YIDDISH THEATRE IN AUSTRALIA BY CHAIM ROZENSTEIN

Mass Jewish immigration to Australia really began after the First World War (1914‐1918). In order to properly understand the history of theatre in Australia one needs to know at least something of the history of in general. Born in a back alley of Jewish folk life, for many years it was something wild that was to be avoided. This ensured Yiddish theatre of a folksiness that soon attracted the Jewish folk masses. Since true art is deeply rooted in the folk soul, it became the embodiment of the highest quality folk‐culture.

During its fifty odd year history, Yiddish theatre often reached great heights, placing it on a level with the best of non‐Jewish theatre. The best of the Yiddish repertoire is closely connected to our reality. This was the cement that held our theatre together. It is difficult to believe that it could have developed any other way under the circumstances of Jewish existence at the time.

The repertoire of a lesser quality that flooded the Yiddish‐speaking Diaspora is well known and could have put an end to the story of Yiddish theatre. It exploited the lowest common denominator amongst Jewish immigrants. Luckily, it was balanced by magical and workmanlike productions which were improved by the talents of high quality actors.

The close connection between Yiddish theatre and Jewish folk life is reflected in the repertoire of Yiddish Art Theatre. The plays of Ettinger, Levinson, Oksnfeld, Goldfaden, Gordin, Pinsky, Dimov, Kobrin, Hirshbeyn, Nomberg, Mendele, Sholem Aleykhem, Peretz, Ansky, Ash, Leyvik, Bergelson, Tsaytlin, Preger, Zinger, Katsizne, Bimko, Berkovitsh and Gottesfeld all reflect the true experiences of the Jewish masses.

If Yiddish theatre does not want to degenerate, if it does not want to surrender its national‐historic mission, it must now travel on new rails, led by mature actors who are nationally conscious and awake to their responsibilities. More than any other art form, theatre is able to play an important role in the creative process of the Jewish life‐style even throughout the Diaspora. This is because theatre is a living reflection of our past and present and a guide to our future. Theatre does not speak with the dead letters of the newspaper or the book. Quality Yiddish theatre speaks to us in the living language of our grandfathers, grandmothers, parents, brothers and sisters.

We stand at the beginning of this work and we must tell ourselves: that which served as our Jewish identity before immigration is largely passed. We don’t want and we don’t necessarily need to recreate it in our new homes. And the circumstances will not allow it.

When we see that there are barely 30,000 living in Australia after decades of immigration – and that they are scattered over cities and states in a country not much smaller than Europe – we see how different the conditions are for carrying out cultural work. Half of Australian Jewry – the half who stem from Great Britain and more lately from Germany – have no connection to our kind of Jewish life and certainly have no connection to Yiddish culture. When we add those of “our” Jews who do not care about Jewish communal life or about Yiddish culture, we are really talking about a few thousand Jews who actively support a number of Yiddish cultural institutions – the Yiddish weekly newspaper, the Yiddish school, and most of all Yiddish theatre.

Mostly we are speaking about Melbourne, the city which hoisted the flag of Yiddish cultural activity in Australia. Here we have a sufficiently intensive modern Yiddish activity, which would have even better results if the leadership were more systematic and workmanlike.

I went to speak with one of the first amateur Yiddish actors, Mr. Reinholtz, to find out more about the early history of Yiddish theatre in Melbourne. He spoke of his interesting wanderings throughout Australia 40 years ago. One actor abandoned the troupe in Tasmania in order to lead Rosh Hashona services in Hobart. Chaim Reinholtz was a worker from Warsaw who came to Australia around 1892! Since he had a good voice and loved theatre, he played in English until he received a copy of Goldfaden’s play “Shulamis” in 1905 while he was living in Sydney. This was his first and last Yiddish role. This is the beginning of the history of Yiddish theatre in Australia.

Shmuel Vaysenberg came to Australia in 1908 and founded a stable Yiddish theatre. He brought Reinholtz down to Melbourne a year later, but the actor’s financial needs were greater than Yiddish theatre could supply at the time. He did perform Yiddish songs, some of which he wrote himself, at fundraisers for Jewish communal organizations though. Some of his songs dealt with Jewish life in Australia.

Vaysenberg published his memoirs in the first Australian Yiddish Almanac. He was born in Pietrokov, Poland, and travelled the world with Yiddish theatrical troupes. His first Melbourne production was aimed at children and included a choir of about 20 Jewish schoolgirls. The success of this production allowed Vaysenberg to found the club “Lyric”. A year later, he produced the operetta “Gabriel” at the Temperance Hall. This helped to stimulate the founding of the Kadimah a few years later. It’s also worth noting that as soon as word got around that a Yiddish production was being planned, local rabbis began to demand that it be boycotted.

Vaysenberg founded an amateur Yiddish theatre troupe. The play “Zhidovke” was performed three times and he arranged for Yiddish type to be cut so that the posters for his next production could proclaim the play’s title in Yiddish. The English language press gave positive reviews, while simultaneously referring to Yiddish as a “bastard language”. Vaysenberg demanded an apology, only to be told that according to this particular editor, English was also a “bastard language”.

Working together with the Finkelsteins, Vaysenberg insisted on presenting the art repertoire of . This led to a parting of the ways. During World War One, Vaysenberg produced “King Lear”, “Mirele Efros”, “Khasya the Orphan”, “Kreutzer Sonata”, and “The Slaughter”, as well as other, less well‐known plays. His theatrical career came to an end in 1915. Finkelstein continued to produce lower value Yiddish plays, in which he often changed the lines. His wife, on the other hand, tried to convince him of his cultural responsibilities to the Yiddish audience and to his actors.

The August 1914 production of “Dos Pintele Yid” featured posters on which the name of the play was printed in Yiddish. Vaysberg and Mendelson produced “The Jewish King Lear” in aid of the society for the visiting of the sick in 1918. Most Melbourne performances took place on Monday evenings, because it was impossible to find a hall to rent on Saturday nights. The years between the end of the war and 1925 seem to be empty of news about Yiddish theatrical productions. You couldn’t make a living as a Yiddish actor in Australia and the professional actors found other ways to make a living.

Perth, Western Australia, is home to about 2,500 Jews and has a Yiddish theatrical history that goes back about 30 years. Mr. M. Berenzon produced Yiddish plays there between 1913 and 1928 with an amateur troupe, whose board included Rabbi Friedman.

Sholem Ash’s play “God of Vengeance” was produced in Brisbane by Israel Rothman in 1928. The local Orthodox community carried out a campaign against the show, which continued its planned run, albeit with smaller audiences than were expected. Rothman was invited to Sydney two years later and remained there, working

with the local Jewish drama group, until 1932, when he returned to Brisbane. He produced “God, Man and Devil” and “The Slaughter” there. Once he settled in Melbourne, there were no more Yiddish theatrical productions in Brisbane.

Although Sydney was the second biggest city in Australia and boasted the largest Jewish community in the country, it never competed with Melbourne in terms of Yiddish theatre. It had an amateur Jewish drama group which was usually directed by Mr. Stoliar. His last play was “All Spread Out”, which was performed in 1939. The Gezerd organization in Sydney featured a drama group between 1932 and 1937, which was known for its classical repertoire.

Yankev Waislitz, who had then newly arrived from Poland, performed in Sydney from 13 August until 26 November, 1938. He directed an amateur troupe in Sholem Aleykhem’s “200,000” and in 1941, he performed there in a “word concert”. Rokhl Holtzer performed her first “word concert” in Sydney on 29 July, 1939 in a large hall. She, too, had recently arrived from Poland. She gave a second Sydney performance on 16 August of the same year.

Another Jewish refugee from Poland, the young actress Sonia Zominas, performed twice at the newly founded Sydney Folks‐tsenter (peoples centre) with a program of Yiddish folksongs in 1941.

During the early years of the Kadimah’s drama groups, performances occurred on Sunday nights. Their first performance took place on 5 October, 1925. During 1926 they performed one‐act plays as well as Dovid Pinsky’s play “Each To Their Own God” and Peretz Hishbeyn’s “Green Fields”. No lists of the successful one‐acters remains, so we don’t know which ones attracted the audience.

Yankev Ginter arrived in Australia in March, 1927. His first Melbourne production was Sholem Aleykhem’s “Tevye”. That same year, the Kadimah drama group staged Dovid Pinsky’s “Yankl the Blacksmith”, directed by Barkan and a play by Jacob Gordin. In 1928 we know about two productions – “The Blacksmith’s Daughter” by Peretz Hirshbeyn and “All Spred Out” by Sholem Aleykhem. Of course the Kadimah offered a number of concerts and memorial evenings, most of which were performed by the drama group. In 1929, the drama group invited Ginter to be its leader. He fused it with his own drama group, which had existed since 1927, and then directed them in “God, Man and Devil”, with the income going towards the aid of pogrom victims in Palestine.

In 1931, Ginter directed Gordin’s “Sholemke the Charlatan” and Berkovitsh’s “From the World to Come” with the Kadimah group. Schaechter and Mendelson directed Hirshbeyn’s “Green Fields”and M. Schaechter directed Pinsky’s “The Mother” in 1933. When the new Kadimah building was opened to the public that year, it could seat over 400. Ginter’s version of Sholem Aleykhem’s “The Big Prize” was performed there, while the plays that were performed earlier in the year were performed in the Temperance Hall in the city.

Pinkhus Goldhar’s dramatization of Sholem Ash’s “Uncle Moses” was directed by Ginter in 1934. He also directed “God, Man and Devil” to mark its 25th anniversary that year and Leon Kobrin’s “The Village Lad”. In 1935, Ginter directed I.D. Berkovitsh’s “The Townsman” and Sholem Ash’s “God of Vengance”. The professional actor Nathan Ginter – the brother of Yankev Ginter ‐ arrived from Buenos Aires in 1936. He directed Ash’s “Motke the Thief” and a vaudeville evening. That same year, Israel Rothman directed the Kadimah drama group in Gordin’s “Kreutzer Sonata”, Freyman’s “The Blind Painter” and Sholem Ash’s “With the Flow”.

Rothman directed “The Jewish King Lear” twice during 1937, with the income going to the publishing fund for the Yiddish theatrical encyclopaedia, and also an Avrom Reyzen evening. Avrom Breyzblat, a young folksinger from Warsaw, arrived in Melbourne that year and gave two concerts at the Kadimah. That same year, he directed the Kadimah’s drama group in a review that was performed three times and B. Orshansky’s social drama “Blood”, as well as a second review. The next year he directed Goldfaden’s “The Witch” in Itsik Manger’s reworked version, Kobrin’s “The Village Lad” and a number of one act plays.

In 1939, Rothman directed Pinsky’s “Each One With His God” and Mr. Newman‐Yoval from Vienna changed the name of the Kadimah’s drama group to Kadimah Yiddish Art Theatre. He also directed Leyvik’s “The Poor State”, A. Rudolf’s drama “Power Through Fire” (Yiddish by Chaim Rozenstein) and Gogol’s comedy “The Bridegrooms”. The next year he directed Sholem Aleykhem’s “Gold Diggers, Kobrin’s “Riverside Drive”, a review and Botoshansky’s “Hertsele Ostropolier”.

Towards the end of 1941, Rokhl Holtzer directed the reorganized Kadimah Dramatic Circle in V. Shkvorkin’s Soviet comedy “A Stranger’s Child” (Yiddish and adaptation by Chaim Rozenstein). This production also featured Yankev Waislitz.

The leading figures in the Dramatic Circle were A. Hurvits, Sh. Mendelson, M. Schaechter, M Podemsky and I. Rothman.

The Yiddish school in Melbourne was also a home for Yiddish theatre. It’s productions include:

1936 – A Mendele evening

1937 – A Chanuka concert

1938 – A children’s concert

1939 – A children’s operetta

1940 – A children’s concert

1941 – A children’s concert

A Sholem Aleykhem memorial evening

A folklore evening performed by adults and the children’s choir

Yankev Waislitz came to Australia on 26 January, 1938, on behalf of the Yiddish children’s schools in Poland. It was his suggestion to rename the drama group in memory of the late Yiddish director Dovid Herman. He left Melbourne for Brazil at the end of the year and returned in early 1940. He performed an evening dedicated to the work of Yiddish poet H. Leyvik that year, and since then, he and Rokhl Holtzer dedicated themselves to the Dovid Herman Theatre.

Holtzer arrived in Melbourne on the 3rd of April, 1939, on her world‐tour. That June, she directed a Yiddish translation of the Polish play “Three Women”. On 11 October, 1941, Holtzer and Waislitz jointly directed an artistic evening whose profits went to the Australian and Soviet branches of the Red Cross. Members of the Dovid Herman Theatre and the Kadimah Dramatic Circle both participated.

The Dovid Herman Theatre’s orginal name was the Union Yiddish Stage. It was founded by Yankev Ginter in 1927, and Ginter remained its chairman for many years. Its’ first production was Gordin’s “Khasya the Orphan” and it debuted around the time of Sukkes. That same year, they performed J. Markovitsh’s “A Mother’s Tears”, “The Jewish Farmer” and Z. Libin’s “The Village Girl”. Almost all their plays were directed by Ginter until Waislitz arrived in Melbourne. It was Ginter who insisted that all theatrical posters be fully bilingual with equal amounts of Yiddish and English, beginning with the poster designed for the August, 1927 production of “The Slaughter”.

1928 brought productions of H.D. Nomberg’s “Family” and Sholem Aleykhem’s “Hard To Be A Jew”, as well as probably “The Lost Garden of Eden”. In 1929, there was a production of J. Markovitsh’s “A Mother’s Tears”

(“Return to My People”) and Sholem Ash’s “For Our Belief” (income going towards the Yiddish day‐schools in Poland for the first time).

“Khasya the Orphan” by J. Gordin, “The White Slave”, Z. Libin’s “The Broken Hearts” and Berkovitsh’s “From The Other Side Of The World” were performed in 1930 with the profits going to the Women’s Support Society. In 1931, Sholem Aleykhem’s “The Big Prize” was performed in honour of Australia’s first Yiddish newspaper, “Oystralyer Lebn”. Other productions included J. Gordin’s “Mirele Efros” and his “Return From Siberia”. A. Vevyorka’s “At The Border” was directed by Joseph White. The Yiddish Stage worked together with the Kadimah’s Dramatic Stage Union during 1933 until the end of 1935. In 1936 the Yiddish Stage produced a theatrical evening with profits paid to the Yiddish day‐schools in Poland. Nathan Ginter directed Goldfaden’s “Two Kuni Lemls” that year, with the profits going to the Polish‐Jewish Relief Fund. The same organization received the profits from I.D. Berkovitsh’s “Under The Cross” (Moshka the Pig) in 1937. There was a concert evening to raise funds for the Yiddish Theatrical Encyclopaedia and the profits from Sholem Aleykhem’s “Hard To Be A Jew” went to the Yiddish day‐schools in Poland. Sarah and Nathan Ginter performed together for the first time in Gordin’s “Mirele Efros” in 1938. At the same time, Waislitz and the Yiddish Stage performed in the following during 1938:

“The Yellow Patch” (“Professor Mamlyok”) by Fridrich Wolf

“The Big Prize” by Sholem Aleykhem

“The Dybbuk” by Sh. Ansky

And a Peretz evening.

Ginter directed Sh. Ansky’s “Day and Night” early in 1939. Rokhl Holtzer directed the Dovid Herman Theatre in the French comedy “Mrs. Lawyer” (text by L. Verniel, Yiddish by Chaim Rozenstein). In 1940 she directed Gordin’s “Khasya the Orphan” with the profits going to the Melbourne Yiddish school. Holtzer and Waislitz appeared together in the comedy “Freud’s Dream Theory” by A. Tsvfoyidzhinsky, Yiddish by Chaim Rozenstein. That same year, they produced the following for the Dovid Herman Theatre:

“The Bread Mill” ( “The Deaf One”) by Dovid Bergelson, directed by Waislitz

“A Living” by Chone Gottesfeld, directed by Waislitz

“The Father” by , directed by Holtzer

“The Singer of His Sorrow” (“Yoshke Muzikant”) by Ossip Dymov, directed by Waislitz

“The Poet Was Blinded” by H. Leyvik, starring Holtzer and Waislitz, directed by Waislitz

In 1941, they produced:

“Mother” by K. Tshopek, Yiddish by Chaim Rozenstein, directed by Holtzer

An evening in memory of I.L. Peretz

“The Assassination” by V. A. Somin, Yiddish by Chaim Rozenstein, directed by Holtzer

One Acters by Sholem Aleykhem, directed by Waislitz

“Life Calls” by Bill‐Belotserkovsky, Yiddish by J. Rotboym, directed by Waislitz

“Green Fields” by Peretz Hirshbeyn, the 60th anniversary of the play, with the newly arrived Yokheved Waislitz, directed by Waislitz

“Motke the Thief” by Sholem Ash, directed by Nathan Ginter. The last performance took place without the participation of Holtzer and Waislitz.

During the last three years, the Dovid Herman Theatre, under the leadership of Holtzer and Waislitz, groomed the upcoming actors Yasha Sher, Saul Oliver, Chava Dan and Leah Zucker. In normal times, they would be candidates for the professional Yiddish stage. Is there any point in speaking about the possibility of professional Yiddish theatre in Melbourne? We don’t think so. We don’t have the necessary number of actors and, more importantly, the audience is too small. Between 800 and 1000 viewers come to see a Yiddish play, which tends to have two performances. The audience would need to be five times this size in order to support a professional Yiddish theatre.

Today the Yiddish theatre in Melbourne is the most important cultural factor in Australia. It therefore deserves the attention of all supporters of Yiddish culture in Australia. The war, which has kept Waislitz and Holtzer here, granted Melbourne the opportunity of having its own Yiddish theatre develop further under the direction of two experienced theatrical professionals, undertaking the role of a modern theatre of a high cultural standard and in agreement with the direction of modern Yiddish mass culture.

Yiddish theatre stands in first place in Jewish cultural life in far‐off Australia. Therefore we must appreciate all the developments of Yiddish theatre during the past 30 odd years. There is a danger that all these developments will be forgotten, and this would be more than a painful loss for local Jewish cultural activity. We would not have any beginning of Yiddish cultural activity in Australia without it.

Melbourne, November, 1941