When we were much younger, and going...

When we were much younger, and going through a particularly rough time, a neighbor of ours, Mr. Saltzman, took us aside and told us what he said was a traditional Yiddish saying:

“You plant potatoes, you get potatoes.”

We thought about it for a moment, and then asked him what on Earth he was talking about.

He shrugged.

We thanked him and went on our way, and over the next several days we thought about Mr. Saltzman’s profound potatoes. For some reason they comforted us.

We realize now that he may have been pulling our leg. So what. Faith and hope had been temporarily restored in the heart of a 12-year-old boy.

Recent events have made us think about Mr. Saltzman again. Actually, recent events together with a theater review by Times writer Sylvie Drake brought him back to us. The review was for “Yiddle With a Fiddle,” a musical at the Westwood Playhouse. The plot, briefly, is about a young girl and her father who hit the road as itinerant musicians after being evicted. The girl, Yiddle, impersonates a boy for self-protection. They team up with two other musicians, rescue a bride . . . Things then get complicated. Sweet and funny, Drake calls it.

She writes: “This sprightly tall tale is not much more or less than an excuse for offering a profoundly Jewish lesson in how to perceive adversity as an opportunity for change--or a simplistic one in the power of positive thinking . . . “

“Yiddle With a Fiddle” runs through Feb. 10. For ticket information and show times, call (213) 208-5454.

Thanks, Mr. Saltzman.