# Is there something offensive about a church performing "Fiddler" at a joint Temple/Church dinner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950 "2009-11-17T20:23:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/21 "2009-11-18T02:41:07Z")
I can see the “kinda weird,” but it seems more like “cliched common ground.” It would be weird in 1965. Now it’s like singing Negro Spirituals when joining for a service with a black congregation, or singing “Amazing Grace” at any TV funeral with a mixed attendance. I mean, I love my wife and daughter and am a big fan of their choir master, but she’s a Swede and there’s a whole lotta soul missing when she has them sing both Spirituals and songs from [del]German East Africa[/del] Tanzania, with which our current hymnal has in spades. ---
**Author:** ![drpepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@drpepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drpepper)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/22 "2009-11-18T02:43:20Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > I don’t think it’s necessarily offensive, but it could be taken as patronizing. Almost like suburban northern white folks inviting a black family for dinner and serving fried chicken and watermelon. There’s nothing offensive about those foods per se, and it could even be what the white family eats every Saturday, but there is room for misunderstanding. Bingo. Not necessarily a given that this is the case, but the possibility exists of it being seen this way so I wouldn’t risk it. And FTR, ‘Fiddler’ is a beautiful play/musical. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/23 "2009-11-18T03:00:42Z")
If I were a Jewish participant, I’d probably rather hear something I don’t hear very often…like Christian church music. _Amazing Grace_, _The Old Rugged Cross_, _Rock of Ages_, stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/24 "2009-11-18T03:06:52Z")
Twenty five years ago I drove past what they called “The Old Rugged Cross” outside Albion, Michigan, and there wasn’t a scrap of rug on it. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/25 "2009-11-18T03:51:03Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > If I were a Jewish participant, I’d probably rather hear something I don’t hear very often…like Christian church music. _Amazing Grace_, _The Old Rugged Cross_, _Rock of Ages_, stuff like that. No, I wouldn’t include anything that’s specific to either religion. The Christian songs will sound like proselytizing, and the Jewish songs condescending. There are plenty of great songs having to do with nonspecific spirituality or issues like peace and good will . . . or even non-religious seasonal songs. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/26 "2009-11-18T03:51:06Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Twenty five years ago I drove past what they called “The Old Rugged Cross” outside Albion, Michigan, and there wasn’t a scrap of rug on it. And it didn’t even look angry! ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/27 "2009-11-18T06:20:54Z")
This is a UU congregation, so _Jesus Christ Superstar_ wouldn’t relate to anything in the room. I’ve never been Christian. I just thought that singing a song or two out of _Fiddler_ would have been fun. We could have also done a few other broadway things. I see though that it could be strange. > [@panache45](#): > > There are plenty of songs about tolerance and brother/sisterhood and respecting each other’s differences. Your local Gay Men’s/Women’s Chorus can point you in the right direction. In this redneck town, we are the closest thing to a GBTL chorus there is. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/28 "2009-11-18T06:52:38Z")
You know what you guys can perform instead? Handel, _Judas Maccabeus_. It’s classical, it has a strong Jewish theme, and it rocks - better than the _Messiah_, IMHO. “See the Con’quering Hero Come”, in particular, is the best Hannukka song ever written. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/29 "2009-11-18T08:52:56Z")
Actually, I wouldn’t mind it. Sholem Aleichem is considered one of the great (arguably greatest) Yiddish writers, and Fiddler (Tevye the Milkman) encapsulates a very large part of Ashkenazi culture, as well a being representing a fair bit of the modern Diaspora identity. Fiddler doesn’t have any negative connotations for me as a Jew. It shows the plight and mentality of the Shtetl-Jews, and Tevye’s and his family’s struggle with integrating with the gentile world around them, which is still a question for Jews in the Diaspora, and always has been. Showing an understanding of Fiddler is to show understanding for western Jewish culture, in my opinion. Anyway…Fiddler is a cultural play, not a religious one, so I don’t see anybody taking offense for it (and it’s not entirely analogous to performing a rendition of JCSuperstar). ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/30 "2009-11-18T14:13:08Z")
I agree with the “not offensive, but probably seen as tacky” sentiment. And I’m still unclear whether it’s the whole play or just a few songs. If just a few songs, appropriate to Thanksgiving, that seems fine to me. I heard “Sunrise, Sunset” sung at a totally Christian wedding, no Jews involved, and a freind told me that his church sometimes uses “Sabbath Prayer.” _Fiddler_ is a well-known Broadway musical, so a couple songs wouldn’t seem out of place. However, I guess the analogy would be, if you had a joint ceremony with a primarily black church, would you sing songs from _Porgy and Bess_? Seems … tacky. Sort of like saying, “Look how ecumenical we are!” ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950/31 "2009-11-18T16:12:47Z")
> [@kombatminipig](#): > > Showing an understanding of Fiddler is to show understanding for western Jewish culture, in my opinion. Sure, but does a choir singing a song or two represent “understanding”, or just the regular process that choirs do to prepare a song? If the congregation wishes to show understanding in the context of ecumenical sharing, I don’t think a fraction of them singing some songs is going to help. Maybe if they asked to be invited to next year’s Passover Seder or something like that would demonstrate their intent for understanding IMHO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-something-offensive-about-a-church-performing-fiddler-at-a-joint-temple-church-dinner/517950.md?page=1)