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THE TENTH COMMANDMENT1,
by Avraham Goldfaden
(Yiddish: Dos tsente gebot)
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SCENE FROM "THE
TENTH COMMANDMENT"
1926
Photo courtesy of
the Museum of the City of New York |
Introductory note:
"The
theme of this musical comedy is indicated by its
title, for as all know, the tenth commandment of
the Decalogue begins with these words: 'Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.' Around
this theme Abraham Goldfaden built a farcical
play abounding in comic situations, clever
caricatures, sly digs and lusty humor which
frequently borders upon horseplay. "The Tenth
Commandment" was written early in the 80's of
the last century (19th--ed.) It was first
produced in 1887 in New York, and four years
later in Lemberg, in both cases under the
direction of the author. It has not been
produced since, partly because of the complete
sway which the realistic drama had until
recently over the Yiddish stage, and partly
because of the many technical difficulties
involved in its presentation which only the
latest improvements in stagecraft have made it
possible to cope with adequately. The version
used in the present production is a rather free
adaption of the original play made by Maurice
Schwartz.
One
word more as to the supernatural machinery of
the play: In the theology of the orthodox Jew,
the human soul is conceived of as the battling
ground of two angels, the Yezer Ha-Ra
(literally, evil impulse), and the Yezer Tov
(lit., good impulse). The former tempts man to
do evil, while the latter prompts him to do
good. It is these two, rather than the human
puppets whom they manipulate, who are the
protagonists of the 'The Tenth Commandment.' In
the play, the Yezer Ha-Ra is called Ahitophel in
allusion to the man who has the evil genius of
Absolom in his rebellion against his father,
King David."2
"The Tenth Commandment" opened on 11 November
1926 at the Yiddish Art Theatre, 12th Street and
Second Avenue, i.e. 189 Second Avenue (Twelfth
Street and Second Avenue). This production was
part of the ninth season of the Yiddish Art
Theatre.
The cast members for this production included:
Maurice Schwartz, Lazar Freed, Joseph Buloff,
Celia Adler, Bina Abramowitz, Abraham Teitelbaum,
Bertha Gerstin, Anna Teitelbaum, Ben-Zvi
Baratoff, Pincus Sherman, Jacob Greenberg,
Abraham Kubansky, Minnie Paulinger, Boruch
Lumet, Sonya Radina, Wolf Goldfaden, Boris
Weiner, Anna Appel, Abraham Fishkind, Morris
Silberkasten, Izidore Casher, M. Rosenberg,
Jacob Cone, Eugene Sigaloff and Isaac Rothblum.
The
play is a fantasy with music in a prologue and
three acts and sixteen scenes, adapted and
directed by Maurice Schwartz; Settings and
costumes by Boruch Aronson; Music by Joseph
Achron. Adapted from the play by Abraham
Goldfaden. Incidental score by Abraham
Goldfaden. Ballet directed by Michael Fokine;
Lazar Weiner--Conductor. Masks-Jacob Sobel.
Executive Staff: Martin Schwartz and Mayer Golub.
Lewis Kasten and Joseph Grossman, Treasurers.
Leon Hoffman, Yiddish Press Representative. Nat
Dorfman and Ben Holtzman English Press
Representatives. Stage Staff: Joseph
Schwartzberg and Ben-Zion Katz, Stage Managers.
Technical Staff: Mark Lawson, Andy Van Walken
and Julius Screiber, Technicians. Julius Levy,
Master Carpenter. David Gold, Master
Electrician. Sam Wolinsky, Master of Properties.
Art Department: Boruch Aranson, Mark Lawson,
Robert Van Rosen, Joseph Cutler, Zune Maud, Jack
Soble and Benjamin Isaacson. Louis N. Jaffe,
Lessor, Anbord Theatre Corp., Lessees.
So, here then is the
synopsis of Goldfaden's "The Tenth
Commandment". The
name of the actor or actress who portrayed a particular
role is indicated in parentheses:
SYNOPSIS
PROLOGUE
Ahitophel,
accompanied by devils, appears and boasts of his
powers in leading men astray. The Yezer Tov,
accompanied by angels, appears and tells of his
efforts to make men walk in the paths of
righteousness. Ahitophel mocks him and declares
he is about to corrupt Peretz, a wealthy and
pious Hassid of Nemirov, by causing him to fall
in love with another man's wife. The Yezer Tov
dares him to do it and vows that he will
frustrate the evil designs of the Tempter.
ACT ONE
Sabbath Eve.
Peretz returns home from the synagogue
accompanied by a stranger whom, in accordance
with the Jewish custom, he has invited to be his
guest for the Sabbath, and who, be it added, is
none other than the Yezer Tov in disguise. The
two are welcomed by Fruma, Peretz's good-looking
and kindly but forbiddingly pious wife, whose
kisses go to the prayer book rather than her
husband. They sit down for the Sabbath meal, and
the rich dishes cause the guest to fall asleep
in his chair at the very moment when the house
is surrounded by, Ahitophel and his minors.
Fruma retires to her chamber; the guest is still
sleeping in his seat, and Peretz, thus left
alone, contrasts his dreary, home life with the
gay and luxurious one of Ludvig, his business
associate in Berlin, and the all too pious Fruma
with the ravishing and voluptuous Mathilda,
Ludwig's wife, with whom Peretz has been smitten
ever since his recent visit to Berlin. He
struggles against temptation, but in vain, While
the Yezer Tov is nodding, Ahitophel carries off
Peretz, knowing that he will there by gain a
twenty-four-hour start on the Yezer Tov, as all
pursuit is forbidden in the Sabbath. Peretz, is
brought to a haunted inn by the roadside, where,
amid scenes, reminiscent of a Walpur gis Night,
Ahitophel reveals his true identity to Peretz,
promises to give him the fair Mathilda and to
make Fruma believe thather husband has been
drowned. In return for this Peretz is made to
swear eternal allegiance to him. Thereupon he
and Peretz speed to Berlin and, in the guise of
Tyrolese singers, arrive at Ludwig's palatial
home at the very moment when a ball is in
progress there. They find the host melancholy
and distracted, for ever since his recent visit
to Nemirov, Ludwig has been madly in love with
Fruma, whose 'piety and modesty he found
infinitely more alluring than the tempestuous
affection of the voluptuous Mathilda, Ahitophel,
astonishes Ludwig by telling him the thoughts
which Ludwig, has been harboring in secret, and
promises to give him Fruma in return for his
soul, a bargain Ludwig readily agrees to.
Thereupon Ahitophel cause the next-door house to
catch on fire and leads Mathilda to believe that
Ludwig has perished in the flames.
ACT TWO
The grief-crazed
Mathilda and her maid Clementine are walking in
a cemetery, where Mathilda is looking for her
husband's grave, though the latter is supposed
to have perished in the fire. Ahitophel,
disguised as witch godmother, lures Mathilda
into a hut, tells her of Ludwig's infidelity to
her, and finally inveigles her into marrying
Peretz. He likewise bamboozles Fruma, who has
gone to the Holy Land to seek solace for her
grief at the graves of Jewish saints, into a
marriage with Ludwig. However, neither marriage
is destined to be consummated. All of Peretz's
ludicrous attempts to acquire Western polish
fail to win him Mathilda's love; and though
Ludwig dons a Hassid's garb and tries to carry
out faithfully orthodoxy's innumerable
observances. Fruma is too busy with good works
and pious parasites to give him the kind of
attention he hungers for. In the end, Peretz,
infuriated by Mathilda's indifference, and
constantly goaded by the taunts and jeers of his
servant Friedel (who is none other than the
Yezer Tov in disguise), kills Mathilda,
whereupon he himself vanishes amid smoke and
flames. And Ludwig, finding the immovably pious
Fruma deaf to all his love pleas, decides to go
back to Mathilda and vows that if he ever leaves
her again, may the devil take him. At that very
moment Ahitophel appears and carries him off to
his Plutonic realm. A few moments later Fruma,
who has never ceased to mourn Peretz, drops
dead.
ACT THREE
In hell,
Ahitophel's domain. Devils haul in the souls of
departed sinners in wheelbarrows. The minion who
tends to hell's vast furnace, thanks Ahitophel
for the latest haul of sinners, as business was
getting rather slack of late. Various souls are
held before Ahitophel for judgment, and the
sentences he passes afford the author an
opportunity for many a sly dig at the evils of
our social system. Finally Peretz and Ludwig are
brought in and learn with dismay that each was
married to the other's wife for three months.
Both regret their folly, both declare that
neither has had conjugal relations with the
other's wife, and both express the desire to
return to their original spouses. Ahitophel
realizes that he has been worsted by Yezer Tov,
for though Peretz and Ludwig were ready to sin,
their wives prevented them from doing so. In
disgust he packs them off to Paradise, where
their wives are. Arrived there, a reconciliation
is soon brought about between Peretz and Fruma,
and between Ludwig and Mathilda. By the Yezer
Tov's decree the two couples are sent back to
earth to spend the rest of their allotted days
there.
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