Synopsis

Act I. In the woods, an old castle in the middle. Hunters around a fire, cooking a goose, drinking, and singing a drinking song. Off to the side, the king’s nephew Don Diego tells the bandit Bartello that he is bored with the hunt; he’d rather be hunting two-legged prey at night. Bartello advises him to clean up his act if he wants to marry the Governor’s beautiful daughter Elvira. Don Diego replies that he doesn’t need moral advice from a bandit. But Diego says he will soon need Bartello’s services, and of course will reward him handsomely.

The Governor of Palermo, Don Pedro, enters. He asks Diego why he wasn’t at the appointed place. Diego says he was waiting for the Governor. He and Bartello go. The Governor tells his servant Gomez that he can’t wait for the Jews to obey the expulsion decree and leave Palermo. Gomez tells him about a man who almost lost his hand while trying to protect his dog. He asks permission to see the Jews off tomorrow with a few stones. We hear the drinking song as the scene ends.

Scene change: the Governor’s room. His wife, Isabella, consults with the doctor, Alonzo, about her daughter’s condition. He says the only person who could possibly help her is his former teacher, a Jew named Dr. Almasado, but that’s impossible because of the decree. However, she resolves to send for him secretly. She tells Pedro of her plan, and though he points out that she’ll get three months in jail if caught--and the doctor twice that--they send Gomez for the doctor. Scene change to the doctor’s room. Alonzo enters. He and Miriam, the doctor’s daughter, are in love. She tells him she wanted to accompany her father on his rounds, but was stopped by two men who tried to detain her. Alonzo realizes that she was lucky; the men were Diego and Bartello, clearly up to no good. Almasado enters, and sends Alonzo to treat the sick pauper he was just tending to. Miriam notices that his hand is bandaged. He says it’s nothing--he just dropped a bottle and cut himself. When Gomez arrives, Dr. Almasado tells him he won’t obey the summons until Gomez brings a sign from the governor that it’s for real. He sings a farewell song to their home. Scene change to a street in front of the synagogue, where lights and singing come from inside, where the Jews are taking out the Torah scroll for the journey. Outside, Diego curses Bartello, who gives him back his money and says he wouldn’t have taken it in the first place if he had known Miriam was the intended victim, since her father once saved his life. Diego asks who it was who helped Miriam get away. Bartello thinks it was Alonzo, and Diego vows revenge. They go. Italians surround the synagogue, singing, “Out of our land!” as the Jews sing to the Torah. The gates open, with the same song the Jews start to exit, carrying holy books and Torah scrolls, and with this procession, the curtain falls.

Act II. The Governor’s room. Pedro with Isabella, who sits near her sick daughter and cries. Dr. Almasado arrives and says the girl is very ill but treatable. But as he begins writing a prescription with his left hand--his right one being bound in bandages--Pedro recognizes him and stops everything. Surely the Jew must hate him and seek to get revenge by killing his daughter. But Dr. Almasado says he can’t hate the man who is simply fulfilling God’s decree. Pedro’s fears are not allayed, but after he goes, Isabella reiterates that she prophesied that the Jew will heal Elvira. Dr. Almasado goes to spend the night attending the girl. Scene change to a home. Miriam tells Alonzo she is struggling with the implications of his being a Gentile. He goes. Outside, Diego is waiting to ambush him, wit Bartello again refusing to cooperate. Diego stabs Alonzo, who is brought into the house. As he lies bleeding, he tells Miriam he is a Jew. Dr. Almasado returns and Diego enters, accusing him of killing Alonzo. He says he was just with a patient, but refuses to say where. He tells Diego privately, though. Diego is shocked, tells the soldiers not to let Dr. Almasado go, and runs off. The people sing, “To prison, to prison!”

Act III. Dr. Almasado sitting sadly in his prison cell. He sings, “Faryomert, farklogt,” about exile as the Jewish condition, invoking Amalek, Spain, Rome, et al. He is confident that he can prove his innocence, but worries about Miriam’s potential role in Alonzo’s murder. He is taken away, and Miriam is brought before the judge and accused of murder. She denies it, but when pressed, admits to having loved Alonzo. The judge asks what right she had to love a Christian, and then asks what patient her father was seeing. When she insists she doesn’t know, she is sent out and her father brought in. He says he was attending a Christian patient while the murder occurred, and will accept the punishment for breaking the law, but refuses to disclose the patient’s name. He is about to be punished, but Diego arrives with a message from the Governor ordering Dr. Almasado’s release, since he was attending Elvira when the murder was committed. All exit, astonished. Scene change to the other end of town. In an inn next to a mountain, we see soldiers singing a drinking song. Diego charges Bartello with a different sort of mission this time: rescuing Miriam from prison. Bartello finds it hard to believe, but gladly accepts, and sends Diego away. Left alone, he wonders whether it’s a trap, but resolves to carry out the job. He brings Miriam down a ladder, but Diego appears and demands that Bartello give her to him. Bartello refuses. They fight. Bartello stabs Diego and runs off with Miriam. Soldiers arrive, and run in search of the escaped prisoner.

Act IV. Another drinking song: this time guests file through the Governor’s room drinking a toast to Elvira’s recent recovery. She and her mother sit in ball clothes, Dr. Almasado with them. He proposes a toast to Pedro, who saved Miriam. Isabella relates how Diego confessed to Alonzo’s murder on his deathbed. But Dr. Almasado is still worried about Miriam. Isabella reassures him, and Elvira scolds them for not drinking. Pedro returns from seeing the Emperor, embraces his wife and daughter, and takes Dr. Almasado’s hand. He hands him a decree signed by the Emperor allowing the Jews to stay, and Jewish doctors to treat Christian patients. Dr. Almasado again expresses his concern for Miriam, but Pedro also gives his assurances to help find her, and sends Dr. Almasado off to tell the Jews the good news. More drinking.

Act V. Dr. Almasado sitting sadly in his home. Jews surround him and thank him, but Dr. Almasado says it was all God’s doing. He sends them to pray for the Emperor and Governor, and reminds him that the Jews are always “stepsons” in any land in which they live, and their behavior must therefore be spotless. They go. Alonzo enters in Jewish clothing. He tells Dr. Almasado that he disguised as a Christian when the decree forbidding Jews to treat Christians was issued. His plan was to work his way up to a high post so that some day, he could reveal his identity and save the Jews if needed. Bartello brings Miriam to Dr. Almasado. Alonzo tells Miriam he was only slightly wounded; Dr. Almasado says the pair will marry. Scene change to the Governor’s palace. A march plays, Jews file through, each kneeling and thanking the Governor. Elvira sings a reprise of her drinking song as the final curtain falls.