IS TEVYE RIGHT OR WRONG?

Reflections for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; James 1:17-27 & Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Tevye, a milkman by trade and a father of five daughters, is a fictional character and the main narrator of the short stories composed by Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (pen name Sholem Aleichem). One of his famous stories was adapted in 1971 into the musical film Fidler on the Roof, which opens with a rather interesting take on traditions. Tevye affirms, “Here in Anatevka we have traditions for everything… how to eat, how to sleep, how to wear clothes… You may ask how did this tradition start? I’ll tell you - I don’t know. But it’s a tradition… Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do” (Act I, page 1). Is Tevye’s confession justifiable in this day and age? Do traditions still deserve the place they have historically claimed and occupied? Is Tevye right or wrong?

Yes, Tevye is right:

Traditions are essential to how we, as humans, define ourselves, relate to each other, and discern God’s will. They give us a sense of identity and belonging. This is particularly true in the history of the ancient alliance. The first reading from the book of Deuteronomy reiterates this point when it affirms, “Hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you… Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations.” The Israelites were aware that their ‘God-given’ traditions, precepts, statutes, and decrees played a role in defining who they were (truly wise and intelligent people of God) and discerning what God expected of them (observe his statutes so that they will be His people and He will be their God: Genesis 17:7, Exodus 6:7, Ezekiel 34:24).

The word tradition comes from the Latin word traditio, which refers to the “act of transmitting”, which in turn originates from the verb tradere, meaning “to deliver or to transmit”. Tradition is neither anti-biblical nor simply legalism. Tradition simply means received teaching. Our faith is both received as a gift and actualised in our personal and concrete life journeys. What we know as the Bible is the fruit of the creative transmission of the revealed Word of God handed over from one generation to the other. Our convictions, worldviews, value systems, and patterns of thinking are largely inspired by this process of transmission. So Tevye is right when he affirms, “Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do”. Viewed from this perspective, traditions don’t seem to merit the villain tag that our contemporary society so easily attaches to them, do they?

No, Tevye is wrong: However, Tevye also betrays the greatest danger of traditions when he says, “You may ask how did this tradition start? I’ll tell you - I don’t know. But it’s a tradition”. When traditions are disconnected from their initial purpose and their ‘spirit’, then we fall into the risk of legalism, fanaticism, and nomism. This is the critique that Jesus evokes in the Gospel today when he declares, “You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition”. We know, that most of his confrontations with the religious and political elites of the time were over traditions and customs. A careful reading of these confrontations reveals that Jesus is not so much against traditions themselves but he staunchly renounces their abuse.

The ceremonious washing of hands and purification of cups and jugs were most likely ritually codified to ensure and encourage personal hygiene. The Pharisees and scribes, however, misused them as tools of political and social power to exercise their moral, social, and religious authority over the members of their community. Traditions were misused to pigeonhole people into oppressive and dehumanizing categories of ritually pure and impure. When we twist the meaning and purposes of traditions, we risk becoming tyrants wanting to misuse them to exercise control. Jesus challenges us to overcome this abuse of our traditions and invites us to rediscover their true sense. To him, laws and precepts are not just legalistic prescriptions that require scrupulous and blind adhesion. Nor are they conditions for purity or impurity. They are instead invitations to the permanent, collective, and continuous conversion of our hearts, intelligence, and relations. Traditions are good, but they need to evolve constantly and remain constantly faithful to their ultimate purpose, which is helping us discover “who we are and what God expects us to do”.