Trick or Treat: Fiddling While Rome Burns or Playing a Violin of Hope?

Psychiatry & Society

H. Steven Moffic, MD, "matches" the topic of Halloween with the well-known 1964 play "Fiddler on the Roof."

With political conflicts, wars, and the latest hurricane, this season has been a season more of tricks than treats, shares Moffic. Upon his most recent watch of the play, Moffic noticed several serendipities between our current global, social issues and the story.

Violins of Hope is a project of concerts based on a private collection of violins, violas, and cellos, that have been collected since the end of World War II. Many of the instruments belonged to Jews before and during the War. Many were donated by or bought from survivors, while some arrived through family members. Moffic spoke about these violins, in a previous video: "The Violins and People of Hope and Labor."

"Those fiddles, or violins, are left with hope, sort of representing what can still be survived, grow in strength, and be productive after such a horror," said Moffic. "Let us be in a situation where we have violins and people of hope to move us forward in this difficult Halloween time."

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.