Ten Yiddish Plays in Translation: Works by Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch, I.D. Berkowitz, Peretz Hirshbein, H. Leivick and David Pinski

By Ellen Perecman

This volume includes works by six Yiddish playwrights: Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch, I.D. Berkowitz, Peretz Hirshbein, H. Leivick and David Pinski. These plays were published in the first half of the 20th century, the majority between 1904 and 1923. Preliminary drafts of six of the plays were published by iUniverse
in 2007 in a volume entitled Selected Yiddish Plays: Vol.1. This updated volume includes final drafts and/or full text of plays in the 2007 publication, as well as four additional plays. With the exception of Hirshbein’s ‘A Dream about Time’ , all plays in this volume were produced in New York City between 2005 and 2015 by New Worlds Theatre Project (Producing Artistic Director, Ellen Perecman). The volume represents an effort to foster an appreciation for the literary legacy of Yiddish culture and the extent to which Yiddish literature, and Yiddish plays in particular, have enriched the international cultural and literary landscape.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532095849

Ellen Perecman

Ellen Perecman holds a Ph. D. in Linguistics from the Graduate Center-CUNY. Her work in Neurolinguistics has been published in edited volumes and scholarly journals. She has also edited a book in the Social Sciences. Dr. Perecman is a native Yiddish speaker with roots in what is now Belarus. She studied acting professionally with Julie Bovasso and Vivian Matalon.

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Copyright © 2020 Ellen Perecman.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-9583-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-9584-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020906163

iUniverse rev. date: 05/21/2020

In loving

memory of my parents, Rivke & Gershon Perecman, survivors of the Holocaust; my grandfather, Avrom Gubersky, a survivor of the Holocaust; my grandmother Chaya Gubersky, a victim of the Holocaust; and my grandparents, Leah & Mendel Leib Wexler, victims of the Holocaust.

Contents

I.    Sholem Aleichem

Mentshn (People/Servants) 1907

II.     Sholem Asch

With the Current (Mitn Shtrom) 1904

Adaptation of ‘Mitn Shtrom’

III.    I.D. Berkowitz

Under the Cross or Moshke Khazer (Untern Tzeylem) 1923

IV.    Peretz Hirshbein

Carcass (N’veyle) 1906

On the Other Side of the River (Af Yener Zayt Taykh) 1906

Dammerung or Twilight 1906

A Dream about Time (A Kholem fun der Tzayt) 1919

V.    H. Leivick

Welcome to America 1921

Adaptation of ‘Remnants/Rags (Shmatez)’

Displaced Wedding 1947-1949

Adaptation of ‘A Wedding in Ferenvald

(A Khasene in Ferenvald)’

VI.    David Pinski

Professor Brenner (Profeser Brener) 1911

Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude goes to my father, Gershon Perecman, of blessed memory, whose assistance in the translation of these plays was not only invaluable, but gave me pleasure beyond words.

Alyssa Quint deserves special mention for suggesting to me that I broaden the scope of ‘Displaced Wedding’ by including excerpts from actual testimonies of survivors of the many genocides in modern history. Her input and encouragement strengthened ‘Displaced Wedding’ – and strengthened the message I take from Leivick’s play - immeasurably.

I would also like to acknowledge the following who contributed in one way or another to the development of some of the English translations found in this volume: Mark Altman, Gunnar Berg, Clay McLeod Chapman, Marc Gellar, Yermiyahu Ahron Taub and David Winitsky.

Introduction

In 2005, I founded a theatre company called New Worlds Theatre Project. The company was dedicated exclusively to bringing a treasure trove of Yiddish plays written in the first half of the 20th century but long-ignored by the international theater community to non-Yiddish speaking artists and audiences. The company was dissolved in 2016.

Between early 2005 and late 2015, I identified and translated into English ten well-crafted straight plays written by a diverse group of Yiddish playwrights who explore universal themes as they hold up a mirror to the human condition. The English versions of all but one of the plays in this volume were given professional productions through New Worlds Theatre Project at HERE Arts Centre, among other non-profit theater venues across Manhattan.

In some cases, English language versions of Yiddish plays that appear in this volume required more substantial editing than one typically finds in a translation. Indeed, one could argue that a translation is by definition an adaptation because the original language text will never have perfect equivalents in the target language¹. I have designated as adaptations those plays in this volume that have been edited in significant ways, either through major cuts or significant additions to the Yiddish text. The decision to cut scenes that take place in the shop in ‘Welcome to America’ is a case in point, as are the additional texts created for ‘Welcome to America’ (Shmatez by H. Leivick) and ‘With the Current’ (Mit’n Shtrom by Sholem Asch).

In retrospect, I believe that the preliminary English script for ‘On the Other Side of the River’ that appeared in Selected Yiddish Plays: Vol 1 undermined the original Yiddish text in two ways. Only when I went back and studied the original Yiddish play more carefully did I realize that cuts in the Yiddish text made for the purpose of reducing the size of the cast of characters had unintended consequences. The first of these was to remove from the play a critical build-up of suspense. The second and more important unintended consequence was to deny the reappearance of the Stranger at the end of the play.

While the international sensation that is ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein was based on Sholem Aleichem’s Yiddish stories, Sholem Aleichem himself wrote very few plays. One of them, ‘Mentshn’, is represented in this volume. In ‘Mentshn’ we recognize Sholem Aleichem the humorist story teller, and also discover Sholem Aleichem the social justice activist. In this play about the life of servants in an upper-class household in the early 20th century, Sholem Aleichem takes up the cause of the overworked and under-paid servants in a battle between them and their arrogant, judgmental, and bitter mistress at the end of the play.

Through the voice of one of his characters, Sholem Aleichem chides the mistress of the household -and reminds us- that Servants are also people, damn it!

The word ‘Mentshn’ is a perfect example of one of the challenges Yiddish poses for the translator. When faced with a line of Yiddish dialogue like "Mentshn zaynen eykh mentshn (People or servants are people or servants, too)!, the meaning is at first glance opaque, and one’s first instinct is to translate mentshn as people, its most recognizable English equivalent. But, in fact, the Yiddish word mentshn" refers to both people and servants, depending on the context. Thus, the English translation of Mentshn zaynen eykh mentshn! becomes Servants are also people!"

A comparable challenge appears in H. Leivick’s ‘Shmatez’, an English adaptation of which is included in this volume with the title ‘Welcome to America’. Once again, one encounters a Yiddish word that has more than one English equivalent. It goes without saying that the commonly used English equivalent for "shmatez is rags, though the Yiddish word actually refers to both rags and remnants". In the course of translating the Yiddish text of ‘Shmatez’, it was not always immediately obvious which one of the English equivalents was appropriate.

‘Shmatez’ also presents additional challenges both for the translator and the producer of a small non-profit theatre company. With regard to translation, you will find that Leivick includes in Shmatez many actual English words transliterated into Yiddish. Presumably, he chose to do so to highlight the fact that the Maze family at the center of the play has been living in New York for quite some time since immigrating from the old country, as well as to bring attention to the fact that the Maze children have been working very hard to fit in in New York by speaking English.

The challenge here is to find a way to indicate the difference in the English translation between Yiddish words in the original Yiddish text, on the one hand, and transliterations of English words in that original text, on the other. I chose to do so by putting the Yiddish transliterations of English words in bold typeface. This is by no means a suggestion that actors be directed to pronounce these words with a Yiddish accent. On the contrary, I would urge directors to be creative in solving the puzzle in their own productions, and refer them to David Henry Hwang’s ‘Golden Child’, which was produced at the Signature Theatre in 2006. The majority of the dialogue in this play is meant to be seen as spoken in Chinese. When the ethnic Chinese characters are meant to be speaking in Chinese, they actually speak in perfect English. When the American Reverend Baines appears in the play, the audience hears him speaking in broken English, to indicate that he is not fluent in Chinese.

The Yiddish text of ‘Shmatez’ presented yet another challenge with respect to the production of the play. Most of ‘Shmatez’ takes place in the setting of the Maze home. But there are important scenes that take place in the shop, Mr. Maze’s workplace. To build a second set for the shop would require a substantially larger budget than is typically available to a small theatre company. Moreover, to include the shop scenes as written in the Yiddish text would mean paying at least five additional actors from a limited budget. Our solution was to cut the scenes in the shop from our production and compensate for the loss of dramatically relevant information by writing new lines of dialogue providing the relevant information for a cast of eight characters. The resulting dialogue is seamless. Justification for this edit was the intention of the production to focus more sharply on the Maze family dynamics than on the shop workers’ decision to go on strike.

There are also significant differences between my English text and Leivick’s Yiddish text for ‘A Khasene in Ferenvald’, a play about the first wedding between two Holocaust survivors in a Displaced Persons’ camp after the war.

Let me digress for a moment to note that after reading an early draft of and ‘Displaced Wedding’, Yiddish theatre scholar, Alyssa Quint, suggested that the script might benefit from a broadening of the scope of the play to refer not only to the Holocaust but also to other genocides in modern history. She was right. The English text of ‘Displaced Wedding’ in this volume is thus a product of Alyssa’s creative thinking and intellectual generosity.

Alyssa’s suggestion was implemented in the following way. Leivick’s ‘A Khasene in Ferenvald’ opens with a monologue spoken by a single character, The Chronicler, a narrator who was a witness to the events depicted in the play. To announce the broadened scope of the English adaptation of Leivick’s play, the lines in the opening monologue are assigned to multiple characters: survivors of the Holocaust, survivors of the Armenian genocide, the Bosnian genocide, the Darfur genocide and the Rwandan genocide. Intermittentently throughout the play I have included testimonies of survivors. Holocaust survivor testimonies were created on the basis of actual experiences as reported to me. The testimonies of survivors of other genocides included in the text are excerpts of actual published testimonies.

The English text of Asch’s ‘With the Current (Mit’n Shtrom)’ includes English transliterations of portions of text that Asch wrote in Hebrew, to echo the Yiddish text. Presumably, he did so because he is quoting actual Hebrew blessings or portions of the Talmud. In the English adaptation here, the Hebrew is spoken by characters (on-stage or off) referred to as Voice 1 and Voice 2.

In addition, you will find two instances in the English translation of ‘Mit’n Shtrom’, in which the original Yiddish appears in an English transliteration. The first instance is a lullaby at the outset of the play. I have retained the original Yiddish here, first of all, because this lullaby will be so familiar to Yiddish speakers; second, because it is quite obvious from its context that the child’s grandmother is singing him a lullaby; and, third, because it is the fact that this is a lullaby, and not the meaning of the words in the lullaby that is relevant here. The second instance of Yiddish appearing in English transliteration occurs in Act 2, where Voice 2 publicly calls Jews to prayer, as was the custom in small towns in Eastern Europe when the play was written.

‘With the Current’ also includes two original English monologues commissioned from Clay McLeod Chapman². The first monologue was written for Dovid in Act 1, to provide a more textured sense of what he found in the outside world when he left his community. The second monologue was written for Rokh’l in Act 2, to explore more deeply her emotions following Dovid’s departure.

For the most part, differences between the original Yiddish and the English texts of ‘Carcass’, ‘Under the Cross’ and ‘Professor Brenner’ in this volume are largely due to the fact that the original Yiddish texts were written for very large casts including relatively inconsequential characters. But you will find a few differences introduced in the interest of clarity for a wider audience. For example, Yiddish literature often refers to time of year with reference to Jewish holidays that take place at a given time of year. I have referred instead to the season in which the holiday takes place, e.g., Pesakh becomes springtime. And, in ‘Carcass’, when Ber’l asks Avrush how much he has had to drink that day, the literal translation of the Yiddish text is How many times did you make kiddush today?

Now go ahead and break a leg!

Mentshn (People/Servants)

Characters

DANIEL An elderly bachelor who supervises the servants

HERTZ An elegant servant

RIK’L A cook

FISH’L Cook’s husband

LIZA Recently dismissed maid

REVETSHKE Newly hired maid

YOKHEVED Revetshke’s mother.

FANIA Former maid

REB SENDER Revetshke’s father, a teacher, shabby, ill-mannered

MME. GOLD Mistress of the house, millionaire

HERTZ sits at a table in the kitchen of Madame Gold’s house writing a letter. RIK’L stands behind him dictating.

RIK’L … Dear Sister, please write and tell me how you are finding life as a servant. Are there other servants there and what do they all do? And how are servants treated in your house? …

HERTZ (Writing) Dear Sister, please write … and then?

RIK’L (Dictating) There are four servants here, aside from the one who does the laundry. And the one who’s responsible for the horses, and the one at the gate, and there’s a gardener …

HERTZ I’ve only written down the first few words…and she’s talking a mile a minute!

RIK’L How far did you get, you lame-brain?

HERTZ I got as far as dear sister ….

RIK’L That’s all!? God help me!

HERTZ You think I can write as fast as you can talk? A pen is not a tongue that just grinds out words. There’s a lot of work to do before you write down a single letter! And this cheap pen doesn’t help.

LIZA enters crying.

RIK’L For God’s sake! Why are you crying?

HERTZ (To LIZA) What’s the matter with you? (To RIK’L) Out of the blue she starts crying. (To LIZA) You should just marry me…

RIK’L It looks like you just got a scolding from Madame Gold? What a surprise! A servant has to put up with so much!

HERTZ Tell them to go to hell you silly girl. Like I do. I’m not afraid of anyone!… Why should I care about those petits bourgeois! Who is this Madame Gold anyway! And who does the steward think he is?! Nobody tells me what to do… Marry me, you, silly girl, and be happy.

RIK’L So you’re the groom – and the matchmaker!

DANIEL enters. HERTZ sits up and puts away the pen. RIK’L busies herself.

DANIEL (To HERTZ) Listen up, my fine young man. Come over here. (Pause) Well?

HERTZ What do you mean well?

DANIEL Have you finished showing off?

HERTZ Who?

DANIEL Me!

HERTZ You?

DANIEL You clown! Get upstairs, they’re summoning you! Damn it!!

HERTZ exits.

DANIEL (Sits down, unlocks the table drawer, removes a small book, motions to LIZA to join him at the table and opens the book.) You’re owed wages for four months and three weeks. Four times eight is apparently thirty-two; and for the three weeks at two rubles a week – we have three times two, apparently, six. Thirty-two and six seems to be thirty-eight. If you add twelve you apparently get an even fifty…. (Hands her money) Why are you crying? You think you’re the one who’s in the right? Huh? … Don’t be so proud. Just take the money!

LIZA Why is it my fault? He told me I was beautiful! He swore he loved me …

DANIEL Big deal! He loves her! That clown? That loser? Damn it!…

LIZA Who do you mean?

DANIEL And who do you mean?

LIZA I’m talking about Nathan, Nathan Mayseyvitch…

DANIEL Huh? What did you say? Nathan Mayseyvitch?

LIZA He …

DANIEL Foolish girl! Why did you keep it to yourself? Why didn’t you tell me? You should have told me, me! – Damn it!

RIK’L What’s the matter? My goodness!

DANIEL None of your business! Back to work! (RIK’L obeys.) How did it happen? Tell me! You have nothing to fear from me … You can tell me everything. (LIZA is silent. Then after a pause) So he convinced you that he was in love with you? And you believed him? You poor girl! … And I thought you had become involved with that numbskull over there! Come over here. Sit down… Just tell me the truth! Remember, you’re talking to me… You say it’s Nathan Mayseyvitch?

LIZA I swear. He gave me this ring.

DANIEL Poor thing… you’re so innocent. You’ll trust anybody. …You kept this secret from me?! Secrets? The two of you came to an understanding? You believed him? She was in seventh heaven?! Damn it!! This is how they deceive innocents like you! What did you think would happen? What were you thinking? Did you really expect him to marry you? You thought you’d become another Mme. Gold (Laughs)! Why won’t you say something? Tell me, child, tell me everything.

LIZA (RIK’L sneaks up and listens in). When I first got here… he started following me around the house. He told me I was a beautiful woman! That I adorned the house…, that he could spend all his time looking at me… Then he began sighing and moaning, telling me he loves me! That he couldn’t live without me… He even asked me to be his sweetheart… to take pity on him! He swore he would convince his family to accept me. And if they wouldn’t, he’d poison himself. Or shoot himself… This went on day after day… I felt so sorry for him.

DANIEL She felt sorry for him? (Laughs) To hell with him! And did he feel sorry for you? Why didn’t he feel sorry for you? Huh? …What has he been telling you? Have you been talking to him all along? Tell me!

LIZA Of course. I’ve told him everything… I cried.

DANIEL She cried! And what did he do?

LIZA At first, he asked me gently not to say anything to anyone. He promised me gifts, money… And when I refused the gifts, he got angry! He said that if I told anyone, he’d make trouble for me, for my sister…

DANIEL How does he know you have a sister?

LIZA I told him I have a sister who’s a cashier. If anyone finds out, she’ll lose her job …

DANIEL How could I have missed this! …Damn it! And why didn’t you tell me sooner, you poor thing! Just tell me: do you have any other relatives in town besides your sister?

LIZA No one. I told you. Only my sister, who’s a cashier; she’s younger than I am. She could lose her job.

DANIEL Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to your sister… But it’s a good thing you told me. I’ll see to it straight away… I’ll give you a letter of introduction to take to an acquaintance of mine. You can stay with her until I figure out what to do. I’ll see to this … (Takes out a small piece of paper).

MME. GOLD (From off stage) Daniel! Daniel!

DANIEL (Hides the piece of paper in the table drawer) Coming! I’ll be right there! (Exits)

RIK’L You think I didn’t hear all that? I hear everything! Some life we have. These rich folks can all go to hell!

LIZA Oh, what’ll I do? Where will I go? What will I tell people?

RIK’L Don’t cry, silly girl! Now you know how much I hate meddling in other people’s affairs… But if this had happened to me, if such a thing had happened to me, I wouldn’t stand for it! I’d make them pay. They should teach their children not to treat servants like that!

LIZA What if my sister loses her job! What should I do?

RIK’L This is your chance for financial security! They have more money than they need. It’s okay… Make them pay! And then get married, you foolish girl. That’s what you should do. Get married and give-up your life as a servant. Become a Lady, in charge of your own servants… Think about it! Oh, someone’s coming!

Enter DANIEL and HERTZ.

HERTZ They’ll use any excuse! Totally false accusations!!

DANIEL Quiet! (To LIZA) Did you pack up your things? (Opens the table drawer) Here’s another fifty. And you’ll get more for expenses. I’ll see to it. Poor things! Damn it! (LIZA starts to leave) Where are you going? I still have to give you the letter of introduction.

RIK’L You know that I hate meddling in other people’s affairs, but now’s her opportunity to get some financial security, if nothing more. Such a foolish creature!

DANIEL Who’s asking you for advice? Get back to the stove! Set the table for three more. Madame Gold’s relatives, her poor relations, will be here any minute now. They’ll be eating here with us …

HERTZ At least she’s not making them eat with the dogs …

Enter REB SENDER, YOKHEVED and REVETSHKE, a very poor family with poor table manners.

RIK’L Well, well, well.

HERTZ Get a look at him…

DANIEL Have a seat here at the table, we’ll give you something to eat … Rik’l! Give them something to eat!

MADAME GOLD enters. LIZA rises and exits. DANIEL drops his glasses and hunches over so that he appears shorter.

MME. GOLD Rik’l! Give them something to eat. And give each of them a cup of tea. (To YOKHEVED) I completely forgot to ask your daughter’s name.

YOKHEVED Rive…

REB SENDER Actually, it’s Rivke.

MME. GOLD Rivke? Doesn’t have a very nice ring to it. Reveke, Rebetshke… We’ll call her Revetshke.

YOKHEVED If you wish: Revetshke. I can’t tell you what to call her. She’s yours now.

REB SENDER As long as she’s happy and has what she needs.

MME. GOLD That depends on her. If she behaves, she’ll get along fine. If she doesn’t, she won’t… My servants have never complained about me.

DANIEL If she’s a good servant, she’ll be fine; if she isn’t, she won’t.

RIK’L If she isn’t….

HERTZ They can all go to hell!

MME. GOLD My servants have never complained.

DANIEL Our servants have never complained.

RIK’L Never.

MME. GOLD In my home, servants receive gifts on every holiday.

DANIEL Here, all the servants get gifts!

RIK’L All of us…

REVETSHKE Why gifts? Gifts aren’t necessary …

YOKHEVED Rivele, hush! What’s gotten into you? You shouldn’t speak…

REB SENDER That’s what I was going to say. Silence is golden.

HERTZ What kind of accent does he have…

MME. GOLD And it’s very good that she knows how to write! Sometimes we need to take inventory of the things in the attic. People carry things off, they steal…

DANIEL They steal!

HERTZ The robbers better watch out.

MME. GOLD (To REVETCHKE) Finish eating and get to work. Daniel! Go see to the horses. If they have enough oats. Or if we’re buying too much. The bills just pile up.… (She exits.)

The mood changes entirely. DANIEL puts on his glasses, and stands up straight, sits down in his big chair, writes. RIK’L goes to the table, the guests eat. HERTZ eats with them.

MME. GOLD (From off stage) Daniel! Daniel!

DANIEL (Takes off his glasses, hunches over, goes toward the staircase) Right away! Right away! I’m coming! Coming! (Exits)

RIK’L Eat, my dear guests!

YOKHEVED Who is that angry man over there? The one they call ‘Daniel’? One minute he’s arrogant and the next minute he cowers….

HERTZ That’s our steward.

REB SENDER Your what?

RIK’L Steward. All of our orders come through him… Are you really close relatives of Madame Gold?

YOKHEVED Not very close. But we keep in touch.

REB SENDER Do you want to know how we’re related? I’ll explain it to you.

HERTZ Tell us. We should know. A person should know everything that goes on in the world.

REB SENDER My uncle… actually our uncle, – since my wife and I are cousins, was related to Madame Gold’s aunt’s sister and brother. You see?

YOKHEVED It’s the other way around! Our aunt and your Madame Gold’s uncle were brother and sister.

REB SENDER Isn’t that what I said?

HERTZ (To YOKHEVED) Is that what he said?

YOKHEVED You said that our uncle and her aunt…

REB SENDER I said that? How could I have said that?

HERTZ How could they have said that?

REVETSHKE What’s the difference who said what? Just eat. You haven’t eaten since yesterday …

HERTZ Your daughter is right! If you don’t eat, you can’t dance! So… you’re relatives? Did they really invite you to visit?

REB SENDER Oh no! Not at all… We came on our own. To see if Mme. Gold would give our daughter a job. We remembered that we have rich relatives here, so we came. At first, they didn’t recognize us …

YOKHEVED Why would they recognize us? We live in different worlds. She’s a millionaire!

A bell rings.

HERTZ That’s for me! They won’t even let us eat. We have to take a quick bite and choke it down, like a dog. I wish they’d choke! (Exits)

RIK’L (To YOKHEVED) So I guess you really are …

YOKHEVED What did you think? We’re respectable people …our family…

REVETSHKE Why do they have to know about our family? Are you trying to marry me off?

YOKHEVED Why not? They have to know so they don’t think you are just a servant like them…

REVETSHKE Mama! It was hard to accept that I had to become a servant; but now that I work here, I am like all of them … (Finishes her meal and gets to work washing and drying dishes).

REB SENDER Um…it’s true, it’s true…

LIZA enters and makes herself at home.

REVETSHKE Who’s that girl?

RIK’L That’s our former chambermaid…. she was fired just today.

REVETSHKE Why?

YOKHEVED It’s no big deal that they fired a servant. They hire, they fire!

REB SENDER says a blessing.

RIK’L What is your husband saying?

YOKHEVED You won’t understand. It’s a passage in the gemora.

DANIEL enters

DANIEL (To LIZA) You poor thing! You should have told me sooner! Damn them! …. Come here. (He goes back to the letter) Here’s her address… Go there. Give my regards. Tell her I might still get there today, if not, then tomorrow…You poor thing!

REB SENDER (To DANIEL) Hello. I heard you are the second in command here…

DANIEL And…?

REB SENDER Nothing. I just wanted to ask you to look after our child, keep an eye on her.

DANIEL Look after her? Keep an eye on her? Of course. I’ll look after her.

YOKHEVED She’s precious to us … She’s not an only child, thank God, but she is our oldest and brightest. Please, look after her…

REVETSHKE No one has to look after me; I can take care of myself…

YOKHEVED (To her daughter) Silly girl! (To DANIEL) You do understand. A pretty girl among strangers …

DANIEL A pretty girl among strangers…Definitely one of the benefits…

REVETSHKE Mama, don’t worry about me. No one is going to kidnap me. I’m not ten years old…

YOKHEVED (To RIK’L) A sensible girl. I’d better go now. Sender, put your coat on, we have to go. (To her daughter.) Take care of yourself, Rivele. With God’s help… you’ll be better off here than at home.

REB SENDER That’s what I was going to say: (To DANIEL) Take care, Mr. Daniel… And look after my daughter.

DANIEL I’ll look after your daughter… oh, yes! I’ll look after her.

Exit YOKHEVED and SENDER. REVETSHKE sees them out and returns.

Enter HERTZ.

HERTZ Madame has asked that we harness a wagon and send our Liza off