"You wanna own the world? You want it stuffed and mounted? You can't do it sitting down! Stand Up and be counted. But if you wanna break the rules. Stand Up!" (Rick Springfield, 1984)

As the Guidebook opens to the fall offerings, we find more rule-breaking women. Women eager to follow the cultural tradition of marriage and family but on their terms!

Welcome to the Fall 2022 Edition ~  The Empowered Marriage-Minded  Woman Fiddler on the Roof and Meet Me in St Louis

These progressive marriage-minded daughters have thrown off the yoke of the matchmaker and have empowered themselves to choose "the perfect match." For Tzeitel, it is a "match made to measure" (Motel). For Hodel, it is a man with dreams of changing the world (Perchik). For Chava, it is a man who comes from a different world (Fyedka). It is "The Boy Next Door" (John Truitt) for Esther Smith, and for her sister Rose, it is "Yale Man" Warren Sheffield.

As each story unfolds, we find these women are making choices that change their lives and, in some cases (Hodel and Chava), lead them to a changing world.

By encouraging Motel to ask Tevye's permission to marry ("even a poor tailor deserves some happiness"), Tzeitel empowers him ("Over a year ago we gave each other our pledge that we would marry!") to get what they both want. A happy life.

When Hodel and Perchik wed, she leaves behind the home she loves for the "frozen wasteland" of Siberia. We feel her sadness. ("Goodbye, Papa, G-d alone knows when we shall see each other again.") However,  we also witness her determination. ("He did not ask me to go. I want to go to help him in his work.")

When Chava attempts to explain her relationship with Fyedka, her father counters with a parable and a warning: "A bird may love a fish, but where would they build a home together? Each must seek  his own kind." Chava: "The world is changing, Papa! Tevye: "No! Some things do not change for us. Some things will never change." Chava: "We don't feel that way. We want to be married." Tevye: Don't you understand what that means? Marrying outside the faith? Never talk about it again!" 

By choosing to marry a Christian, Chava defies her faith and her father and faces the loss of her family of origin. However, as she and Fyedka prepare to journey to a new land and depart Anatevka with the villagers, she summons an empowered woman's courage and addresses her father. "We came to say goodbye. We cannot stay among people who would do such things to others. We wanted you to know."

By offering  his blessing, Tevye summons the courage to embrace a new attitude in a  changing world as he  travels to a new life in "New York, America."

While the empowered women of Anatevka must cross cultural divides and continents to find the lives they want, the Smith sisters of St. Louis have merely to cross the street.

Esther laments her relationship with John Truitt – The Boy Next Door from her front window. ("The moment I saw him smile, I knew he was just my style. My only regret is we've never met though I dream of him all the while. But he doesn't know I exist no matter how I may persist. So it's clear to see there's no hope for me though I live at fifty-one-thirty-five Kensington Avenue, and he lives at fifty-one-thirty-three. How can I ignore the boy next door? I love him more than I can say.”) 

To encourage a match for her sister, Rose writes a letter of introduction and invites John to a house party. Within the bounds of socially acceptable behavior, Esther sets out to get her man ("Well, if we're going to get married, one of us has to start it.")

She begins with  flirtation ("Oh, do you live here?"), progresses to friendship (John: "You've got a mighty strong grip for a girl!" Esther: "Thanks, Neighbor"), followed by a quick stop at outward aggression. (Esther: "What do you mean hitting a five-year-old child? The next time you want to hit somebody, pick on somebody your own size. If there's anything I hate, loathe, despise, and abominate, it's a bully!" John to Esther: "If you're not busy tomorrow night, could you beat me up again?") By sealing the request with a kiss, it's clear that this forward-thinking, empowered, and slightly aggressive woman is the perfect match for "the boy next door."

As Esther settles into a relationship with John and looks forward to the Christmas dance with him on her arm, she decides to help her sister Rose get her "Yale Man."

However, well-intentioned (from telling a "white lie" to clear the dining room while Rose receives a long-distance New York call to manipulating the dance card of perceived rival Lucille Ballard "Oh, Es, you fiend! Everyone's a perfect horror!"),   these schemes seem only to bring disappointment to Esther. Esther takes "the horrible" dance partners after Lucile reveals that "if we only acted like grown-ups, Warren would be here with Rose instead of spending the night talking about her." As the couples reunite, Esther takes "all of Miss Ballard's dances" and is rewarded by both a compliment from her grandfather  ("I'm pretty proud of you!") and dance with "the boy next door."

Esther's grace and sensitivity in taking Lucille's place have provided Rose with the proximity she needs to cement her relationship with Warren. By evening's end, Warren proclaims: "I've positively decided we're going to get married at the earliest opportunity. And I don't want to hear any arguments. That's final. I love you!" As the family takes in the news, Esther places the remarks in the point of view of the empowered woman" "Rose, you handled the whole thing magnificently! He's just putty in your hands."