MovieChat Forums > Fiddler on the Roof (1971) Discussion > The Beggar, and his antics

The Beggar, and his antics

posted 13 years ago by Tekawitha
10 replies | jump to latest

as i've said, i like to watch what is going on around the main action, and see what is going on 'in the corners', so to speak. and one character i get a kick out of watching is the rasty little beggar. he shows up in the middle of the action now and then, and occasionally, people give him something. but other times, hes very good at helping himself to things...the funniest is in the bar dance, where the Jewish guys have their 'conga line' (what's that dance called,anyway?), and at one point, there, on the end, is our beggar, with a bottle of vodka/schnapps all for himself, glugging away at it as fast as he can! ^0^

~*~~*~

"Ooh!Pass the popcorn! This is gonna be good!"

[–] snsurone 13 years ago

The movie turned Reb Nachum into a doddering idiot, which was not in keeping with the original stage play.

But, that's a minor complaint in an otherwise excellent production, IMHO

[–] beijingpearl2003 9 years ago

Giving to those less fortunate is a great mitzvah; one can hardly consider oneself a true Jew if one does NOT give--Tevye was kind to Nachum and gave him milk and wished him Good Shabbos. As annoying as he seemed, he was one of many --beggars were just a way of life and were accepted as such. Not everybody was a 'rich Jew', not by a long shot! He probably lived in the community poorhouse; you just didn't see poor Jews living on the street back then--men would sleep in the study house of whatever town they went through, women in the poorhouse. Giving is charity and all observant Jews were--and ARE--expected to give without complaint.

[–] rwsmith29456 11 years ago

"Neeh Neeh!"

[–] jefgg 10 years ago

I hate moochers. There was a moocher in my mother's building. Eventually people stopped giving him anything. Then they stopped being polite to him. He wasn't poor. He was just a greedy douche bag looking for handouts. Most poor people have some pride.

[–] Clusium 10 years ago

That's too bad.

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[–] jefgg 10 years ago

Most people are good. But I really think in a large group of people there are usually one or two who steal and/or lie.

Was there a reason given why Reb Nachum was a beggar? That was a different time and place. I don't think there were any government handouts. I guess if people had problems and didn't have family to lean on they would have needed to beg.

[–] Clusium 10 years ago

Yeah, I think you nailed it on the head: There were no government handouts in those days, & clearly especially from a government which was against your own people.

Therefore Nachum was left with living off of the charity of his fellow Jewish people.

If you love Mary and Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make your signature!

[–] jefgg 10 years ago

Charity is a large part of Judaism and many other religions.

I worked part-time in a supermarket delicatessen when I was attending college. There was a guy there who was constantly mooching lunch money. My co-workers asked me about his family because I went to high school with his two brothers. They thought he was poor because he looked like he should have a cup in his hand. I assured my co-workers that the moocher's family was at least middle class. I had seen their home and it was in a good neighborhood. He liked to go to Atlantic City and New York Yankees games with his girlfriend and sometimes shared photographs with us. And I think that was when everyone stopped giving him money.

Years later at a "professional" job there was another moocher. She cried that she never had money to put gas in her car. But she always had plenty of money for cigarettes. She also had money for tattoos. One day she was all over a co-worker that she needed fifty dollars for a winter coat. I told the co-worker that the moocher must think she is a sucker and she will probably ask a lot of people for their fifty bucks for a new coat she probably already has or might have stolen. Then as predicted she started asking almost everyone for fifty bucks. I don't think anyone fell for her baloney. It was a non-profit agency and no one was well paid. If I was that desperate for a winter coat I would have bought one at a second hand store.

[–] Clusium 10 years ago

Charity is a large part of Judaism and many other religions.

Yeah, it plays a very HUGE part in Christianity.

Some years ago, there was a woman begging for money on the streets of Toronto Ontario. She looked TOTALLY DESTITUTE!!! She was even shaking uncontrollably. A lot of people who saw her felt horrible for her, including myself, & would give her money.

Anyhowwww.... this one reporter from a Toronto newspaper became suspicious of her, so he went with a photographer to spy on her. Turned out, she was living quite comfortably in an apartment complex. She was a refugee to our country(she was a Romani from eastern Europe), but, managed to live quite comfortably here in TO, & "our generosity" helped make it even MORE COMFORTABLE.

For a few months, she quit her begging on the streets. However, the same year she was exposed in to TO papers as a fraud, we had World Youth Day in our city, which meant that the Pope was coming here, as were Catholics from ALL over the world.

Did I mention to you that "charity plays a HUGE part in Christianity?"

She came back out, to take advantage of new naive Christian pilgrims. One pilgrim from the USA was going to give this lady an AMERICAN fifty dollar bill. The American dollar is higher than the Canadian dollar bill. Not by much, mind you, but, higher it is.

You can imagine how happy this woman must have been to nearly get this money. Luckily, for this American, somebody who followed this woman's shenanigans in the Toronto newspaper saw what was about to happen, & told him that this woman was a fake, so he was able to take back his money just in the nic of time!!

That woman was ticked off!!! She took her cane(prop...?)& swung it at the person who warned the American not to give it to her.

So, the person called the cops on this woman & pressed charges. It went to court, but, the judge ruled in the woman's favour. Do you want to know why? Because he felt that the woman must have been humiliated by the newspaper articles about her, which ultimately led her to do what she did.

This woman was bilking of the generosity of thousands of people in the Greater Toronto Area, & the judge sided with HER!!!

What a crazy world we live in!!!!

If you love Mary and Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make your signature!

[–] jschillig 10 years ago

Shades of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Man With The Twisted Lip."

In this story, Holmes searches for a missing man, with the only suspect being a disfigured beggar. Turns out the beggar IS the missing man...he'd been making a tidier income out of begging than he ever could at any office job and had been hiding it from his family all these years!