Rabbi's Orders (eBook)

ACT ONE: IN THE KITCHEN

Setting: A typical low middle class Polish Jewish family kitchen. The furniture is old, in need of a new coat of paint, but well scrubbed and clean. Mother Frida wipes dry the bowls she just finished cooking dinner with. Age 48, she is frightfully thin, with a burdened face, highly wrinkled but glowing eyes. Her husband, Eliyahu, walks in with a heavy stride, slightly limping, while perusing a full size printed sheet of paper held in his hands. A 52 years old school teacher, Eliyahu carries himself with beaming presence, but not today. His normal ruddy face is pale, his familiar confronting chin is hanging listlessly below his face. Sitting himself heavily on his old chair at the head of the kitchen table, he mumbles as he reads.

Frida:
[subdued voice, without turning her head] What is it now, Eliyahu?

Eliyahu:
Thursday morning, 7:00 a.m., two small suitcases for each adult.

Frida:
What? Thursday morning? Where? What is it about?

Eliyahu:
By the cargo rail. Relocation—relocation, woman. The rumors turn to be true, what do you know!

[Frida drops a glass, which breaks noisily. She ignores it, turns around, and sits by the table next to her husband].

Frida:
Us? This Thursday? By whose orders?

[Her husband is nonresponsive.]

Frida:
Answer me! Who says we need to report Thursday morning at the cargo rail?

Eliyahu:
The Judenrat, the leadership, the rabbi.

Frida:
Rabbi Rosenblum?

Eliyahu:
Yes, who else? Rabbi Akiva? He is dead. We have one rabbi, and these are his orders, in writing, black on white. The Weinsteins received the same letter, the Moshkoves also. We have no choice. We have to lock the house tight and well, make sure there is no leftover food, or anything that can rot, or attract rats, because we don’t know when we will be back.

Frida:
So the rabbi thinks it is best for us to do what the Nazis want, and help them against America and England?

Eliyahu:
Woman, what is it with you? We are in very deep trouble. You will not be able to wish and pray yourself out of this one. Our very lives are in danger. And it is very smart for the rabbi to make us valuable to the Reich by offering our sweat and labor. Centuries of survival wisdom speak from his lips. Yes, woman, the hour is pitch dark and the rabbi is our best hope.

Frida:
What will we have to do? It’s not manual labor, I would not think, would you? What can we Jews do for the Reich?

Eliyahu:
I don’t know Fridush, I don’t know. I have a very bad feeling about all this. Who knows what the Nazis—erased be their name—have in mind for our future, if any.

Frida:
I don’t like it either, Elush dear. Remember my late father, Menachem, he always said that we Jews are trembling like leaves in the wind, whimpering, complaining, whining, envisioning the worst; always maneuvering ourselves into the role of the victim. And here we go again—

Eliyahu:
What are you saying, woman?! What are you suggesting? Did we invent Hitler—did we invite him to our homes? We are crying and praying because reality has been tough on us. It’s not because of our attitude; it is the cause of our attitude.

Frida:
I don’t know, Eli. Did you notice the delicate red and yellow on the trees down the street? Did you stop to listen to the birds chirping in the early morning? It is autumn. There is so much beauty around. I think you should think of all that a bit—it would brighten your outlook.

Eliyahu:
You are annoying, woman! I wish I could spare some attention to the chirping birds, but my mind is on our very survival, our lives, Frida dear. Our very existence is at risk, and it is so bad that Rabbi Rosenblum had no choice but to order us to leave our home, our city, our synagogue, and place our fate in the hands of the Nazi troopers, who may use us for labor, definitely manual labor, or, God forbid, may just shoot us. Do you know what horror stories are whispered around on the street?!

Frida:
That’s what I am talking about, Elush. We had Hitlers come and go, and the Jews always survived. Let’s be positive—let’s find the bright side!

Eliyahu:
Woman—there is no bright side. It’s dark, complete darkness all over. Is Srulik going to come over for dinner?

Frida:
Yes, sure, by seven o’clock. Why? Do you want to lay this awful news on him too?

Eliyahu:
My dearest wife companion, it’s laid on him. The rabbi’s letter includes him. He too has to be by the cargo rail, seven o’clock in the morning, on Thursday.

Frida:
Could you, at least, respect my cooking, and bring it up after dinner?

[A door is opened in the background (sound effect). Israel’s voice is heard:]

Israel: (unseen)
Mom, Dad, where are you?

Frida:
Here in the kitchen, sonny dear, waiting for you.

[Israel walks in, grim-faced, holding the same page as his father. A tall, well-proportioned impressive young man, age twenty six, well combed pitch dark hair, looks mature, thoughtful, responsible.]

Israel:
[Looking at the document held by his father] Dad, I see you received the same letter. I got it in the office.

Eliyahu:
[sighing, looking straight at his son] What shall we do, son? What shall we do with this very bad news?

Israel:
I think we don’t have a choice. We must take off.

Frida:
Yes, take off and fly above the bad news!

Eliyahu:
Take off, son? What do you mean by that?

Israel:
I mean we should get out of town, move north, or northeast, and hook up with the partisans.

Eliyahu:
You are crazy, Srulik! The partisans would rob us and kill us. They are hooligans, they are savages, they prey on Jews.

Israel:
Indeed so, in normal times, but the world has gone crazy; alliances are shifting, today, we and the partisans, we share one all-consuming goal—defeating Hitler!

Eliyahu:
Our goal is not to defeat anybody, son. Our goal is to survive. To live through this nightmare. Us and the partisans have nothing in common. They are wild and violent; we are mild and harmless. We are learned and sophisticated; they are simple-minded and boorish.

Israel:
In ordinary times, this analysis would be very convincing, Father. But these are not ordinary days. We are all going to die unless we meet this deadly challenge with bold and extraordinary steps.

Eliyahu:
I don’t think so, son. We are going to go through some very difficult times, sure, no doubt about that. But the Germans would not kill us, just like that. There is no value for them in us being dead – please follow my line of thought. The Germans, unlike the partisans, are rational, sophisticated, thoughtful. Look, one middle-size country engages the entire world, including mighty America, and vast Russia, and they are winning – they are winning! They are simply the best. And they did not become that way by being stupid and irrational.

Israel:
Dad, listen to yourself! You sound like an admirer of Herr Hitler! You don’t realize that these smart and sophisticated people have decided to eliminate us totally – and they even declared this to the world. You ignore what lays plainly in front of you, dad! You choose not to think about it. The challenge before us is unprecedented. The Germans don’t come at us with an emotional rush, rather they act out a carefully argued conclusion emerging from convoluted and terrifying assumptions. The logical landscape from their assumptions to their conclusion is admittedly sound and this gives them the sense of being rational, logical, proper – even ethical. If the Jews are a deadly cancer lurking in the body of the German nation, then what is more important than to destroy them with no residue? These sophisticated Germans, as you call them, are very meticulous and are executing a well-organized operation to exterminate every Jew in Europe, going next after every Jew on the planet. I for one realize that much, and I say, let’s bet on those hooligans, let’s meet up with some partisans!

Eliyahu:
Son, the rabbi has considered all options, including this crazy one of yours, and in his infinite wisdom he decided to summon his flock, us, on a carefully laid-out schedule to be picked up by a train, and be transported to our new home, at some labor camp—Auschwitz, most likely.

Israel:
I am sorry, Father, but I don’t agree with the rabbi—most respectful be he—on that one. If it were work, then it would have included only the young and the able, not Mother, not Grandpa, not the kids. But this order includes everyone!

Frida:
This is a sign from God. It’s like God saying: “Don’t worry, it’s some inconvenience, but that’s all—men of my house, take the bright side. It might be an exciting place where we are to be relocated into. Much nicer perhaps than Bialystok. When it’s all over, we would refuse to return.

[She laughs hysterically, but no one joins her].

Israel:
How would your father make the trip, Dad?

Eliyahu:
Good question, son, with his sick heart, his asthma, his bad knee, his kidney issues. I...