"The Always Prayer Shawl is a Jewish story but it mirrors the experiences of everyone. If we are not immigrants we are all descended from immigrants - even the Aboriginals who have been here the longest. And we have all brought with us our special possessions; our traditions, beliefs and stories that we weave into the fabric of our larger society." Sheldon Oberman
Synopsis
Adam, an old man tries to convince his grandson to value tradition, so he will accept a bar mitzvah. He tells his life story which becomes the core of the play. Adam, as a boy, must leave troubled Russia for America with his parents. His grandfather, staying behind on their beloved farm, gives him a single precious possession, his prayer shawl. Miriam becomes Adam's friend and later his wife. We see her parallel growth as woman of that generation. Adam and Miriam change as society changes through the Depression, World War II, and the following decades with their different fashions, technology and emerging social issues. As Adam faces the challenges of a changing world and life stages, the shawl represents the shelter of his grandfather's heritage of folktales, songs, spirituality and wisdom. By the end of Old Adam's tale, the grandson asks Adam to prepare him for bar mitzvah but another problem arises - the parents arrive to say the family is moving - to L.A. Adam, staying behind, as his own grandfather did, prepares his grandson as best he can in the short time left to them.
Set Description
Flexible set allowing for portability. An upstage cloth draped on a scroll post as a symbolizing both a prayer shawl and Torah scroll. It contained images of immigrant families. Floor was a ground cloth with a octagonal stylized map of Europe and North America showing geographical points mentioned in the script.
Stage furniture - folding isosceles triangular stools - they fit together into a Star of David and used as improvised furniture; carts, tables chairs etc.
Previous Productions
The play debuted in Winnipeg's Warehouse Theatre in March 95 with four professional actors and one adolescent actor on an honorarium. (4 males 1 female performing multiple roles) It went to Toronto's Harbourfront that August. It was well received by both the general public and schools, grades 1 to 12.
Running Time
The play runs 60 minutes. The touring show was kept to 50 minutes by cutting the Dream Teacher story in ACT 11 SCENE 8.
Support Material
A tape of the original music and sound effects, archival videotape, photos of performances, portable set, costumes and a teaching guide are available through the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre (204 943 3222) or playwright (204 478 1644). Standard royalties.
Students were well prepared for the production by their teachers who had read them the illustrated book The Always Prayer Shawl. Copies of the award winning illustrated book, are available for fundraising at a 50% discount. Call the publisher, Boyds Mills Press (717 253 1080).
ACTS AND SCENES
ACT ONE
Sc 1 Jewish Cemetery the present
Sc 2 Eastern European farm the 1920's
On the road to the village
Sc 3 Farm house - the Decision
Sc 4 ZAIDA's Study house
Transition - voyage to the New World
Sc 5 Immigration Centre
Sc 7 Public School, 1929
Sc 8 Family's tenement apartment
Sc 9 Struggle in the School yard
Sc 10 The Depression hits
Family's tenement apartment
Sc 11 ADAM's bedroom - Dreaming a Bar Mitzvah
(No break)
ACT TWO
Sc 1 Working - Oscar's Deli, 1938
Transition - war announced
Sc 2 Enlisting - Oscar's Deli, 1939
Sc 3 The Soldier's Life - World War 11 Europe
Sc 4 Homecoming - Oscar's Deli 1945
Sc 5 Wedding
Sc 6 Raising a Family the Middle Years
Sc 7 Synagogue / Award Ceremony / Wife's Funeral
Sc 8 Jewish Cemetery, the present
Cast of Characters
ADAM SHORT In his early 80's. He has seen many changes but still retains a desire for permanence which he holds through his traditional observances. This is most deeply rooted in his reverence both for his Zaida's prayer shawl and his memories of Zaida himself. He has been learning to temper his desire for permanence with tolerance of different beliefs and of change in general. It is now time for him to complete his own development as "the zaida"
JACOB (ADAM's grandson) All the enthusiasm and arrogance of youth tempered only by his deep affection for his grandfather.
MAMA Solid, practical and self sacrificing yet with a keen eye and sharp tongue. She manages to stay on the compassionate side of irony.
PAPA An idealist who stayed on the farm but is always expecting the Golden Age and looking for The Golden Opportunity.
ZAIDA An Old World patriarch whose wisdom and creative humor keeps his strong traditional beliefs from becoming rigid and judgemental.
MIRIAM As a child she is naive and follows the book, As an adult she is a strong willed idealist who goes by a different book which makes her defy social expectations in the face of perceived injustices. An unpacified pacifist.
MISS WHITLAW A grade school teacher who believes few of her immigrant students can "make the grade" She thinks herself friendly, firm and fair. Her students think she is a well meaning monster. She wishes she could erase their cultures and wills with the same perfection as she erases her blackboard.
PUSHKIN A bully who wants to build himself up by tearing everyone else down - that means extorting someone's lunch money or their fearful respect. Thinks only in terms of force.
YOSSEL A young comic wiseguy who isn't a coward as much as completely out of his depth when his mouth can't solve his problems
DMITRY Salt of the earth. Simple, naive. Avoids trouble at all costs but will take great pleasure in thumping Pushkin if someone tells him it's okay.
ADAM's daughter, SHARON Not foolish or stereotypical - she is Adam and Miriam's daughter but trying to keep everyone happy especially her overly enthusiastic Neil.
ADAM'S son-in-law, NEIL A modern, sophisticated version of PAPA but with a high degree of success. Restless and ambitious though not to the point of selfishness.
Minor Characters
JONATHAN
DR. CHERENKO,
MRS. STEINHAUSER
IMMIGRATION OFFICER
STUDENTS
CANTOR and CONGREGANTS
COOK
2 WAITERS
2 FRIENDS
ENEMY SOLDIERS, ALLIED SOLDIERS
RABBI,
2 HOLDERS OF THE CHUPAH
2 CONGREGANTS OF ADAM'S TEMPLE
While there are 20 speaking parts, the play was originally staged with four professional actors and an adolescent student actor who played the grandson (four males and one female). One actor played ADAM from boy to old man.
Extra actors can be used in the scenes of the attack on the village, immigration, the class room, the bar mitzvah, the war, the wedding, middle years, MIRIAM's speech and funeral
1-1-1
ACT 1
SCENE 1
SETTING: A Jewish cemetery.
AT RISE: A bench by the grandmother's grave. OLD ADAM stands beside his grandson, JACOB who is in modern faddish clothing. ADAM holds his prayer shawl in its bag. (One does not wear a shawl at a cemetery prayer) JACOB reads the Hebrew prayer by the grave. JACOB and ADAM enjoy an occasionally testy but always gentle and affectionate banter.
The original production used six portable triangular boxes (they form the six points of the Star of David.) They were used as bed, table, chairs, wagon, desk, 30's radio, podium, etc.
JACOB (reading haltingly) "...V'yeetz-ror betetz'ror ha-cha-yeem et neesh-ma-to. Hashem hu nach'la-to (stops about to give up)
OLD ADAM
(calmly)
You're almost finished.
JACOB
V'ya-nu-ach b'sha'lom al meesh-ka-vo v'no-mar amein." Whew!
OLD ADAM
Very good. And now, JACOB, we put a stone by her grave to
show we've been here.
JACOB
It's sort of weird, praying for Gramma in some old foreign language.
OLD ADAM
She'd be so proud that you said her memorial prayer. I only
wish she could be at your bar mitzvah.
JACOB
Grandpa, I don't want a bar mitzvah. Reading this ancient Hebrew in front of hundreds of people. Like this stuff is murder.
OLD ADAM
Aha, it's already getting easier. Last week you called it impossible. Today, it's only murder.
1-1-2
JACOB
But what's it got to do with me?
OLD ADAM
Jacob, they're the stories of our people.
JACOB
From three thousand years ago - talk about out of date.
OLD ADAM
When I was a boy like you I felt the same way...
(JACOB starts laughing)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
I didn't want to learn the old ways but later... what's
so funny?
JACOB
You were a kid like me!
OLD ADAM
You think I was born like this?
JACOB
No...
OLD ADAM
...You think I was always Old Grampa Adam?
JACOB
...but thing's have changed.
OLD ADAM
Aha, that's just what I used to say. You see, I was like you.
JACOB
Then what was it like when you were a kid?
OLD ADAM
You really want to hear the story? It might be "out of date"
JACOB
I'll take the chance.
OLD ADAM
Well, it was long ago and far from here but not so long, and not so far; in a place they called the Old Country. I never called it that. For me, it was where I was Young Adam and everything to me was new ...the woods and fields, the creek where I'd fish and swim and there by the fence was my pony, Shaina, swishing her tail, wanting to gallop. Tonight Shaina, we'll ride through the apple orchard. We'll eat right off the trees.
1-1-3
(Sounds of whinnying horse, the light shifts, other animal sounds occur as ADAM describes the chickens, etc. The stage becomes the farm)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
(pointing)
In the yard -- chickens. By the gate -- Mazik, the goose - (sound of angry honks. They move away as if pecked in the bums)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
- Ooh! Watch out for her. And overhead - a pair of swallows weaving in and out like they were sewing up the sky. Then they swoop -- into the barn high with hay. What a place to leap and roll and dream away the day (sits) until it's time for your own soft feathered bed - then imagine - waking up - not to an alarm clock but to Cranky Gabriel crowing and his great wings flapping...
(offstage crowing)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
(OLD ADAM's imitative flapping wings become an exultant upraising of his arms) ...waking up the Whole Wide World of that little farm.
(JACOB becomes the active listener. He will take on roles during ADAM's story of his life. ADAM's asides are primarily to JACOB, but at times he addresses his larger audience directly)
End of Scene 1
1-2-1
ACT 1
SCENE 2
SETTING ADAM's childhood farm East Europe, morning
AT RISE: house and farmyard indicated by boxes
OLD ADAM
(pointing)
There's Papa with Big Baba Milchedik...
(PAPA enters with milking pail. His limp explains why he's not in the army)
PAPA
(milking) Ho, back up, now, Milchedik. (sounds of mooing, squirting milk. MAMA enters to crank the well)
OLD ADAM
There's Mama at the well with the sun rising sweet and golden, on this -- my land of milk and honey.
(OLD ADAM becomes YOUNG ADAM snuggling in bed)
MAMA
Adam get up. We need wood for a fire. Do you think I can just snap my finger and the stove turns hot?
ADAM
Oh!
PAPA
Adam, Listen to your mama.
ADAM
But Papa!
MAMA
Adam, listen to your papa.
ADAM
But!
(pulling the covers over his head but the kitchen and farm sounds intrude) Alright! (aside to JACOB) So I step onto the ice cold floor - ooh! and down the stairs and I ask, "Mama, what's for breakfast?"
1-2-2
MAMA
(carrying in water)
What can I cook without a fire? And how can I make a fire without wood?
PAPA
(approaching with pail) You know, Masha, the way the modern world is changing, someday you won't need wood to cook. Someday...
MAMA
(taking milk) Someday is not today. Adam, while your father's waiting for someday, I'm waiting for some wood. (PAPA exits)
ADAM
Yes, Mama
(ADAM goes for imagined wood, mother exits)
ADAM
(ASIDE to JACOB)
But there's no wood chopped. So I decide I'll chop some with Papa's axe! (ADAM sways huge imagined axe. He stumbles around balancing the axe. ZAIDA enters wearing his shawl putting tifillan in his bag having ended prayers)
ADAM (Continued)
And why not? I can light the lamp with Papa's matches.
ZAIDA
Good morning, Adam
ADAM
(Continues to try to chop, oblivious to ZAIDA)
I can hit nails with Papa's hammer.
ZAIDA
Hello?
ADAM
So why can't I chop with Papa's axe? (ADAM prepares to make his first chop)
ZAIDA
(singing to the heavens) Good morning, God.
(ADAM misses)
1-2-3
ADAM
Who?
ZAIDA
God. Should I say hello from you, too?
ADAM
I... guess
ZAIDA
(sings to God)
My grandson, Adam, says hello.
ADAM
(misses again with ax, turns to ZAIDA)
Zaida, I thought you were saying morning prayers.
ZAIDA
And what's a prayer? A conversation with God. And how do you start a conversation?
ADAM
You say hello.
ZAIDA
Ah, now you remember! Hello Adam.
ADAM
Oh,... hello, Zaida. Sorry...I'm chopping wood... a pile as high as the roof...just have to get this first one..
(ZAIDA nods, folding shawl as ADAM struggles)
ADAM
(Missing with ax, about to swear)
Ah! Why you stinking, no good piece of...
(ZAIDA looks over, gently mindful)
ADAM (Continued)
...wood. Sorry, Zaida, but there's something wrong with this axe. Could you, ah .... get it warmed up? (Holds out the mime axe)
ZAIDA
(Does not take the ax) If it cools your temper. First I relax. (takes a deep breath) I want chopped wood not chopped toes.
ADAM
I can do that. (Takes deep breath)
1-2-4
ZAIDA
Then I look where I want to hit. Along the lines in the wood so it splits just right.
ADAM
I can do that. (Adjusting mimed ax to the mimed wood)
ZAIDA
Then, I strike! (ADAM strikes and splits the wood)
ADAM
I did it!
ZAIDA
Mazel tov! Now come, it's time for lessons. (ZAIDA puts shawl in bag, moves towards exit)
ADAM
Coming!
(he hesitates, then chops another)
ZAIDA
(stops and calls from a distance) Today we'll learn how Moses freed our people from the Pharaoh.
ADAM
Just a couple more chops
ZAIDA
(returning halfway) You see, the Pharaoh gave us just one chance to escape. It was now or never
ADAM
(politely dismissive) Right. (raising axe to chop)
ZAIDA
(getting beside him) So we had to ...
(ZAIDA seizes the axe on ADAM's upswing)
ZAIDA (Continued)
... stop everything! And go!
ADAM
(Protesting follows ZAIDA who moves downstage with axe) But... But the...
1-2-5
ZAIDA
...But the Pharaoh broke his promise. He came after us with his army.
(ZAIDA waves axe like a weapon) We ran and ran but came to the sea. What to do? Jump in and drown or be dragged back as slaves?
ADAM
I... don't know!
ZAIDA
(raises axe like the staff of Moses)
Neither! Moses raised his staff. With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm he called for a miracle! And the Red Sea split in two! (Miming axe splitting the wood)
ADAM
That's some split!
ZAIDA
Everyone walked across, singing and laughing. You want fish for breakfast? (ZAIDA mimes collecting the split wood as they were fish and loads them onto ADAM)
ZAIDA (Continued)
Here's a fish. And another. Maybe a crab? Sorry, Not kosher!
(MAMA enters watching)
ZAIDA (Continued)
And when we got to the Promised Land we found grapes so big it took two big men to carry a single bunch!
MAMA
(Taking wood)
Good work. Now how about some eggs?
(MAMA exits)
ADAM
Did the Promised Land have eggs?
ZAIDA
Plenty. But just like here, you had to work to find them. Or they stayed Promised Eggs.
(They mime a search for eggs)
ADAM
Because chickens hide their eggs
1-2-6
ZAIDA
Under the porch
(finds eggs)
ADAM
Behind the fence
(ADAM finds more eggs)
ZAIDA
(climbing)
Up in the hay loft
ADAM
It's like one huge nest up there --
ZAIDA
That's a chicken's idea of heaven
ADAM
And we sell the extra eggs in town
ZAIDA
But we let the chickens keep a few, because an egg...
ADAM
...is a chicken's way to make more chickens.
ZAIDA
And a chicken...
ADAM
...is an egg's way to make more eggs.
ZAIDA
(putting eggs in boxes)
And why do we sell them?
ADAM
(in a rhythm which the zaida joins by chanting)
To buy more feed, to feed the chickens, to lay more eggs, to make more money, to buy more feed...
ZAIDA
(the chanting turns into singing the "Chad Gad Yo"
Passover song as they set up the wagon and board it.)
1-2-7
Lyrics to Chad Gad Yo
ZAIDA can sing part of this either in the Yiddish or
in the English
Chad gad-yo Chad gad-yo
Dis-ze-van a-bo bis-rey zu-zey/
chad gad-yo, chad gad yo/
V'-o-so shun-ro v'o-chal l'gad yo
Di-ze-van....
V'o-so kal-bo v'no-shach l'shun-ro
D'o-chal l'gad-yo
Di-ze-van....
V'o-shut-ro v'hi-koh l'chal-bo
D'no-shach l'shun-ro/ D'o-vchal l'gad-yo
Di-ze-van....
(translation)
One little goat, one little goat
My father bought for two zuzim
One little goat, one little goat
Then came a cat and ate the goat
My father bought for two zuzim
One little goat, one little goat
Then came the dog and bit the cat
That ate the goat my father bought for two zuzim
One little goat, one little goat. etc
The ending is....
Then came the Holy One Blessed be He
And slew the angel of death
That killed the butcher that slaughtered the ox
That drank the water that quenched the fire
That burned the stick that beat the dog
That bit the cat that ate the goat
My father bought for two zuzim
One little goat, one little goat
1-2-8
ADAM
(aside as he helps ZAIDA)
Zaida leads old Czar Nicholas out of the stable and hitches him up to the wagon. I load the eggs. Then Zaida cracks his whip. And... nothing happens. He shakes the reins. Even more nothing. So he sings out...
ZAIDA
(Singing)
"And the horse got some carrots for his supper! (continues to sing background to the following dialogue)
ADAM
And Czar Nicholas pulls! Out of the farm yard. Past the chickens (cluck!) past the goose (Honk!) through the gate and down the road to town!
PAPA
(waving)
Don't be late!
MAMA
(waving)
Remember it's Friday.
PAPA
The sabbath starts at sunset.
MAMA
Listen to your father!
PAPA
Listen to your mother!
ZAIDA
(Ending song)
So what did Moses do after he saved our people? Did he take a vacation?
(hands Adam reins, leans back relaxing
as Adam struggles with reins)
Did he lean back and listen to everyone saying, "Ooh! He's so great! What a hero!"
ADAM
No, he kept working, for forty more years - leading our people through the desert.
ZAIDA
He was training us to stick together so we could stick up for ourselves!
(ADAM gathers the reins like the fringes)
1-2-9
ZAIDA (Continued)
And when they came to the Promised Land?
ADAM
He didn't go in.
ZAIDA
It wasn't meant for him. Besides he was old and there was even more trouble inside.
ADAM
But what about it being so wonderful!
ZAIDA
It was wonderful but also difficult
(far off boom)
ZAIDA (Continued)
And dangerous - Nicholas, calm down!
ADAM
So being easy wasn't part of the promise.
ZAIDA
People and chickens. Sometimes they think the same way. Ever since Adam and Eve left the Garden, people think the perfect world should be like a big soft nest.
ADAM
I'm named after him!
ZAIDA
Who?
ADAM
Adam from the Garden.
ZAIDA
Yah, but not in one big jump from him to you... Step by step. You're named after my grandfather. And he was named after his grandfather's grandfather. That way there will always be an Adam.
ADAM
(laughs and whispers into his ear)
I'm always Adam. That won't change
ZAIDA
Ah! Some things change and some things don't.
ADAM (aside)
That's when everything began to change (louder boom. ADAM looks to ZAIDA who looks ahead, worried and takes the reins)
1-2-10
ZAIDA
A storm
ADAM
(aside) (becoming increasingly frightened as sound effects increase) But it isn't. At least no ordinary storm. It's the thunder of guns. Horses charging! Men attacking the town! People running everywhere. There's my friend, Jonathan!
ADAM (Continued)
Jonathan! Where are you going?
(JACOB enters the drama by enacting JONATHAN who rushes through)
JONATHAN
I don't know! Our house is burning.
(he exits)
ADAM
Mrs. Steinhauser!
MRS. STEINHAUSER
(rushing through)
Did you see my daughter? Did anyone see Rivka? Rivka!
(she exits)
ADAM
Dr. Cherenko!
(More explosions)
CHERENKO
Take only what you can carry. Carry only what you can eat.
(as he exits)
Leave all the rest!
ADAM
(aside)
Pillars of smoke and fire rising in the sky. I'd heard about the fighting but suddenly it's here!
ZAIDA
(to horse)
Nicholas, turn back. Home!
(villagers enter rushing past, screaming)
END OF SCENE 2
1-3-1
ACT 1
SCENE 3
SETTING: Family home
AT RISE: PAPA, MAMA and ZAIDA in agitated
discussion
ADAM looks on unseen from his
bedroom)
ADAM (aside)
All through the night, I dream of fire, smoke, terrible cries... things ripped apart and pulled away. I keep waking, hearing my parents and Zaida in the kitchen, feeling the fear in their voices.
PAPA
Maybe they won't hurt us... but they'll take our food, our animals, anything they want.
ZAIDA
We'll hide all the food we can and then...
MAMA
But we can't hide enough to get through the winter.
ZAIDA
We'll eat less. What you can cut into two, you can cut into four.
PAPA
Pa, now is the time for us to get out. Before they close the borders, block the roads. We'll go to the New Country. It's a golden opportunity!
(ZAIDA turns away, moodily strokes his shawl bag)
MAMA
In America, no one cares where you come from or what you believe in. There everybody's the same.
ZAIDA
(turning back)
Is that so good? To be the same?
PAPA
It's easier there - no czar, no king to tell us what to do. Everyone gets to vote.
ZAIDA
Huh! Even the fools and the criminals!
1-3-2
MAMA
No one cares about your religion or your past. They let you work at any job, live anywhere you want. As long as you have money you can...
ZAIDA
Money -- that's what's important?
PAPA
We have to decide. Either we leave today or we may never get out.
MAMA
(To ZAIDA)
What should we do?
ZAIDA
I must stay.
(The parents tense up, about to argue)
PAPA
But that's...
ZAIDA
And you must go.
PAPA
Pa!
MAMA
Break up the family!
ZAIDA
I'm too old for so many changes.
PAPA
Masha... maybe... maybe it's for the best
ADAM
(Rushing in)
Zaida and I are staying. You want to leave? Then go!
PAPA
Adam, you have to...
ADAM
You can't make me!
(pause, as both are shocked by his anger,
then ADAM rushes out)
END OF SCENE 3
1-4-1
ACT 1
SCENE 4
SETTING : (ZAIDA's school - a chair and lectern big enough to spread a small study Torah.
AT RISE : ADAM enters exhausted, anxious)
ADAM
I ran away, into the woods. I wanted to stay away until everything went back to the way it always was. Finally, I came back- not home, but to my zaida's little study house.
(ADAM sits slumped in exhaustion. ZAIDA enters. He either has the shawl or takes it from lectern)
ADAM (Continued)
Zaida!
ZAIDA
Ah, just in time. This will be a special lesson.
ADAM
You told them I'm not going, right?
(Zaida sighs then sings or incants the prayer for the shawl as he ritually dons it.
ZAIDA
"Baruch atah Hashem eloheynu melach ha'olam asher keedeshanu b'mitzvotav vetsivannu l'hitatef ba'tsitsit"
(He sits beside ADAM and shuts his eyes)
ADAM
Zaida?
(ZAIDA feels the sun on his face, shuts eyes)
ZAIDA
Hmmm. It's nice, in the sun, eh?
(ZAIDA takes a deep breath, Adam settles down
a notch, shuts his eyes, too, breathes in)
ADAM
...Yah.
(ZAIDA exhales which signals
that they open their eyes)
1-4-2
ZAIDA
Today, we are going to learn about...
ADAM
If I stay I can help out; I'll feed the chickens, I'll
milk the cow, I'll even...
ZAIDA
They'll be fine with me. And I'll be fine with them.
ADAM
What about Czar Nicholas? Only I know how to call him in from the field.
ZAIDA
And what else do you know?
(Bringing out the Torah)
ZAIDA (Continued)
Do you know when you're to have your Bar Mitzvah?
ADAM
When I'm thirteen
ZAIDA
Good. And what is a bar mitzvah?
ADAM
When I read out the Torah to everyone in the synagogue. It shows I've learned enough to join the grownups.
(ZAIDA unrolls the scroll on the desk)
ZAIDA
And when you can do that, what is given to you? What do you wear as you read from the Torah?
ADAM
A prayer shawl, like yours.
ZAIDA
And before it was mine it was my grandfather's, the one he wore just on the High Holidays. He showed me how to gather the fringes, how to join them together, how to wrap them and kiss them to Torah (after wrapping them around the fingers, he kisses the fringes and presses them to the passage in the Torah) ...how to bless the Torah and then I'd be ready to read. (Uses his fringes or ritual pointer, pauses) And what is in the Torah?
ADAM
The stories of our people from the Garden of Eden to the Promised Land.
1-4-3
ZAIDA
Very good. And which story are you to read?
ADAM
I don't know.
ZAIDA
Excellent! You even know that you don't know everything. You tell your next teacher it's this part - near the end. The people are heading to the Promised Land and Moses stays behind. They are saying goodbye.
(ZAIDA stands as he ritually incants the words)
"Ve zot habrachah asher barech Moshe eesh ha eloheeheem et b'nai
Eesrael leefnay motoh" "This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel.
(ZAIDA may raise his hand during the Hebrew,
suggesting a blessing on boy. He's about to read on)
ADAM
If I stay, you can teach me everything you want.
ZAIDA
This is no longer a place for a child.
ADAM
Then come with us to America.
ZAIDA
That's no place for an old man.
ADAM
But what about the fighting?
ZAIDA
Ah! They won't bother me. To them the old are invisible. And this is my home. My parents were born here. And their parents before them.
ADAM
It's my home, too. Why can't I stay with you?
ZAIDA
At your age, your parents are your home. They are your roof and walls. Where they go, you must go.
ADAM
But I don't want things to change!
ZAIDA
Some things change and some things don't.
(removes shawl)
This is for you, my tallis. Let it be the part of me that stays with you. Will you take it?
1-4-4
ADAM
(ADAM clutches the shawl to his chest)
Zaida!
ZAIDA
Will you take care of it, hmmm? Always?
ADAM
I am always Adam and this is my Always Prayer Shawl. That won't change.
(ZAIDA kisses him on forehead, exits with Torah)
ADAM (Continued as an aside)
And then we left.
(Transition - The journey of emmigration)
ADAM (Continued)
We travel for weeks past farms and villages, sleeping in the fields, bathing in rivers, following the sun west, always west. Until we come to the sea. Then we sail for weeks - west again through storms and heat, crowded with hundreds of others in the dark bottom of the ship. Until we come to another country where the people speak a different language and wear different clothes.
END OF SCENE 4
1-5-1
ACT 1
SCENE 5 The Arrival
SETTING: Ellice Island, New York
AT RISE: An empty stage. The family is waiting in an imagined crowded line to face the imagined immigration officer. They have accents when speaking "English" to OFFICER
OFFICER
(off stage voice)
Move on! Who's next!?
(family shuffles forward in line, PAPA checks
phrase book. MAMA holds the passports)
PAPA
Remember, no talking Yiddish or Ukrainian, no Polish or Russian.
Here it's just English.
MAMA
Be quick, fast. Here it's all "One, two, One two. Who's next!"
OFFICER
Who's next!
PAPA
Look healthy, honest. If they see something wrong, they'll ship us back.
OFFICER
Move on! Who's next!
PAPA
That's us... And I'm not Shmuel no more. I'm Sam.
MAMA
(in a barely ironic tone)
Sure, that way no one will ever guess you're an immigrant.
OFFICER
Given name!?
PAPA
(in heavy accent)
Your honour, I am Sam.
MAMA
And I'm not Masha. I'm ...
(Sam whispers the name to her)
1-5-2
MAMA
...Mary.
ADAM.
(insistently)
I'm still Adam. I'm always Adam
PAPA
(glares at ADAM but gives up)
Alright!
(to officer)
He's Adam
OFFICER
Family name!?
MAMA
Fomberstein
PAPA
(to MAMA)
No! It's too long, too foreign.
MAMA
Then what?
PAPA
I'll ask for a American name...
(fumbling with phrase book)
OFFICER
Family name?
PAPA
We want...uh
(fumbles through book to
translate his words into English)
PAPA (Continued)
...new name ... some thing, uh.... something short... and uh...
OFFICER
Short?
(PAPA nods)
OFFICER
Okay. Sam Short. Mary Short. Adam Short. Move on! Who's next!
(The family all look shocked
as they move along)
END OF SCENE 5
1-6-1
ACT 1
SCENE 6
SETTING: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 1930 morning
AT RISE: The empty stage converts into a classroom with Miss Whitlaw overseeing her class as it settles into the morning procedures
ADAM
Things changed even more. We travelled by train to a city called Winnipeg... (or insert city's name).. and we moved into an apartment on Selkirk Avenue. (or insert local street name) (He folds and puts away the shawl carefully) My father went to work at Bromley Steel. My mother at Winsome Clothing. (or insert local industries of the period) No more growing crops or raising animals - they worked in factories running machines and being run by them. And I went to Aberdeen School, (or insert local name) three floors high with heavy doors and dark halls.
(ADAM, 12, rushes into class, sits at attention. Miss Whitlaw walks among them with a pointer. A student whispers, gets tapped. She leads the Lord's Prayer as the class mumbles along but ends with clear "Amen")
Miss Whitlaw
...And lead us not into temptation, forever and ever. Amen
Class
Amen
ADAM
Omain
(Jewish version of "amen" The class stares at him.)
Miss Whitlaw
Today class, you'll learn Geography, Music, History. Then after lunch, Grammar, Arithmetic, Science and then - a test. But first bow your heads.
(the class bows and clasps hands to pray)
Miss Whitlaw
No, you've done the prayer. I'm checking for lice. Dmitry - (she checks his hair and will keep checking heads. Some students can be mimed)
Good. Adam - Good. Yossel - Good. Maria - Bad - wait in the hall. And take the kerosene. We'll need it to wash them out.Yohan - Good. And since you're already staring at your desks, open your geography notebooks for dictation. "Russia. Russia lies east of Europe."
(checking student's spelling)
1-6-2
Europe spelled as it sounds, Eee-yoor-ope. I can't understand why you all miss Mrs. Fletcher so much; she doesn't seem to have taught you anything. "Russia has the following backward peoples - Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Mongols...
ADAM
Excuse me, Miss Whitlaw!
MISS WHITLAW
There's no excuse for interrupting.
ADAM
I'm not, none of us are... backward
MISS WHITLAW
(pleasantly which sharpens her harshness meaning)
Then why are so many of you swarming into this country? Most of you from dirty villages, probably without even an indoor toilet. I believe that would be called backward.
ADAM
My grandfather has a wall full of books. And he's always reading them -- books from hundreds of years ago, even longer. Even before King Solomon!
MISS WHITLAW
Your people are especially stubborn. Clinging to your old beliefs just to be different.
ADAM
I'm not different. You're different!
MISS WHITLAW
Well that's it! You've forced me to suspend you for the day
ADAM
Forced you? How can I...
MISS WHITLAW
One more outburst and you'll force me to call in your parents
ADAM
But I do all my work. I get the answers right.
MISS WHITLAW
Then answer this. How do you become a proper American?
ADAM
I.. uh...
(ADAM lowers eyes, not knowing. She taps a student with her pointer who rises intimidated by her command and speaks his well learned lesson)
1-6-3
STUDENT
By doing as you're told and acting like the rest.
MISS WHITLAW
And forgetting who you were and where you came from. Now leave quietly. Class, open your American Song Books. Page 24 (She names a rousing patriotic song which is nevertheless dated and rather excessive. The students sing with fervour. The director may choose a song appropriate to the particular audience. In America, The Maple Leaf Forever worked well as it was lively and reminiscent of the era. It was also pledged devotion to England, Ireland and Scotland in obvious contradiction to Miss Whitlaw's admonition to forget "who you were and where you came from" As they sing, ADAM collects his books and exits. The singing students in a march, prepare the stage for the next scene then exit still marching and singing.)
END OF SCENE 6
1-7-1
ACT 1
Scene 7
SETTING: School yard, immediately afterwards
AT RISE: PUSHKIN, a bully, is loitering. ADAM enters. PUSHKIN shoulders him as he passes
ADAM
Wha..?
PUSHKIN
(Pushing him) Hey, watch it. You looking for trouble?
ADAM
Not from you, Pushkin.
PUSHKIN
(pushing) My name's Potter. I ain't no foreigner.
ADAM
We call you Pushkin 'cause you push.
PUSHKIN
Think you're smart, eh? (shows his outspread hand. As he counts each finger, it bends into a fist) What does one plus one plus one plus one make?
ADAM
Four
PUSHKIN
Wrong. It makes one. See! (hits ADAM hard in the gut)
ADAM
Oh! (PUSHKIN exits laughing. ADAM falls to his knees)
END OF SCENE 7
1-8-1
ACT 1
SCENE 8
SETTING: ADAM's bedroom
AT RISE: Sounds of traffic, voices off stage quarrelling, etc. before lights up. Adam wanders on listening, watching
OFFSTAGE VOICES
"Where'd you learn to drive! Yah stupid jerk!" "Heya soldier, what's your name?"
(Jazz music on radio)
"Shut your stinking radio!" "I'm calling the landlord!"
(ADAM sits looking at his prayer shawl bag. He will take out the shawl to mourn over it.)
ADAM (aside)
Everything is so different. Except my Prayer Shawl. I am always Adam and this is my Always Prayer Shawl. Oh, Zaida, if you were here, you'd know what to tell me. You'd say, "Words don't work on a bully. Don't talk to someone's head when his fists are in charge.
(imitating PUSHKIN) "Four makes one" (in his own voice answering PUSKIN) Well, lots of things make one. (ADAM examines the four corner fringes, gathering them like his zaida did when he ritually donned the shawl.) Like four fringes that join into one. (gets idea) Join into one! (Exits in a rush.)
END OF SCENE 8
1-9-1
ACT 1
SCENE 9
SETTING : Schoolyard, next day
AT RISE: YOSSEL, DMITRY and MIRIAM, fellow student are in animated conversation as ADAM enters.)
YOSSEL
He tripped me so I told him off. I said, "PUSHKIN, you should grow like an onion - upside down with your head in the ground.
(all laugh)
YOSSEL (Continued)
Pushkin, you should win a million dollars and it shouldn't be enough to pay your doctor bills
(more laughs)
YOSSEL (Continued)
So he threw my shoes in the tree. Hey, you seen apple trees? Orange trees? This is a shoe tree.
ADAM
You can't laugh off Pushkin. Jokes don't stop a bully.
DMITRY
I made a deal. He won't bother me as long as I give him my lunch money.
(DMITRY stretches out hand in gesture of confidence. ADAM grabs it pulling him towards him )
ADAM
He's a bully, Dmitry. The more you give, the more he wants.
MIRIAM
I reported him and Miss Whitlaw strapped us both for "making trouble" When I told my parents they said,"It's your own fault. Stay away from him." The principal won't even see me. Mrs. Fletcher would have stopped him.
YOSSEL
But she's transferred to another school
MIRIAM
I'm calling the police!
ADAM
They won't help, not for this.
1-9-2
MIRIAM
Then who will?
ADAM
Miriam, we'll help ourselves
MIRIAM
What can any one of us do?
ADAM
Not anyone alone, but the four of us together. It's like twisting strings together - they make a strong rope. My zaida used to say, "Stick together and you can stick up for yourselves."
YOSSEL
I'm not so sure...
(ADAM puts out hand)
ADAM
Miriam, it's now or never.
MIRIAM
Well, maybe if...
ADAM
Yes or no? (the four join hands in a pact. PUSHKIN enters and pushes into their circle.)
PUSHKIN
Know what!? (pushes) You don't know nothing, He pushes YOSSEL, but ADAM supports YOSSELS. PUSHKIN tries to stare down ADAM)
PUSHKIN (Continued) You pipsqueak!
(DMITRY and YOSSEL join ADAM. PUSHKIN backs away and turns to MIRIAM)
PUSHKIN (Continued)
You owe me money! (He's encircled, tries but can't push out. With a shout they seize him. There is hubub on both sides and hostile words)
PUSHKIN (Continued)
Hey, let go. I'll show ya! Ah! etc.
ADAM
Get his arm. Yossel, his neck. Miriam, legs - Everyone- sit! (PUSHKIN is pinned to the ground)
1-9-3
DMITRY
You'll pay double for what you stole.
MIRIAM
(Pulling up a leg) Turn him upside down. Revolution! We're the bosses now!
YOSSEL
(Raising another leg)
Pushkin, you should be like a chandelier - hang all day and burn all night!
ADAM
STOP! We're not bullies. We joined to make things fair - not to be a gang, not to beat him up.
PUSHKIN
I'll get you back (pointing to each of the four) one- at- a- time-.
ADAM
You try hurting one of us, we'll all stop you. Bully anyone else, we'll protect them, too. (pointing to each of them)
ADAM (Continued)
One plus one plus one plus one, Pushkin. That makes one big headache for you!
PUSHKIN
(scrambling to his feet- as if to fight) Oh yeh!?
ADAM
(with others behind him backing him up) Yeh!
(PUSHKIN intimidated, exits in a scramble. They cheer)
END OF SCENE 9
1-10-1
ACT 1
SCENE 10
SETTING: ADAM'S kitchen Immediately after his victory. The Depression is hitting home. Music of the time period.
NEWSBOY (offstage) More factories close. Read all about it. Thousands out of work. Depression getting worse!
AT RISE: MAMA is by table cleaning with a rag. PAPA sits at table in work clothes, holding his lunch box
PAPA
Tomorrow bright and early. I'll find another job.
MAMA
Like I did? I've been looking for three months, bright and early every day.
PAPA
Ha! You just wait. I'll show you.
MAMA
A man came to the door today, an educated man. He said, "Madam" imagine, he called me Madam. He asked, "Is there work you need done? I'm hungry. I'll work just for a meal."
PAPA
We can still share our food with others. We aren't starving
MAMA
No, not starving. We have four apples, a block of cheese, 10 lbs of flour and oh, yes - a half sack of potatoes.
PAPA
The country's in a temporary slump. The economy will bounce back. The factories will start up again. Then we'll all get better jobs with even better pay.
MAMA
In the Old Country, we could grow our food, spin our wool for clothes, cut our wood for heat.
1-10-2
PAPA
Ha! The old ways.
MAMA
Here, everything has to be bought with money. And to get money, someone has to give you a job.
PAPA
It's Progress, Masha. Civilization moves forward every day...Science, Medicine, (losing confidence) Democracy
(ADAM rushes in elated but halts, seeing his parents' mood. They don't see him.)
MAMA
This time, your god of Progress has fallen into a hole and he's pulled us down with him.
PAPA
We need our government to do something.
MAMA
We need your cousin, Oscar. He's got a delicatessen.
He'll hire you as a waiter
PAPA
Oscar's got troubles, too. How much can he pay?
MAMA
I'll clean houses, take in laundry. And Adam will work, too. Oscar can use him in the kitchen.
PAPA
That's full time Monday to Saturday. He'd have to quit school
MAMA
There's no other choice.
PAPA
But he wants to go to university. For the first time someone in our family is going to...
MAMA
The Connors couldn't pay their rent. They were thrown out. Furniture, clothes, everything dumped on the street. And where will they go?
PAPA
Our landlord won't do that, (uncertainly) would he?
1-10-3
ADAM
(as if he's just arrived) Pa, Ma. I decided... I want to quit school.
PAPA
(shocked) Why?
ADAM
I can't do it anymore. I'm... failing.
PAPA
(Knowing this is not true) You're not failing! And you're not quitting!
MAMA
(realizing Adam's sacrifice) Adam could take some time off
ADAM
Yah.
MAMA
Later, when things get better. Things will get better, won't they, Sam? (Sam, caught by his own words, looks ashamed and helpless)
PAPA
I suppose.. They have to
MAMA
(to ADAM)
Then, you can go back.
ADAM
(halfheartedly) Sure, in a year or two... maybe.
MAMA
Adam, you're a good boy.
(ADAM exits)
END OF SCENE 10
1-11-1
ACT 1
SCENE 11 The Bar MItzvah Fantasy
SETTING ADAM'S bedroom right afterwards
AT RISE ADAM is angrily pulling out his school and Hebrew books to get rid of them. He tosses them onto the desk or bed.
ADAM
Math, Science, History. No more of that. Hebrew lessons? Forget them. There won't be any Bar Mitzvah. Everything's changed. (He pulls down the prayer shawl) Even this! The fringes are all worn off. Some Always Prayer Shawl! (Throws it down in a bundle on the floor. He collapses, softly weeping. The fantasy/dream begins. ZAIDA appears as a spirit. His regular clothes are covered in a gauzy ghostlike shawl)
ZAIDA
I didn't think it would come so soon.
ADAM
What?
ZAIDA
Your bar mitzvah
ADAM
Zaida?
ZAIDA
It wasn't supposed to be till you're thirteen.
ADAM
(overcoming surprise)
It's never. I have to quit everything. I'm going to work full time.
ZAIDA
And so, you must have your Bar Mitzvah now.
ADAM
What?
ZAIDA
When do you have a Bar Mitzvah?
(ZAIDA picks up the shawl and kisses it)
When you are growing up - not just your body but your mind, your heart and spirit. ADAM - you're giving up so much, taking on so much - all for your family - this shows you're becoming a man.
1-11-2
ADAM
It's not fair! What did I do wrong? And I'm losing everything.
ZAIDA
What you're losing is not as important as what you're gaining.
ADAM
I'm...
ZAIDA
You're growing up.
ADAM
It's not the way I expected.
ZAIDA
Better some way than no way at all. Here.
(hands ADAM the prayer book)
ZAIDA
Let's begin.
ADAM
But I can't read the Hebrew.
ZAIDA
It's okay
ADAM
There's no synagogue and no congregation
ZAIDA
Okay and okay
ADAM
And you were supposed to teach me. But you stayed behind and you got sick and you... you're not really here.
ZAIDA
I'm here as best I can be. Remember the story about the boy who knew almost nothing.
ADAM
(at first mechanically recalling)
He'd lost his family and friends. He was poor. There was no one to teach him the ways of his people.
ZAIDA
All this he learned to accept. But then came the time when he should have his Bar Mitzvah and he called out...
(ZAIDA looks up to Heaven as does ADAM who enters the role of the boy in the tale)
1-11-3
ADAM
Today I'm supposed to read out the words of the Torah in front of my people. But I'm alone and all I ever learned was the Hebrew alphabet.
ZAIDA
Then he heard a Voice, "Sing out what you know with all your heart."
ADAM
(sings an alphabet tune)
Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Daled,
ZAIDA
He sang his alphabet.
ADAM
Hay, Vov, Zein, and Chet...
ZAIDA
His voice filled with his heart's great desire for knowledge and each letter rose to Heaven on golden wings.
ADAM
Tet, Yud, Chaf, Lamed,
ZAIDA
The sky grew bright. The angels had heard his song. They were coming down to join him. And that boy had a Bar Mitzvah like no other boy had ever known.
(ZAIDA wraps the shawl around him as ADAM keeps singing the alphabet - Not all letters are needed
ADAM
"Mem, Noon, Samech, Ein, Pay, Tsadid, Koof, Reish, Sheen Tov"
(Enter CELEBRANTS in a vision of a Bar Mitzvah
Music. ADAM is raised up to stand on a bench. The celebrants dance shout and clap - hora style around him, carrying the flowing shawl which is finally placed on his shoulders)
END OF ACT 1 - no break
2-1-1
ACT 2
SCENE 1
SETTING: An empty stage soon to become
Oscar's Deli (or a local version)
AT RISE: OLD ADAM is still telling his lifestory to JACOB. OLD ADAM will become ADAM at thirteen then eighteen. The cook, waiters and friends can be voices off stage.
OLD ADAM
And that's when I put on these new fringes. New! It was over sixty years ago. Imagine. Sixty years. A mayfly lives, maybe a day. Then poof! Hope you had a nice day. (to the expired mayfly) So to a mayfly - 60 years - it's eternity. To a boy - it's his whole life, many times over! But to me, those years seemed to rush by, each year shorter than the next.
ADAM
First, at just thirteen I enroled in the University of Oscar's Delicatessen. (sets up a couple of boxes to establish Oscar's Deli) I got my degree in Dish Washing. (ADAM expertly dons an apron - sound of applause. He evaluates imagined dishes, washes, stacks them as applause turns into clatter of the crowded deli. This should be fun)
COOK
Adam, more plates! Glasses. And scrub those pots.
ADAM
Coming!
(aside)
Then, I spent three years learning to be a Master of Short Order Cooking
WAITER 1
Adam! Two borscht, sour cream, and a plate of blintzes.
WAITER 2
Three chicken soup hold the knadlach!
ADAM
(mimes cooking, filling plates) Coming! (aside)
2-1-2
Finally, my 3rd degree. I studied trays, tips and tables, served blue plate specials and mystery stews. I added up bills and I took away dishes and got a full course in four course meals. All so I could become... (suspensefully) a professional waiter!
(Applause)
ADAM (Continued)
(ordering quickly, confidently)
One corned beef on rye, two tongue on pumpernickel, a gefilte fish with hot horseradish, three knishes with sour cream. And a herring for Harry Hirshberg 'cause Hirshberg's in a hurry. Whew! (in aside) And I made new friends. I found new interests... (as he waits on tables)
FRIEND 1
Say, Adam, after work how's about some baseball...
ADAM
Okay!
FRIEND 2
Or lift weights and take a sweat at the steam bath
ADAM
You betcha!
FRIEND 1
Then catch a movie - Bogart's playing at the College
FRIEND 2
Or drive out to the board walk at Winnipeg Beach
ADAM
No way - tonight's Deena's party! I won't miss that!
FRIENDS
(teasing)
Hey, Adam's a lady's man, what a lover! etc.,
ADAM
(Continued as an aside)
You see, by now I started to like... well...I became interested in... ahh...
(MIRIAM enters he falters.)
ADAM (Continued)
... a certain girl... (taking an order) So that's one chicken soup on rye bread and a salami milk shake with uh, was that a pickle?
2-1-3
MIRIAM
Hello, Adam (she likes him, too)
ADAM
Oh hi, Miriam (so self consciousness he gets clumsy. He slides his pencil into his shirt pocket, misses the pocket, drops it etc.)
MIRIAM
Adam, will you...
ADAM (expectantly) Yes, Miriam?
MIRIAM
Sign my petition?
ADAM
For workers' rights?
MIRIAM
Not this time
ADAM
To set up more soup kitchens?
MIRIAM
This one's for the refugees - they're trying to get out of Germany -- they need America to let them in.
ADAM
Sure, anything
(signing)
MIRIAM
Some of us are meeting tonight at Hillel House -- writing letters to politicians. Would you volunteer?
ADAM
Sure!
MIRIAM
Great! Because I can't be there. I promised Deena I'd help at her party.
ADAM
(disappointed and flustured)
Oh!
2-1-4
MIRIAM
But I could slip away early and... (she impulsively touches his hand) ...you could tell me how the writing went
ADAM
Oh sure!
(MIRIAM exits)
ADAM (aside)
It went pretty well. I mean... soon Miriam and I were going steady... and we kept going steady...
(Rising sound effects of the next scene - the war)
ADAM (Continued)
But everything else was changing.
(TRANSITION TO THE WAR Collage of sounds - newsreels, speeches, escalations to war. At the end ADAM will see an army jacket hung as the shawl had been placed in bar mitzvah scene.
ADAM (Continued)
Trouble in Germany - Hitler and his Nazis. They bullied anyone different; a different colour, or religion or politics. And they got away with it. So they grew worse. Broken windows. Burned homes. Then murders. Still no one stopped them. So they got worse still. And there were more of them - thousands, then hundreds of thousands smashing everyone in their way. They took over Germany. And now they're taking country after country.
end of Act 2 scene 1
2-2-1
ACT 2
SCENE 2
SETTING : Oscar's Deli, early World War 11
AT RISE : ADAM, sits deep in thought. His
waiter's apron discarded on floor
MIRIAM enters.
MIRIAM
Adam?
ADAM
Yossel joined up. So did Dmitry. To fight the Nazis.
MIRIAM
Those idiots - marching to war like it's a game. You're not thinking of...?
ADAM
I don't know what to do. I can't just keep writing letters and petitions.
MIRIAM
You don't end killing by killing.
ADAM
You don't end it just by talking. Hitler's taken half of Europe. He wants the whole world.
MIRIAM
And what do you want? To be dead in a grave?
ADAM
If no one stops him, it's the grave for all of us.
MIRIAM
(opens her book)
Ghandi says, "The only true peace comes by peaceful resistance even to armed force...
ADAM
But maybe not this time. Maybe not this enemy.
MIRIAM
Maybe you're just afraid of being left behind. Or of disappointing your friends. Or afraid of what people will think, the ones who say we aren't as good as they are, who say we don't deserve to be Americans.
ADAM
Miriam, I've grown up, I'm not a child anymore.
2-2-2
MIRIAM
Is that what grown up means? Becoming a killer?
ADAM
It means deciding things for myself. Doing what I think is right. When I was a boy they came and attacked my village. They wrecked the whole country. All I could do was run away. Now I'm a man. I've got a new country and it's in danger. Should I run away again?
MIRIAM
Remember how you stopped Pushkin?
ADAM
Pushkin? We were kids in a schoolyard.
MIRIAM
You didn't hit him. You didn't let anyone hit him. You showed us all there was a better way than violence. That was so important for me learn.
ADAM
And what I learned was that you stop a bully by joining together and standing up to him.
(Decides)
Miriam, that's what I have to do.
MIRIAM
(Angrily walking off)
Then do it!
(She stops before exit)
Oh, Adam I respected you so much before this. I'd have done anything for you.
ADAM
Will you do something for me now?
MIRIAM
What?
ADAM
Will you wait for me?
MIRIAM
Why should I?
ADAM
Maybe, if I know you're waiting, I won't feel so scared.
MIRIAM
You'd better not get killed, Adam. Just don't get killed. (she exits on edge of tears)
END OF SCENE 2
2-3-1
ACT 2
SCENE 3 The WAR
SETTING: A BATTLEFIELD.
AT RISE FOUR ACTORS ENTER IN SIMILAR DARK CLOTHING AND BLACK BALACLAVAS CARRY STICKS WITH LONG RED FLAG-LIKE CLOTHS ABOUT A FOOT WIDE. THEIR BATTLE IS CHOREOGRAPHED AS A MARTIAL ARTS TYPE OF DANCE. RED LIGHTING FLASHES (BUT DOESN'T STROBE) SMOKE IS ALSO EFFECTIVE. COMPELLING SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC. THEY STRIKE AND KILL EACH OTHER. THE LAST ONE DIES IN ADAM'S ARMS. ADAM TAKES OFF HIS OWN MASK AND STANDS STARING OVER THE BODY. ADAM SLIPS TO HIS KNEES, EXHAUSTED AND HORRIFIED. HE PULLS OUT HIS SHAWL FROM INSIDE HIS TUNIC OR HIS KNAPSACK. HE SHUTS HIS EYES TRYING TO FIND A SENSE OF SACRED SPACE.
ADAM
This is my Always Prayer Shawl and I am always...I am always... but I'm not. I'm not Adam anymore. I don't know who I am."
(BATTLE SOUNDS LESSEN).
OFFSTAGE VOICE
It's over! The war's over!
(ADAM STUMBLES OFF. VICTORY MUSIC. SOUNDS OF CHEERING CROWDS SHIFTING INTO PARADE SOUNDS)
END OF SCENE 3
2-4-1
ACT 2
SCENE 4 THE HOMECOMING
SETTING: 1945. MIRIAM's office which ships
relief goods
AT RISE: MIRIAM, her hair in kerchief 40's style, is talking tough on the phone. During her speech ADAM enters unseen with duffle bag)
MIRIAM
Yeh, that many tents. Sure, the war's over. But there's thousands overseas with their homes bombed to rubble. They need tents. You tell them the war's over. Yah, well that's better. No, by Friday. Well, good. And on Monday I'll call for more.
(puts down phone, sees ADAM)
Hello, can I... Adam, is that you?
ADAM
I don't know... what do you think?
(a sad joke, he drops his duffle bag, the shawl is exposed but not yet noticed)
MIRIAM
You look... older
ADAM
Six years...
MIRIAM
Awful years
ADAM
But you still look great... I mean, you... you're in charge of this whole outfit.
MIRIAM
(rueful laugh)
They call me the general -- general pain in the neck.
I have to be; there's so many people in such great need.
ADAM
All this time, I've been fighting people and you've been caring for people.
MIRIAM
The important thing is you're okay and you're home...
2-4-2
ADAM
This really feels like home now. There's nothing left over there - nothing I could call a home. My zaida's farm, the village, they told me it was all hit... hard.
MIRIAM
How... hard?
ADAM
Miriam, there's almost no one left.
(Meaning the Holocaust)
MIRIAM
(Shocked, grieved)
Oh, Adam. I thought, hoped, they'd be far enough away.
ADAM
Nobody was safe over there. By the time our side got through... it was too late.
MIRIAM
Adam, you did everything you could do.
ADAM
By fighting.
MIRIAM
Hitler had to be stopped.
ADAM
I chose to do it with a gun
MIRIAM
And I chose a different way
ADAM
Miriam, do you still think I was wrong to fight?
MIRIAM
You did what you believed was right.
ADAM
What about the two of us? Do you think we could be right for each other?
MIRIAM
I don't know. So much has changed. And you seem.. different
ADAM
I am different. So much happened to me over there. Sometimes it was so awful, I thought nothing was real anymore, not even me - I was seeing terrible things, doing terrible things, things that should never happen again. But Miriam, I didn't do anything that I'm ashamed of. I wouldn't. That part of me hasn't changed.
2-4-3
MIRIAM
Adam, that's the part of you that I love. (Lowers eyes, unsure, sees shawl in his duffle bag, or possibly in his hands)
MIRIAM (Continued)
Oh... your shawl, it's been...
ADAM
Wounded in action.
MIRIAM
I could take care of it. (meaning take care of ADAM)
ADAM
Would you?
ADAM
(aside to audience)
So my Always Prayer Shawl got a new collar and I...
MIRIAM (correcting him)
...We
ADAM
... we got married.
END OF SCENE 3
2-5-1
ACT 11
SCENE 5
SETTING: THE WEDDING
AT RISE: ADAM STANDS AT CENTER STAGE AS HE SPEAKS TO JACOB. MIRIAM GREETS THE TWO ATTENDANTS WHO TAKE THE SHAWL TO FIT ON POLES AS A CANOPY
ADAM
The shawl became our wedding canopy, like the roof of the home we would make together.
(Yiddish Wedding Music. Shawl is lifted over them by attendants to be the wedding canopy. The following service can be shortened - Bride approaches canopy. Adam advances to greet her. She circles the groom. They enter canopy. Rabbi blesses a cup of wine. The two drink. The groom puts ring on her finger. Rabbi reads or shows the marriage contract. He gives it to groom who gives it to bride. Blessings. Another cup of wine. Groom smashes a glass with his foot. (they are supposed to be secluded (suggested as the canopy is lowered over them) They may indicate a kiss while veiled. The shawl is placed over them. Attendants and rabbi dance a short hora around them and exit with wedding props. ADAM and MIRIAM remove shawl. They lay it down. They waltz
ADAM
You're a great dancer, Miriam.
MIRIAM
You know a step or two yourself
ADAM
Do you like the polka?
MIRIAM
Oh yeh, and the foxtrot
ADAM
Teach me the fox trot, I'll teach you the jitterbug
MIRIAM
Let's learn the tango!
ADAM
Miriam, I could dance all night
MIRIAM
How about for all our lives together?
END OF SCENE 5
2-6-1
ACT 2
SCENE 6 - The Middle Years
SETTING: the wedding hall at the end of the evening turns into their house
AT RISE: The music shifts into the popular music of the period - 50's ADAM and MIRIAM continue dancing, then shift with the music into work. They fold the shawl, the veil and bouquet - cleaning up)
ADAM (aside)
Ah, how we danced! And after the honeymoon, ah, how we worked! Miriam and I moved into a little apartment and we opened a little store where we worked from morning till night. But soon enough we also had a little... (a baby's cry)
MIRIAM
(holding a baby - perhaps her bridal veil wrapped as a baby) ... our daughter - Sharon
ADAM
That's right, Jacob, your mother
(MIRIAM offers baby. ADAM cradles it - like davening)
ADAM
Ah, Sharon, we'll go through so many changes together
MIRIAM
And the first change is right now. She needs a new diaper
ADAM
But... uh....
MIRIAM
That's okay, this one's on me. (takes baby and exits)
ADAM (aside)
Then we had... (another baby's cry) And another (another cry). We did okay in the business, too. (sound of cash register -"Ching!")
2-6-2
Until some company built a shopping mall. Well, our store couldn't compete and we lost it. I found a job in an office and started over again. (dons a business jacket)
Still, every Saturday I'd put on the shawl. I'd sit by the synagogue window with the warm sun shining on my face and say, (closes eyes) "I am always Adam and this is my Always Prayer Shawl. That won't change." (opens eyes)
And sometimes I'd forget the work and the worry. I'd imagine the shawl spreading out like great white wings, lifting me as high and free as my prayers. As for Miriam, she stuck to the world down here.
MIRIAM
(enters in period clothing)
For the refugees and survivors - we need food and clothing.
ADAM
Both her feet dug in...
MIRIAM
For the new state of Israel - books and tools.
ADAM
... working for social justice.
MIRIAM
For Blacks in the States, equal rights, equal opportunities
ADAM
Things kept changing. We moved to a suburb at the edge of the city. It was so new there wasn't even a tree planted, not even grass. So what did they call it? Garden City! And our house - always busy - friends, family, and ha! - political meetings.
MIRIAM
To ban the bomb, to end the War in Vietnam.
ADAM
I didn't believe in everything she did. And she didn't follow all my beliefs.
(to MIRIAM)
I'm off to synagogue.
MIRIAM
I'm off to the demonstration.
ADAM
What! Another demonstration!
MIRIAM
And why not?
2-6-3
ADAM
(annoyed, about to argue)
You know, in the Bible it says...
MIRIAM
Well, in my book, Ghandi says...
ADAM
(waving off the argument. It's a tie)
... What they both say is that we should respect each other.
MIRIAM
(accepting the solution)
And we do
ADAM (aside)
Respect! That we could both believe in. (They touch. As he is about to leave, she hands him his shawl which he'd forgot)
ADAM (Continued)
So the years past.
MIRIAM
Gaining rights for women, children, natives, for the handicapped, the homeless. For the environment and all living things.
ADAM
Working in my job, my home, my community. The children growing up, moving out, marrying, having children of their own - first, a grandson, you Jacob, then Ryan, Hannah and Jesse. Ah! They grow so fast and we grew so slow ... and old (regretful laugh). Well, just in case you didn't notice - I never got rich and never got famous. But I did get retired. And finally I had time to study. I learned enough so that one Saturday I read from the Torah.-- my second bar mitzvah.
CONGREGANT 1 & 2 (enter)
Yasher Koach! A terrific job! etc.
CONGREGANT 1 (to 2)
Bernie, come, I'll introduce you to the Blintzes.
(they exit kibbutsing)
ADAM
As for Miriam, well Miriam...
(ADAM applauding)
END OF SCENE 6
2-7-1
ACT 2
SCENE 7
SETTING: MIRIAM's Award Ceremony
AT RISE: ADAM and JACOB on Stage L as OLD MIRIAM takes Center Stage, receives her flowers which have gone from being the wedding bouquet to flowers of congratulations. Off stage applause, calls of MIRIAM! MIRIAM!
OLD MIRIAM
Thank you all so much for this wonderful honour. If I have helped, I hope it was to help people see that a country should be run, not like a business but like a family. And a family works best, when we share and care for each other. It's not so complicated. I've helped others and others have helped me.
(TO ADAM)
Especially you. You've shown me that there's more than one way to live a good and decent life. Thank you.
(TRANSITION TO FUNERAL)
(Offstage hoorays or possibly a chant of "MIRIAM!" As MIRIAM exits she places her flowers on the stage to become the marker of her grave. The background voices shift into a chant of the Kaddish - the Prayer for the Dead. ADAM becomes her mourner reciting the prayer responsively. It is said in the company of other mourners Perhaps he speaks a line of it in Hebrew. He will shift into reciting a second prayer in English which is for a departed wife)
2-7-2
NOTE
PRAYERS
Kaddish (Prayer for the Dead)
The following is the full Prayer for the Dead in transliteration. ("Hashem" is substituted for the name of God. The first part will do.
Yit-gadal ve-yit-kadash shmei raba, b'alma divra khir'utei ve-yamlihk mal-khutei be-hayei-khon uve'yomei-khon uve-hayei di-khol beit yisrael ba-agala u-vizman kariv v'imru Amen.
Ye-hei shmei raba meva-rakh l'alam ul'almei 'almaya
Yit-barakh, ve-yish-tabah ve-yetpa'ar ve-yitroman ve-yitnasei ve-yit'hadar ve-yit'aleh ve-yit-halal shmei di-kudasha brikh hu, l'eila mikol bir-khata ve-shirata tush-be-hata ve-nehe-mata da-amiran b'alma, v'imru Amen
Ye-hei shlama raba min shmaya ve-hayim aleinu v'al kol yisrael v'imru Amen
Oseh shalom bimromav hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu v'al kol yisrael v'imru amen.
(The following prayer is said specifically for a departed wife.)
This is abbreviated.
May God remember the soul of my wife gone to her eternal home.
Many women have done superbly, but you have surpassed them all.
The memory of our companionship leads me out of loneliness.
May you rest eternally in dignity and peace. Amen. (Omain)
END OF SCENE 7
2-8-1
ACT 2
SCENE 8
SETTING; The Cemetary The Present
AT RISE: OLD ADAM and JACOB
beside MIRIAM's grave
OLD ADAM
With Miriam gone, I let go of the house, the furniture and I moved into the Shalom Manor (or substitute a local name)
JACOB
Wow, I hardly knew any of that! No one told me. What a great life!... I mean... except the last part.
OLD ADAM
Yes, this past year's been hard, even on the shawl. The cloth finally wore out. But look, I've sewn on a new one.
JACOB
Boy, the way she'd stick up for people!
(raises voice & fist)
JACOB (Continued)
"Equal rights. Equal opportunities!"
OLD ADAM
Jacob, you always looked like her but now you're sounding like her.
JACOB
Who's that Ghandi guy? What's he about? And that wall of books your zaida had, what was in them? Oh, and that story about how the Red Sea split in half - wouldn't it be really muddy, I mean to walk across? And how did...
OLD ADAM
Slow down! How about I give you something to read? You'll come back, we'll talk about it... (begin cut here for shorter version to show in schools)
JACOB
Aw, come on, just tell me.
OLD ADAM
Ha, just like that! You're like the young man who went to the dream teacher. And I'm no dream teacher.
JACOB
Who?
2-8-2
OLD ADAM
Some old story. It's been in the family for - oh, maybe two thousand years
JACOB
What's it about?
OLD ADAM
It's about someone who wanted to know everything and right away
JACOB
And...?
OLD ADAM
And he went to all the experts - he learned some of this and a bit of that. But then - he heard of an old man so wise he could teach you whether you were awake or asleep.
JACOB
I'd like to see that
OLD ADAM
Him, too. So he travelled to the man's home - a little shack in a muddy village oh, about five miles past Yehoopitz. "What a dump!" he thought. "There's not even a door - just a piece of cloth."
(OLD ADAM demonstrates with shawl. His movements suggest the cloth as a pirate's sash, a wanderer's robe, and a blanket as he dramatises the tale and changes characters. This must be done tastefully as the shawl remains seen as a religious object.)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
Still, he called in, "Hey, in there! -- I hear you're pretty smart for an old guy." The Old One lifted the cloth - "Sometimes I think so, but what do I know? "Teach me something new." "I don't know anything new. I'm an old man. Everything I know is old." "Well, I've come all this way, I may as well let you have an hour - give me your best shot. "An hour? That's a long time for somebody with no patience. Come in." They entered a small empty room and they sat on the floor. The Old One said, "Let's spend that hour thinking about what things change and what things don't." So they sat silently for 20 minutes, 40 minutes, almost fifty-nine minutes. Finally the young man said, (breaking character) -- well, what do think he'd say?
JACOB
That it's a stupid waste of time!
2-8-3
OLD ADAM
His words exactly! (resuming character and the tale) "Fine!" said the Old One. "You know the way out." The young man stormed off but at the doorway he got tangled in the cloth. Suddenly he was falling, falling and Splash! - into a river that wasn't there before.
JACOB
Did he drown?
OLD ADAM
Somehow the cloth kept him floating even as the river carried him to the sea. He drifted for days until..
JACOB
... He was captured by pirates?
OLD ADAM
How did you guess?
(JACOB smiles proudly, taken in by ADAM's trick)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
He sailed with them... (The shawl crossing his chest gently indicating a sash) ...across the seven seas until finally...
JACOB
He escaped...
OLD ADAM
(Accepting the suggestion)
Sure!- into a desert and he wore the cloth as the robe of a wanderer. He joined the nomads and had many adventures. He even married a princess and they ruled the kingdom of the stretching sands. Until at last he was an old man spending his last years by an oasis, and the cloth was a ragged blanket for the cold desert nights. One morning, his grandchild fell into the water
JACOB
So he jumped in and saved him!
OLD ADAM
(stumbling forward)
But he himself sank down, down to the very bottom and darkness covered him. After endless time, he seemed to sense a far off light, a tiny light grower closer, closer, slowly taking the shape of a - well what do you think?
JACOB
(stumped)
I don't know!
2-8-4
OLD ADAM
Ah! (as in "Gotcha") It was a face, smiling down at him, the face of....The Dream Teacher, saying, "Now, now, not to worry." And there he was-lying on his back in the doorway of the shack a young man again, crying out, "What happened? What happened!"
(flailing his arms as the young man)
There standing over him was the Old One untangling the cloth like a dry cocoon. "It's okay," said the Old One."I gave you a dream,"
"Impossible - it was a whole lifetime!"
"So it seemed,"the Old One said. "But it only lasted for the final minute of the hour we spent together."
"And now it's over?"
"Ah," said the Old One. "That's how some lives are. You rush around, here and there and you learn a bit of this and a bit of that. And when it's all over, you're on your back crying out, 'What happened! What happened?' But just imagine, with a bit of patience, how much you could really learn!"
JACOB
(pause)
Whoa! I wish I had a dream like that!
OLD ADAM
Once I thought so, too. Now, It feels like my whole life was just a dream like that. And poof! Here I am again -- except I'm not a young man anymore.
JACOB
You could be like that dream teacher. And I could learn from you.
(THE OPTIONAL CUT TO THIS SCENE WOULD END HERE.)
JACOB
Will you teach me? How about it?
OLD ADAM
I can't do any magic - that you'll have to find on your own. But I could give you some lessons - for your bar mitzvah. Maybe I'll even teach you about your gramma's Ghandi.
JACOB
It's a deal!
(they shake or JACOB shows him a currently cool gesture like a high five. They laugh)
Enter ADAM's daughter and son-in-law, SHARON AND NEIL
SHARON
How are you, Dad?
OLD ADAM
Ah Sharon, Neil! You should have heard Jacob. He read the memorial prayer for his grandma.
2-8-5
NEIL
Sorry we're late. Tied up in a meeting. But we've got big news.
OLD ADAM
Jacob and I also had a meeting. And we also have news. Jacob wants to prepare for his bar mitzvah starting immediately.
NEIL
Well, for the next while, we'll be pretty busy...
OLD ADAM
If you wait till you're not busy, it'll never happen.
SHARON
We'll discuss the Bar Mitzvah later...
OLD ADAM
... and Jacob wants me to be his teacher
NEIL
Oh!
OLD ADAM
So he'll come to my place maybe twice a week...
NEIL
We got a transfer!
OLD ADAM
So he has to transfer, the bus still brings him.
SHARON
Not a bus transfer, Dad - a job transfer.
NEIL
We're making the big move!
SHARON
(excited)
In two months. We just found out.
NEIL
(proudly)
I'm promoted to head office.
OLD ADAM
Where's that?
NEIL
Los Angeles. It's... a golden opportunity
OLD ADAM
I've heard that before.
2-8-6
NEIL
You'll love it. The weather's fantastic. And the ocean! And there's a fantastic retirement home, only an hour away from us...
SHARON
... with tennis courts, security guards.
NEIL
And a shopping mall a block away that's just...
OLD ADAM
... fantastic
NEIL
A hundred and sixty shops. You'll need a golf cart to get through it all.
SHARON
Dad, you'll come, won't you?
OLD ADAM
(clasping her hands)
You go. But not me.
JACOB
Grandpa!
OLD ADAM
I'm too old, Jacob. I've had all the changes I can take
JACOB
But how will I see you?
OLD ADAM
I'll visit - two, three times a year. And you'll come here...
JACOB
What about the lessons?
OLD ADAM
There's others who can teach you...
JACOB
(hurt, angry)
They aren't you!
(turns, sits at grave)
OLD ADAM
(to parents)
We need some time, hmmm?
(PARENTS exit, ADAM sits by JACOB)
2-8-7
OLD ADAM
I like this more than anything -- sitting here and thinking of everything I shared with my zaida, my parents, friends, too and now, Miriam.
JACOB
(resisting)
Yah...
OLD ADAM
How can I leave her, Jacob?
JACOB
(grudging)
I don't know.
OLD ADAM
Can you let me out of my promise? It would be too hard on me.
JACOB
What about me?
OLD ADAM
I - I don't know what to say, JACOB. Oh, I wish my zaida were here. All my life I've put on his shawl and imagined I was still a boy with him sitting beside teaching me whatever I needed to know. But now I'm the grandfather and you're the boy.
JACOB
And I want you to teach me.
OLD ADAM
He taught me so much and it was just a part of what he'd been taught.
JACOB
Then, forget it.
OLD ADAM
(wanting to humour him)
No, wait. How about a synopsis?
JACOB
Huh?
OLD ADAM
(with only a hint of a comic routine)
A man once said to Rabbi Hillel, "Rabbi, I'm so busy I got to make an appointment just to talk to myself! Teach me what I need to know in a synopsis." "Synopsis" asks the rabbi. "But how long is a synopsis?" "About as long as you can stand on one leg," the man answers.
2-8-8
OLD ADAM (Continued)
(breaks character)
Go try.
(JACOB stands on a leg, awkwardly)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
So what should you learn? For sure, the Torah
JACOB
(balancing more awkwardly)
And the writings and laws
OLD ADAM
Yes! and the prayers and blessings...
JACOB
(humoured but losing balance) the wise sayings...
OLD ADAM
the traditions and customs...
JACOB
and uh... (doesn't know what else. as ADAM gives list JACOB hops, increasingly unbalanced)
OLD ADAM
...the stories, the folktales, the symbols of the Gemmatria and the mysteries of the Kabbalah!
(JACOB falls into ADAM's arms).
JACOB
(laughing, back to both legs) No one can learn all that - not just on one leg!
OLD ADAM
(pleased by JACOB's lighter mood) So instead, the rabbi gives a synopsis - he tells him one thing - (ADAM stands on one leg) "Don't do anything to anyone, you don't want done to you." (he stamps foot down) And that's it!
JACOB
(a little laugh then he remembers his angry hurt) Yah? Well, it's not enough! And you know it! (He moves away)
OLD ADAM
Jacob! Please...
2-8-9
JACOB
(giving in to grief)
Everything's going to be so different there. You won't be with me. And..I'll have to grow up without you.
OLD ADAM
(Deflated, feeling J's hurt)
You're right. And you don't want anything to change, do you?
(JACOB shakes his head)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
Then we have to do this now, not later.
(ritually donning the shawl)
JACOB
Do what?
OLD ADAM
(uncertain at first)
Well, first, (he indicates they sit, which they do)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
We shut our eyes. Hmm. Can you feel the sun on your face?
JACOB
Yah
(opening hands on laps)
JACOB (Continued)
It's warm.
OLD ADAM
Here.
(he lets part of the shawl fall into JACOB's open hands)
OLD ADAM (Continued)
What's this feel like?
JACOB
(feeling fringes by ADAM's hand) It's silky and cool (feels cloth by ADAM's heart) This part's soft, warm. (touches embroidered collar near ADAM's face) And this - it's all... whiskery. (opens his eyes, smiles)
2-8-10
OLD ADAM
My prayer shawl. I've had it ever since I was a boy. It belonged to my grandfather. And before that it belonged to his grandfather whose name was also Adam (Stands, ritually removes it) Now it's time for me to give it to you and, if you are willing, Jacob, it is time for you to take it
JACOB
Your prayer shawl?
OLD ADAM
It's changed many times. The fringes, the collar, the cloth. Everything about it has changed. But it's still my Always Prayer Shawl. You see, it's just like me. I've changed and changed and changed. But I'm still Adam
(JACOB stands. With JACOB's nod of consent, ADAM puts it on him. ZAIDA, then ADAM's MAMA and PAPA enter as ghostly witnesses)
JACOB
I am going to be just like you. I will have a grandson whose name will be Adam. And someday I will give him this Always Prayer Shawl.
OLD ADAM.
Aha! Now I have taught you one thing that my grandfather taught me. He taught me that some things change and some things don't.
(ADAM kisses JACOB on forehead)
THE END of PLAY
Quotes by the Playwright
"I hope the play sparks some personal storytelling; people need to learn their family stories. Parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts need to tell their life experiences and to pass on stories they have heard from their elders. Family stories are an important part of our heritage. They strengthen our personal identity. They offer us and our children a sense of stability as we face the future." - Sheldon Oberman
"Tolerance and respect for others can be achieved when you learn their stories and can see that others are essentially like you are -- with similar needs and hopes. Yet they are also different -- special in their way as you are special in yours. And that specialness is a gift that can enrich everyone." - Sheldon Oberman
Downloading - feel free to make your own copy of the script. If you
wish to perform the play contact the playwright for information re royalties
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