Marc Tracy compares the personal tragedy of Israeli author David Grossman (subject of George Packer's most recent profile and an emotionally searing review by Colm Toibin in the NYT Book Review today) to another iconic Jewish narrative:
The tragedy, if I may resort to it, of Fiddler on the Roof is that many of the characters—and the tailor Motl is the prototypical member of the younger generation—would just as soon stay in Anatevka, despite its difficulties. Many people, like Grossman, don’t have a burning desire to live in history. But for many, including Grossman, history comes and finds them anyway.
The Dish 