I hope you don't mind my asking such a trivial question, but I am currently in a community theater production of "Fiddler on the Roof." There is a line in the play spoken by oft-Torah-quoting Tevye: "Somewhere in the Torah there is SOMETHING about a chicken". IS there?

Paulette,

If I remember the movie correctly, he refers to what he calls "The Good Book"... In the Sholem-Aleichem's book, "Tevye the Dairyman", he simply quotes in Hebrew and then goes back to Yiddish, without telling if it is from Torah, or Talmud, or anywhere else.

This line, though, as everything ever written by Sholem-Aleichem, goes a lot deeper than a normal comedic line. It reflects Tevye's faith. There is a wonderful commentary to the latest English translation of "Tevye the Dairyman", and the book will make you laugh and cry at the same time! No other writer can ever make me do that.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Alex,

What is the NAME of the "wonderful commentary"???

If the line is a commentary about Tevye's faith, is it supposed to mean that Tevye is so sure that G-d knows everything and has thought about every aspect of our lives that he must surely have written in the Good Book about everything, chickens included? That makes sense, although the way the line comes out in the play, it sounds like he has a recollection of an actual Torah passage about a chicken. (And you're right, he does say "The Good Book.")

At any rate, my challenge is still out there! Alex or anyone: Do you know of a place in "the Good Book" that talks about chickens?

quote:

What is the NAME of the "wonderful commentary"???

Sorry: I did not have the book at hand when I was writing the answer. The book is titled, "Tevye the Dairymand and the Railroad Stories" translated and with an intorduction by Hillel Halkin; Schocken Books, New York. ISBN 0-8052-1069-5 (you can order a book by its ISBN on amazon). The "wonderful commentary" I was referring to is the introduction.

Click here forAmazon

Below are several references to a chicken / hen / chicken coop from the Talmud, along with links to find the text.


Tractate Shabbat Chapter 22: Regulations concerning preparation of ...... but the rabbis made this a precaution on account of chicken-coops, ... a hole in a chicken-coop, lest an ichneumon should enter and kill a chicken. ...
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ jsource/Talmud/shabbat22.html


Tractate Shabbat Chapter 17: Regulations concerning the handling ...... The (door of a chicken-coop (which is built in the ground) must not be removed nor replaced on the Sabbath." It may be right to prohibit the removing or ...
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ jsource/Talmud/shabbat17.html


Tractate Beitzah (Yom Tov) Chapter 1: Regulations concerning ...... This is necessary to the following Halakha: R. Mari the son of R. Cahana says: One who has searched a chicken-coop on the eve of a festival at twilight, ...
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ jsource/Talmud/beitza1.html


Tractate Shabbat Chapter 12: Regulations concerning building ...... The same difference of opinion exists between Rabh and Samuel in the case of one who bores a hole in a chicken-coop that was not previously perforated. ...
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ jsource/Talmud/shabbat12.html


Tractate Avoda Zara Chapter 1: Rules and regulations concerning ...... But I punished them as the picking of a chicken. And according to others: "Even if Israel do but small good deeds, as the picking of chickens in the ...
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ jsource/Talmud/avodazara1.html


Tractate Pesachim Chapter I: Regulations concerning the removal of ...... the roof of a tower, a stable of oxen, a chicken-coop, a straw-shed, and the cellars where wine or oil is kept need not be searched. ...
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ jsource/Talmud/pesach1.html


Bava Batra Chapter 1: Rules and regulations concerning houses ...... questioned R. Jannai: Has a chicken-coop a right to four ells, or not? ... and here he can load and unload through the roof of the chicken-coop. ...
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ jsource/Talmud/bavabatra1.html



Keep in mind that - in Sholom Aleichem's original stories and in the musical - Tevye is not portraying a Torah scholar.

Rabbi Yonassan Gershom covers this better, in his "User-friendly FAQ on Hasidism."

"Tevye is the Jewish version of the somewhat bumbling guy-on-the-street. He's not very educated, he doesn't know all the details about being a Jew. He misquotes the Bible, he can't say why he does such-and-such --- he even gets falling-down drunk now and then. But he loves God with all his heart, and observes His commandments because of that love, even if he can't explain the whys and wherefores."

This is just a short bit from it; the rest is at:
www.pinenet.com/~rooster/hasid2.html

Gut Shabbos.
Yosef

(The links didn't come through just right above, but should work if you copy and paste them)

There are no mentions of chickens in the tanach or bible. Chickens were not considered food until the 3rd century or so. Pretty much a roman introduction. There were fighting cocks and the signet ring of the Israelite kings show a picture of a fighting cock. This is from biblical times if not in the bible. The fowl brought the temple were only turtle dove or pigeons.
Now believe it or not, there are people who worry if we have the authentic chicken and write me asking where they can find the true chicken. I call this the search for the holy quail.

Aryeh Shore