Synopsis

Act I. The home of Reb Khonen, a prosperous patriarch living in a small Polish shtetl. Malkele, his wife, and her servant and confidante Rokhl-Leah, await the arrival of her children and their families: her son Borekh (Boris), a Warsaw merchant, with his snooty wife Helena; polonophile daughter Justina, and cultured but rootless son Andrzej; her traditional son Yoysef and wife Khanele, with their sons Ben-Tsion (a Zionist), Khaim (a communist), and Moyshe (a Yiddishist); and her daughter Bertha, married to the plump and pleasant, but ridiculous, German industrialist, Uncle Kahn. The families arrive one by one—many have never met the others before—and take little time to begin arguing issues of identity politics: e.g. religion vs. secularism, Zionism vs. communism vs. assimilation; Yiddish vs. Hebrew vs. Polish, et al. The one person who is unsure of where he fits in is Ben-Tsion’s and Helena’s son Andrzej, who, though born in Poland, feels no loyalty to the land (unlike his sister), and who, though longing to believe in something, feels no connection to Zionism.

Act II. In Reb Khonen’s garden. For much of the act, the parents sit together on the veranda while the children carry on discussions and debates below. Much of the talk involves cousins and siblings trying to win Andrzej over to one of their causes. Andrzej ends up no closer to finding an answer, but he is angry, asking his father, “You, who gave me life, why didn’t you give that life any substance?”

Act III. A long road surrounded by mountains. An old ruin lies in the middle of the road. Across from it stands a tree. A chain suspended from the tree holds an old shack in which sits a Jewish woman wrapped in a kerchief. She is sleeping, and holds a lit lantern in her hand. Most of the act revolves around Reb Khonen and Malkele saying their goodbyes, and asking the others whether they have thoughts or prayers they want conveyed to the Holy Land. There is also much talk of “meshiekhs tsaytn”—a conviction on the part of many that they are living in a pivotal time. Reb Khonen asks the others to listen out for “the right minute,” leading to this Chekhovian stage direction:

It grows very quiet among the group. All wait and listen impatiently. From far in the distance is heard the sound of a shofar [ram’s horn], which blows a long, drawn-out tekiyah [the name of a type of blast on the shofar]. The tekiyah is repeated three times, with long pauses between them. Then a rustling is heard in the distance, like a wind blowing through reeds…

These sounds are heard several more times during the rest of the act. Reb Khonen starts berating the others for their views, and tries in vain to get them to join him in Palestine. In the end, all exit but Justina and Andrzej, who remarks, “I am a tombstone on the Diaspora—what was once here, the Jew of yore.” The woman in the shed stirs. It is Queen Esterke, who asks to be led to her mother’s grave since she is blind. Justina leads her, and they vanish into the fog. Andrzej concludes, “My mother abandoned me at the crossroads, at the crossroads. I don’t know which way to turn—left or right? ... Don’t know who I am, whence I come, what’s yours, what’s mine. It’s all the same to me, all the same…”