The B'nai B'rith magazine · 1927-06-01 · 9 (6.1927) · p. Seite 391

SHOLOM ASCH 391 whom falls genuinely in love with her and protects her from harm. When Deborah can no longer postpone her marriage to him, she convinces this superstitious suitor that she is not an ordinary mortal, but a spirit. The poor, enamored Cossack, thinking that no harm will come to Deborah, agrees to shoot her. Thus Deborah dies, believing that she will join her husband in the better world. But the storm of destruction has not touched Schlomele. He goes his weary, lonely way about the world always hopeful of meeting his beloved wife. Out of a story so simple and elementary, Asch has created a beautiful epic that will endure in Yiddish literature. The description of the brutalities committed by the Cossacks upon the thousands of helpless Jews is singularly beautiful in form. In a few, simple lines, the author presents a picture lor which other writers might have required innumerable pages. We witness the pogroms through their horrible effects. A muffled scream; a cry, half uttered; pages, torn from some holy book, fluttering in the wind; a moan; a darkened, silent house, a candlestick on a doorstep; and the retreating sound of horses' hoofs. "Kiddush Ha-Shem" does not completely escape melodrama. It also contains confusing symbolism. And there are some extravagant scenes which rival those in the movies. But these elements, instead of offending the intellectual and artistic taste, gratify it, so beautifully are they woven into the main pattern. In "Uncle Moses," his next novel, Asch returns to realism. Years of labor, of humiliation, of innumerable hardships helped to make Moses Melnick the typically successful business man. He is now in his forties, fat, powerful, and rich. More than his wealth and success, in spite of which he somehow remains lonely, Melnick cherishes the appellation "Uncle Moses." For it is by this name that he is known to the Kushminer, the former inhabitants of his native Russian town. They worked for him in the top loft of an old building on the Bowery. The aristocracy as well as the pariahs of the Kushminer, the professional as well as the lay classes sat and sewed; sewed trousers and coats and increased the wealth of Uncle Moses. And he, ever reminiscent of the poverty and humiliation of his youth, ever conscious of the position of his father in Kushmin society, is proud that he can rule over them. His drunken father, who now lives in luxury, refers to Moses as "The Pharaoh." A Pharaoh ruling a modern Egypt more tyrannical than the Biblical one. Being a Pharaoh does not give Moses the pleasure and happiness he had missed in those early, lean years. He had lost his youth and joy of living in the difficult struggle to rise. Living in America for years, he had not become Americanized beyond absorbing the country's superficialities and slang. Sub-consciously, and often-times consciously, he feels that he belongs to the spirit and civilization of Kushmin. "Uncle Moses" is so accustomed to the awe with which Kushmin in New York treats him, that when he first encounters open hostility in fourteenyear-old Masha, the daughter of one of his workers, he is greatly impressed. The more he sees of Masha, the more he admires and respects her. She awakens in him dreams, desires, and longings that he had never thought himself capable of experiencing. Moses determines to realize, through Masha, his hitherto unconscious, half-cherished dreams. She would grow to love him, and would not fear, or admire, or hate him like all the others with whom Moses came in contact. Masha would love him for himself, not for his wealth and power. She would bear him children, fine and beautiful, who also would love him. With these visions of the future, Uncle Moses places before Masha all the advantages that his money could obtain. But Uncle Moses can not inspire love. Masha stands in awe of him as do the others of her class. Frustrated, Moses is resigned, and marries Masha knowing that she consents only because of necessity. Marriage to the youthful Masha completely transforms the boorish vulgar Moses. The kindliness, charity and tenderness he had unconsciously admired in others and had never permitted himself to feel, suddenly come into his soul. The Kushminer grow to love him. But their admiration for him is lost and they secretly laugh at his "weaknesses." With the birth of a son, Moses' happiness seems to be complete. But unexpectedly a tragedy occurs that is to leave a permanent scar on his spirit. Masha confesses that the child is not his. Its father is Moses' young cousin who had been his best friend. This sorrowful awakening completely destroys Moses. After Masha's disappearance, he becomes hopeless, ambitionless, lonely. There is less melodrama in "Uncle Moses" than is Asch's other realistic novels. The author is deeper and more philosophic than usual in his portrayal of the character of Moses Melnick. Here is a study of failure and sordidness that is yet beautiful and appealing. Kushmin transferred to New York is unhappy, but is colored with Asch's poetry. "The God of Vengance" is Sholom Asch's best drama. It has been translated into many modern languages and produced in a number of the larger cities of the world. The play greatly disturbed the Anthony Comstocks of New York City when it was produced there several years ago. But the "God of Vengeance" is no mere sex play though it deals so fearlessly with the subject. The interest and tragedy of the story do not revolve about the seventeen-year-old Rifkele who, though kept away from the brothel owned by her father, Yekel, is nevertheless so drawn to its life that she flees to it of her own accord. Rather, the play centers about Yekel, who, living in sin and trading in iniquity all his life, now longs for purity and holiness. He wishes to atone for his wickedness by giving charity, by owning and keeping in his homo a Holy Scroll, and by guarding his daughter Rifkele from sin and impurity. Yekel places the scroll in Rifkele's room. Surely it will keep her pure and noble and protect their home from evil. The Holy Scroll proves incapable of protecting Rifkele. Yekel is bitter against God. The Almighty is as vengeful as any mortal. Brokenhearted, he throws Rifkele down to the brothel where she "belongs" and hurries the scribe with the Holy Scroll out of the house. "The God of Vengeance" is a powerful play, rich in thought and beauty. The pathos, the suffering of Yekel, is cosmic in its depth. And though the play is realistic in setting and theme, it is not lacking in poetry. The pen of Sholom Asch is still as virile as it has been in the past. He continues to give Yiddish literature novels, stories, and plays that are rich in originality, beauty and interest. He is one of the most gifted of living Yiddish writers.