Anatevka

[MENDEL, spoken]
Rabbi, we've waited all our lives for the Messiah. Wouldn't now be a good time for him to come?

[RABBI, spoken]
We'll have to wait for him someplace else. Meanwhile, let's start packing.

[YENTE, spoken]
Well, Anatevka hasn't been exactly the Garden of Eden.

[AVRAM, spoken]
That's true.

[GOLDE, spoken]
After all, what have we got here?

(sung)
A little bit of this
A little bit of that

[AVRAM]
A pot

[LAZAR]
A pan

[MORDCHA]
A broom

[YENTE]
A hat

[TEVYE, spoken]
Someone should have set a match to this place years ago

[LAZAR]
A bench

[MORDCHA]
A tree

[AVRAM]
What's a house?

[GOLDE]
Or a stove?

[MORDCHA, spoken]
People who pass through Anatevka don't even know they've been here.

[AVRAM]
A stick of wood

[LAZAR]
A piece of cloth

[ALL]
What do we leave?
Nothing much
Only Anatevka

Anatevka, Anatevka
Underfed, overworked Anatevka
Where else could Sabbath be so sweet?
Anatevka, Anatevka
Intimate, obstinate Anatevka
Where I know everyone I meet

Soon I'll be a stranger in a strange new place
Searching for an old familiar face
From Anatevka

I belong in Anatevka
Tumble-down, work-a-day Anatevka
Dear little village, little town of mine

[GOLDE, spoken]
It's just a place.

[MORDCHA, spoken]
Our forefathers have been forced out of many, many places at a moment's notice.

[TEVYE, spoken]
Maybe that's why we always wear our hats.