Tevye

If you don't recognize the name up there, it could be that you're not as big a fan of musical theater as I am. Fiddler On The Roof is one of several musicals I have committed to memory, much to the everlasting chagrin of those closest to me. For those uninitiated, it tells the story of a milkman and his family in Russia at the beginning of the Russian revolution. This is a time when old family traditions are being tossed about while Tevye tries to cope with how his life and his world is changing. At one point, he wonders why he couldn't be a rich man. "It's not great sin to be poor," he laments to God, "but it's not great honor, either." The most obvious change for him would be, "If I were a wealthy man. I wouldn't have to work hard." He continues to revel in all the things that he would be able to give to his wife and family, a fine new house in the middle of the town. "There would be one long staircase just going up, And one even longer coming down, And one more leading nowhere, just for show." 
But more than all these material things, Tevye dreams of being a well-respected member of his community. He expects that the most important men in town would come to call on him, "posing problems that would cross a Rabbi's eyes." Then, as he concludes, "And it won't make one bit of difference if i answer right or wrong. When you're rich, they think you really know!"
Because we do. Somehow we believe that someone with millions of dollars, or rubles, must know something we don't. This line of reasoning is one I have heard any number of times from supporters of our current "President." He must know what he's doing. He's got all that money. Well, somewhere just beneath the surface of the play, Tevye knows that the reason he is being moved out of his town is the anti-Jewish crusade by the Tsar, who is attempting to turn the population on itself, first restricting their movements and ultimately running them out of the country.
Sound familiar? 
There is no grand finale in which Tevye's dreams come true, unless they are those for his daughters who end up falling in love and marrying men with whom they can start new lives. Some of them in America. The milkman and his wife load up a wagon, leaving their home, singing the song that reminds them of their home. The home to which they will not return. 
Essay question: Was Tevye a rich man? 
Hint: It's not always about the money.