‘If I were a rich man,’ things couldn’t have been any better

Nearly a week after I saw “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans, the songs were still in my head. 

I’ve felt a connection to the story since I lived near the Slovak/Ukrainian border in 1993 while I was teaching English. Back then, I wasn’t sure where Fiddler was set, but I knew it wasn’t far from where I had lived.

When a friend was unable to go, she invited us to see the show. My husband and I gladly accepted the invitation. A day later he and our daughter were talking about the “Fiddler” production, which our daughter had already seen in Florida. She had loved the powerful the story of Tevye attempting to maintain his Jewish traditions in spite of all the difficulties he, his family and his community were facing. She said the cast dedicated each performance to the people of Ukraine.

Until that moment, I didn’t realize that the village of Anatevka, where Fiddler’s story is set, is a real village in Ukraine. Simultaneously, my husband and daughter said, “I wonder if Daria has seen “Fiddler” before.”

To explain: We met Daria Antonovska nearly a year ago. She is in her second year at LSU and is the president of the Ukrainian Student Association. Last year, I contacted her a few weeks after the war in Ukraine started.

When she answered the phone last year, I explained that I was looking to do a story on local Ukrainians preparing for Easter. I knew, from my time living in Eastern Europe, that they had special Easter traditions, largely anchored around the amazing eggs they decorated for the holiday.

She was gracious and explained that I was correct in my memories of special Easter traditions in Ukraine, but she would not be able to help me because she was Jewish. 

We both had a good chuckle.

She was able to connect me with other Ukrainians regarding the Easter eggs, but I have a soft spot for folks making their way in a new land and invited her for dinner. In the year since, she has become a part of our lives.