Appendix B: Glossary of plays

This appendix contains a table of Yiddish Theater plays that Sam mentions, either as a play he performed in, attended, or refers to someone else performing in. Plays are listed in order of first appearance.

In the Playwright/composer(s) column, I provide names of those who were documented to have been involved writing the play and/or music. An absence of a composer or lyricist does not imply that the main playwright necessary also wrote the songs; in many cases, this information is just not definitively known (or I haven’t found it yet!). It was also common for songs to be added to plays by additional songwriters who were not officially credited.

Play name	English translation	Playwright/composer(s)	Chapter(s)	Synopses, scripts, or selected sheet music¹, where available
Shulamith	Shulamith	Abraham Goldfaden	6, 7, 8, 20, 24	Digital Yiddish Theater Project
Bar Kochba	Bar Kokhba	Abraham Goldfaden	6, 20, 34	Digital Yiddish Theater Project
Di Kokete Damen	The Coquettish/Flirtatious Women	Shomer	7, 11
Di Kishefmacherin, oder Bobe Yachne	The Sorceress	Abraham Goldfaden	8, 11	Wikipedia Digital Yiddish Theater Project
Saylor in Gefar	Sailor in Peril	Unknown English playwright; adapted to Yiddish by Rudolph Marks	9
Kibed Ov	Honor thy Father	Joseph Lateiner	9
Di tsvey Kuni-Lemls	The Two Kuni Lemels	Abraham Goldfaden	10, 27	Digital Yiddish Theater Project
Dos Poylishe Yingl	The Polish Boy	Moishe Ish Horowitz Halevy, based on the eponymous book by Yitzhak Yoel Linetzky	11, 32
Aliles Dam, oder Menachem Ben-Yisroel	Blood Libel, or Menachem Ben-Israel	Boris Thomashefsky	11
Di Chalitse, oder Velvele Est Kompot	The Female Pioneer, or Velvele Eats Compote²	Adapted by Boris Thomashefsky from the eponymous play by Shimon Bekerman	11
Ester fun Eyn-Gedi	Esther of Ein-Gedi	Joseph Lateiner	12
Chayim in Amerike	Chaim in America	Rudolph Marks	12
Di Farblondzhete Neshome	The Lost/Wandering Soul	Joseph Lateiner	13
Meilitz Yosher, oder Rabbi Yoselman	Advocate, or Rabbi Yosselman	Abraham Goldfaden	14, 15
Der Boyeri Tremp	The Bowery Tramp	Rudolph Marks	15
Ruchl un Leah	Rachel and Leah	Unknown	15
Der Yidisher Kenig Lir	The Yiddish King Lear	Jacob Gordin	15, 19	Wikipedia Digital Yiddish Theater Project
Aleksander, oder der Kroynprints fun Yerusholayim	Alexander, or the Crown Prince of Jerusalem	Joseph Lateiner	15
Der Yidishe Galech	The Jewish Priest	Jacob Gordin	19	Handwritten script
Blimele, di Perle fun Varshe, oder Graff un Yude	Blimele, the Pearl of Warsaw, or The Count and the Jew	Joseph Lateiner, music and lyrics by Sigmond Mogulesko and arrangement by Louis Friedsell	20
Mirele Efros	Mirele Efros	Jacob Gordin	21	Wikipedia
Kiddush Hashem, oder Der Yidisher Minister³	Kiddush Hashem, or The Jewish Minister	Joseph Lateiner	21
Medea	Medea	Originally written in German by the playwright Franz Grillparzer, adapted to Yiddish by Jacob Gordin	21	Wikipedia article about a German opera adaptation (2010) of the same play
Kol Nidre, oder Di Geheyme Yuden in Madrid	Kol Nidre, or the Crypto-Jews of Madrid	Abraham Michael Sharkansky, music by Louis Friedsell	24
Gott, Mentsh, un Tayvl	God, Man, and Devil	Jacob Gordin	24	The English translation
Nomer 587, or Di Mame Sure	Number 587, or Mother Sarah	Sigmond Feinman	25
Di Imigranten⁴	The Immigrants	Shomer	27
Tisa Esler	Tiszaeszlár	Moishe Ish Horowitz Halevy	30
Yesties Mitsraïm	Exodus from Egypt	Moishe Ish Horowitz Halevy, music by Perlmutter and Wohl	30, 31	Sheet music
Di Bnei Yisroel, oder Di Vayse un di Schwartse Yuden	The Children of Israel, or The White and The Black Jews	Moishe Ish Horowitz Halevy, music by Perlmutter and Wohl	31
East Side Ghetto	East Side Ghetto	Leon Kobrin	31
Helene, oder Di Yidishe Medea	Helena, or the Jewish Medea	Zalmon Libin	31
Reb Leyb Sephardi, oder Der Yud in Sobietski’s Zayten	Reb Leyb Sephardi, or The Jew in the Age of Sobietsky	Moishe Ish Horowitz Halevy, music by Perlmutter and Wohl and lyrics by Schorr	32
Di Yerushe	The Inheritance	George (Gershon) Zeikin	32	Sheet music
A Mensch Zol Men Zeyn	A Person Should Be a Mensch	Anshel Schorr and Moishe Schorr	33
Yom Hachupe	The Wedding Day	Joseph Lateiner, music by Joseph Brody and Louis Friedsell and lyrics by Smulewitz, but at least one song had music by Otto Motzan and lyrics by Louis Gilrod	33	Sheet music
Mayn Vayb’s Man, oder Di Bigamistn	My Wife’s Man, or The Bigamist	Hyman Meisel, music by Joseph Brody and Louis Friedsell	34
Tsvey Chazonim	Two Cantors	Harry Kalmanowitz, adapted by Boris Thomashefsky with music by Herman Wohl and Louis Gilrod	35	Sheet music
Got fun Nekome	God of Vengeance	Sholem Asch	36	Digital Yiddish Theater Project
Eykele Mazik	The Reformed Convict	Abraham Shomer	36
Kroitzer Sonata	The Kreutzer Sonata	Adapted by Jacob Gordin for the Yiddish theater, based on the novella by Leo Tolstoy	36	Wikipedia
Zalmon Troubadour	Zalmen Troubadour	Leon Zolotkoff	38
Chantshe in Amerike	Khantshe in America	Nachum Rakov, music by Joseph Rumshinsky and lyrics by Isidore Lillian	38	Sheet music
Di Greenhorns, oder Mishke un Moshke⁵	The Greenhorns, or Mishke and Moshke	Joseph Lateiner	39	Partial script, in Yiddish ⁶
Dos Farblondzete Shefele	The Lost Little Sheep	Thomashefsky, music by Perlmutter and Wohl	41	Sheet music
Undzer Gloybn	Our Beliefs	Sholem Asch	41
Der Griner Milyoner	The Greenhorn Millionaire	Abraham Shomer	42	Script, in Yiddish
Dos Tsubrochene Fidele	The Broken Violin	Thomashefsky, music by Rumshinsky (with input from George Gershwin) and lyrics by Thomashefsky and Isidore Lillian	43	Sheet music
Der Griner Bocher	The Greenhorn Boy	Thomashefsky, music by Louis Friedsell	43
Liovke Molodietz	Liovke Molodietz	Words and music by Wolf Shumsky and Aaron Lebedeff	44	Sheet music
Dem Zeyden’s Gelibte	The Grandfather’s Sweetheart	Libretto by Louis Freiman and music by Herman Wohl	45
Kinder Fargesn Nit	Children Don’t Forget	Zalmon Libin, music by Joseph Brody	45
Dem Rabin’s Zondele	The Rabbi’s Little Son	William Segal, lyrics by Nachum Stutchkoff and music by Herman Wohl	45

Generally for songs sung by Sam↩︎
Noting I have also seen this referred to as Dovid Velvele eats tsimmes (Source)↩︎
Not to be confused with the book of the same name by Sholem Asch, which was later adapted into a play ↩︎
Not to be confused with the book of the same name by Leon Kobrin ↩︎
Also known as Mishke un Moshke, oder Eyropeyer in Amerike (Mishke and Moshke, Europeans in America)↩︎
This might not actually be a partial script of this play. If it isn’t, it’s certainly a piece of related content.↩︎