Sholem Aleichem’s “Khave” as Story, Play, and Film

Among Sholem Aleichem’s many memorable characters, perhaps most enduring is Tevye the dairyman, the inspiration for the 1939 eponymous film by Maurice Schwartz and, of course, the musical Fiddler On the Roof. In these tales, Tevye finds himself caught between traditional Jewish values and modernity, exemplified in the dramatic story of his daughter Khave, who breaks custom when she takes an interest in a Christian man.
This course will engage with four source texts pertaining to Tevye and Khave: Sholem Aleichem’s original short story; the audio book recording of that story; the author’s own adaptation of the story into a four-act play; and Maurice Schwartz’s film adaptation.

Each class will focus on one short scene, comparing the story, play, and film versions. Students will engage in pre-viewing and pre-reading activities, guided interaction with a scene, and post-viewing or post-reading creative tasks. After actively reading or listening to and working with the dialogue in the scene itself, we will process what we have learned by sharing our opinions on the characters’ actions, speculating about alternative storylines, and comparing the cultural practices in the movie with our own cultural practices and perspectives.

Who should take this course?
This course is perfect for students at an intermediate high level of Yiddish who are interested in further strengthening their reading, listening, and conversational skills as well as increasing their Yiddish cultural competency. The significance of the Tevye stories and “Khave” in particular cannot be overstated—this deep dive into the story, play, and film will offer plenty of engaging topics of conversation resulting in a more nuanced understanding of Yiddish culture and increased confidence in conversing in Yiddish.

Prerequisites:
Conversational vocabulary; ability to narrate and describe events in the present, past, and future; ability to understand language about familiar or everyday topics; ability to understand short, non-complex texts that convey basic information and deal with personal and social topics.

Materials: Materials for this level are provided by the instructor.

Instructor:This course is taught by Asya Vaisman Schulman, Director of the Yiddish Book Center's Yiddish Language Institute and lead author of In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook. Learn more about Asya here.

Please note that there is a discounted rate for Yiddish Book Center members. If you are a member, please select the member rate. If you are not a member, please select the nonmember rate, or join or renew your membership before registering for YiddishSchool.