Monday, October 25, 2010
Fiddler on the roof- tradition of the match-maker
One Tradition that was interesting to me was the fact that the Jewish people were against marrying outside of their religion and if someone did find happiness with someone outside their faith they were considered dead to all their relatives. I can understand that for most people marrying someone with the same spiritual beliefs is essential, but I don’t understand why you can shun someone for loving someone different then themselves. Plus by putting someone in that situation where they are shunned by their family and friends causes them to not be able to bring their children up in a Jewish environment. I thought it was fascinating how they had a match-maker that went around and decided who should be married and the fact that it was a female when it was the “Papa” that made all the decisions. Today Jewish people still have match-makers, but it’s not something one has to do, one can find their own spouse instead of spending money on a match-maker.
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In dealing with the matchmaker concept, I have to agree with you and elaborate on the issue of why people would be shunned for marrying outside of their religion because at that point, any children that the shunned person has with their non-religious spouse would not be able to be raised in the religious culture that the person’s family would obviously want to value in the child’s life. In a way, by shunning the person, it’s also saying that they shun all children of that person, which seems to contradict the core of most religions, which is to continue their faith with the children of the faithful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and think that is unreal that people are shunned by their families for liking or wanting to marry someone who isnt of their religion. However i do see where it comes into play. Many religious families really want their children to marry someone who is of the same religion so that you can bring your children up in that enviornment. I am catholic, but to be honest i dont judge others based on their religion. I think we need to worry about the fact that do they love eachother? If they are willing to work out the religious part of things and are going to be happy then i dont see what the problem is. People should love eachother for who they are not for who their parents WANT them to be.
ReplyDeleteThe whole taboo in the play against marrying outside of the Jewish religion reminded me of My Big Fat Greek Wedding when the character wants to marry a man who isn’t Greek, and her entire family is shocked. I really think it is not so important if the people marrying are of the same religion, as long as they love each other. I agree that shunning them for marrying outside of their religion might actually make them not raise their children in that religion, because it was too intolerant. I do not think the matchmaker is a very good tradition, even though we learned in sociology that most unarranged marriages tend to show the same characteristics as arranged ones.
ReplyDeleteI think we have matchmakers. We may not pay them or invite them to our houses for the sole purpose of finding our husbands/wives. We just call them friends and family In the end, our relationships are successful not because of love but because our family and friend's approval and support of our relationships. We meet most people we date from our family, friends, and the social networks we have developed through the influence of our family and friends.
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