Yamulkas in Berlin 4:30

Rain-Droplets Up-Close
“He spoke to her as if she could understand him, never in high pitch or in monosyllables, and never in nonsense words. This is milk that I am feeding you. It comes from Mordechai the milkman, whom you will meet one day. He gets the milk from a cow, which is a very strange and troubling thing if you think about it, so don't think about it . . . This is my hand that is petting your face. Some people are left-handed and some are right-handed. We don't know which you are yet, because you just sit there and let me do the handling . . . This is a kiss. It is what happens when lips are puckered and pressed against something, sometimes other lips, sometimes a cheek, sometimes something else. It depends . . . This is my heart. You are touching it with your left hand, not because you are left-handed, although you might be, but because I am holding it against my heart. What you are feeling is the beating of my heart. It is what keeps me alive.”― Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated

Esther by Elizabeth Swados(1988)

The Plain Facts

Length:82 pages long.
Genre:Theatre Production
Characters:

King Ahashuerus
Mordechai
Haman
Esther
Narrator-Ethyl
Narrator-Lucy
Beggar One thru Four
Contestants One thru Four
French Waiter
Farmer

Setting: The village in Persia where the King Ahashuerus reigns. He reigns with an iron will, and desires to be entertained. The time of year this play takes place is during the festival of Purim.

So, what's It About Man?

. This play shares the great joys held in the holiday of Purim, and the art of story telling.

Vegetable Juice

First Words

Sho-sha-nat ya kov,
Tza-ha-la,
Ve-se-me-cha,
B'ir o-tam ya-chud,
te-ceh-let mordachai. (Hebrew Prayer or Chant it can also be sung.)

Last Words

Sing unto the LORD a new song,
Sing unto the Lord, all Earth,
A new song, sing it loud,
Oh sing unto the LORD a new song.

Literary Review:

Elizabeth Swados celebrates the story-telling tradition found in Jewish lives through out time. Purim, to her, is the time that "And nothing is more gratifying for a tller of tales than to bring together people... people of distant generations and contemporaries.... Hassidim and philosophers...poets and dreams... Jews and Christians...students and teachers...and Republicans! They are all prone to fall under the spell of cetrain words and they are intrigued by the density of certain silencs. There is nothing like a good story." pg 11

Turnip Tips

Check out her page at the IBDB.
She suffers from depression, and has written a number of books to help those with depression, and deal with their disease.

Words Defined:

worddefinition

PurimPurim means Lots. The celebration of Esther and Mordachai's saving work from the hard-nosed Persian Haman. The story shows the lots that are divided between rich and poor, the hungry and the full.

hifalutinPompous or pretentious.

robed in purpleroyal colors, so to be robed in purple means to be wearing the clothes of royalty.

Where to Find This Story

One can find the story in Fateful and Multiplying 9 Contemporary Plays from the American Jewish Repertoire.
Signet Book
1996
English
672 pages
ISBN: 0451628705
ISBN-13: 9780451628701
This outstanding collection showcases nine of the finest Jewish playwrights, including Elizabeth Swados, William Finn and James Lapine, Herb Gardner, Jeffrey Sweet, Jon Robin Baitz, Emily Mann, David Mamet, David Margulies, and Allan Havis.
One can buy this book in paperback from Alibris for one dollar.