| Summary: | Master teacher Ruth Wisse brings the stories of Tevye the Dairyman alive like never before. When Sholem Aleichem published the sixth of his Tevye stories, Jews in Eastern Europe were in dire straits. Violence against Jews was escalating, and pogroms led to a large, fleeing refugee population. During this time, 1906-1907, Jewish immigration from Russia to New York reached its peak, largely because of these worsening conditions. However, given the number of wealthy refugees coming through town, Tevye's business is booming. The story almost seems to have a happy start, despite its bleak setting, when Tevye meets a wealthy widow and her immature son, Arnold, known as Ahronchik. Tevye gives Ahronchik a talking-to about responsibility, one thing leads to another, and soon enough Ahronchik has come over and fallen in love with Tevye's daughter Shprintze.
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