This humorous blessing for the Tsar (Nicholas II) is given in the voice of the Rebbe to Mendl in Fiddler on the Roof (1964), Joseph Stein’s musical theatre adaptation of Sholom Aleichem’s short stories Tevye (the Milkman) and His Daughters (1894-1914).

We are almost certain that the lines here, spoken near the end of the opening song “Tradition,” were written by Stein rather than by Sheldon Harnick, the lyricist for “Tradition.” Concerning the creation of “Tradition” Harnick explained, “All I remember is that it was difficult and also that I was nervous because I thought it’s endless; it’s too long. To me an opening number had to be snappy and get down to about three or four minutes, and of course I was terrified that the whole show was too long, and that it was going to be too serious and too Jewish and a disaster. But [the director/choreographer, Jerry] Robbins wasn’t worried about that. As the number was getting longer and longer, I suddenly realized I was watching a man literally mold a number out of pieces. Joe Stein would give him some dialogue—I guess I had written the lyrics already—but I think Jerry Bock had to keep supplying him with music, and it took shape like a piece of sculpture” (from Richard Altman & Mervyn Kaufman, The Making of a Musical: Fiddler on the Roof, 1971, p.31, emphasis mine). It’s possible, however, that the lines may have been adopted by Stein from an earlier source (perhaps even from a story by Sholom Aleichem). If you know, please leave a comment below or contact us.

From Stein and Harnick’s work, Shraga Friedman prepared a Yiddish translation for an Israeli production of the musical — פידלער אױפן דאך (Fiddler Oyfen Dakh, 1965). The text here is as copied from the scripts prepared by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (Yiddish | English). There are some differences in the text found in Yiddish and in the English script, with באַזונדערע missing in the former. There are also minor differences between the lines presented here and those read in the popular 1965 cast recording, with ‘Tsar’ replacing ‘Kaiser’ in both lines. In the 1971 film adaptation using the English script, the name of the questioner was changed from Mendl to Leibl.

We are grateful to Yoni Oppenheim (Artistic Director at 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company) for his research help with the Yiddish script.

Recordings

“אַ בְּרָכָה פֿאַרן קײסער | A Blessing for the Kaiser, from Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein – Yiddish translation by Shraga Friedman (1965)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project under their Fair Use Right (17 U.S. Code §107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use), in respect to the copyrighted material included. Any additional work that is not already in the Public Domain is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Shraga Friedman (Yiddish translation)

Shraga Friedman (February 25, 1924 – July 12, 1970) was an actor, writer, translator, and director for the stage, screen and radio.

Joseph Stein

Joseph Stein (May 30, 1912 – October 24, 2010) was an American playwright best known for writing the books for such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof and Zorba. Born in New York City to Jewish parents, Charles and Emma (Rosenblum) Stein, who had immigrated from Poland, Stein grew up in the Bronx. He graduated in 1935 from CCNY, with a B.S. degree, then earned a Master of Social Work degree from Columbia University in 1937. He began his career as a psychiatric social worker from 1939 until 1945, while writing comedy on the side. A chance encounter with Zero Mostel led him to start writing for radio personalities, including Henry Morgan, Hildegarde, Tallulah Bankhead, Phil Silvers, and Jackie Gleason. He later started working in television for Sid Caesar when he joined the writing team of Your Show of Shows that included Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Neil Simon.

Works of related interest:

 

הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | A Prayer for the Kaiser, Nikolai Ⅱ Alexanderovich (1889)

National Brotherhood Week, by Tom Lehrer (1965)

Day of God, Leopold Stein’s “O Tag des Herrn!” (1840) adapted from Frederick Lucian Hosmer’s translation (1904) as a hymn for Yom Kippur by Angie Irma Cohon (1921)

O Day of God, an English translation of Leopold Stein’s paraliturgical Kol Nidrei “O Tag des Herrn!” by Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1904)

ברכה לסבוב הסביבון | A Blessing for Dreidel Spinning, by Lieba B. Deutsch

ברכה למורים | Blessing for Teachers (Siddur Tefilat ha-Adam, Israeli Reform Movement 2020)

ברכה לעם עולם | Blessing for the Eternal People, by Yaacov Maoz (5781/2020)

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