Benny Zelkowicz hadn’t done theater since college -- “and when we moved to L.A.,” he says, “it was harder to dabble.” When his wife got a job as the head of Columbus Jewish Day School in 2016, bringing him and their two daughters to Columbus, he was excited to learn about the JCC’s Gallery Players. “Oliver was one of my favorite shows as a kid, so I auditioned,” Benny says. Soon after, he joined the Gallery Players committee, where one of his duties is helping with show selection.

This Dec. 2-17, he’ll be playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, a “dream role: there’s everything. There’s comedy. There’s big songs.” After what’s happened in Israel the last several weeks, he’s found this perennially-popular show has taken on an even more relevant and poignant relevance.

“In this moment, there’s a big resonance. With the community being exiled from their homes and trying to preserve their identities in the face of antisemitism. It’s about changing times and trying to hold onto identity. It’s become even more meaningful over the past few weeks. More than ever, we need the funny parts and the beautiful songs and the catharsis of the overall story. The show doesn’t have a happy ending but there is an element of hope because the way traditions as embodied by the characters, there’s still a sense of being tied together by an identity that’s bigger than them,” Benny says. “Despite the world feeling very dark at times, there’s this chain binding us together now and in history. Now these songs are woven into modern Jewish life – the show has become a tradition in and of itself and it’s special to be a part of that.”

”The show, he adds, “manages to be specifically Jewish and universally human at the same time.”

Benny is an animator, author (visit www.bzelk.com to check his work out) and has done voice acting. Fiddler will be Benny’s fifth show with the JCC.

Visit columbusjcc.org/gallery-players to buy tickets to Fiddler on the Roof and see other upcoming shows.