(Tevye)
“Because of our traditions,
We’ve kept our balance for many, many years.
Here in Anatevka we have traditions for everything…
how to eat, how to sleep, even, how to wear clothes.
For instance, we always keep our heads covered
and always wear a little prayer shawl…
This shows our constant devotion to God.
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.”
–from Fiddler on the Roof
Tradition is a part of the perfect equation that describes social good health. Tradition of a social nature (as opposed to a political nature) is a part of the equation of a peaceful and prosperous life—a goal most human beings seek but have never achieved. For Tevye, it is direction set by God, a way to eat and sleep, and how to wear clothes. The trappings of divine recognition, are physical and material, a cap (yarmulke), a shawl. Physical objects are not God. They are reminders of the spiritual, which is not a physical object. It is the physical bread crumbs that leads to the spiritual. Spirituality leads to God.
But tradition is not only religious. The formula works in many ways for many professions. A wig for the judges in England validates the continuity of the law. Medical jackets are white for doctors in part because they convey the continuity of the medical profession. The law and medicine change over time, but the stability in continuity stabilizes the anarchic and arbitrary actions of nature. There is no reason for a tree to fall on an unfortunate passerby, yet it happens. The randomness of arbitrary nature is inexplicable, yet tradition moves us along like a flowing stream.
Celebrations evoke tradition. Marriage ceremonies with their atten
tion to formality and dignity infer the importance of fidelity and love. The transfer of such information is often silent, yet profound. The union of a man and woman require discipline and morality. Not all these qualities are definable, yet information and values are transferred from one generation to another. Commitment, whether it is in marriage or a military platoon unites the unit against the falling trees of random injury. It isn’t fair, you say. But it is what it is. A meteorite streaking from the sky crushes a house and you wonder what the message was. But the continuity of tradition bears at least some of the burden of fear and guilt and we press on.
Holidays send messages the way a telegraph sends sentences. Christmas in the religious world evokes the life of Christ and his teachings. The secular world steals the theme of gift-giving and endows an economy that provides jobs to the producers and workers who purvey goods and services. The New Year’s Day holiday sends a message of renewal and dedication. New Year’s wishes turn into resolutions and sometimes into action. There is a purpose in honoring our traditions. Labor is magnified in its importance with a special day. Blood sacrifice and dedication to a greater good are honored by Veterans Day. Historical and special people are honored. Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King are heroes. Remembering them evokes the continuity of American history, and just as necessarily the American place in the world. Even a personal birthday honors a life as the human race is composed of individuals comprising a community situated on a single planet with a common destiny.
So, tradition itself is something to celebrate, for it has passed the test of time. No one knows from whence it has come. It simply is here. Neither is it obscure to the blind, but it is known to everyone, even by a fiddler on a roof.