
- 2,308
1
vote
Meaning of "bidi-bidi-bum"
Theory: Simply imitative of or resembling the (nonsense?) sound "Ciri-biri-bom" from the 1960 Yiddish play and song. (C as in Charlie)
Which is in turn imitative of or resembling "...
- 2,078
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