THE JEWS
A Drama in Four Acts
ACT II.
(Evening. In the workshop, at a table on which is a lighted lamp under a green shade, Shloime at work, alone. Leah and Beresin in the sitting room, in the twrlight. Faintly the chords of a harmonica are heard. One of Mendelssohn’s preludes is played. As the curtain rises, Masha enters the sitting room with a lighted lamp. Masha places the lam$ on the table.)
MASHA. Will you please figure up what you owe me?
LEAH (surprised). Are you going to leave us? Is there anything that displeases you here?
MASHA. I am not displeased. What makes you think I am displeased? I am satisfied....But, who knows? They say such a lot of things....I am afraid....
LEAH. I don't understand you.
(Schloime raises his head from his work table, listens to the music and siehs.)
MASHA. They say that the Jews will be killed? But what have I to do with that? No matter who it is, life is dear to one; and once they begin their work, they won’t stop anywhere (pause). I am not leaving you right now—this minute. I know you cannot do without a servant. But I give you notice that you ought to look out for one.
LEAH. Very well.
(Masha leaves the room. A long pause.)
LEAH. Whenever I hear of the persecution of the Jews somewhere, I begin to realize that I also am a Jewess; and in my heart I begin to feel that my affection for you is weakened—my affection for you Russians, you who persecute us. Then I become conscious of a stronger tie between me and my people, which I do not ordinarily feel. Even now they say that the Jews of Bessarabia expect a new persecution.
BEREZIN. (sorrowfully). Yes. So I have heard....
LEAH. And I begin to feel hatred toward.... even....toward you!
BEREZIN. Am I then to blame for that,
Leah? Am I not also a Jew? Have I not been driven all my life, ever since I went to school? I am the son of poor parents whom the rich oppressed. I was born in bondage, and trembled like a slave in the presence of our rulers. I, too, earn my bread with humility, subordination, cowardice. I have been kept cooling my heels until they wanted me; and at every turn I was informed that I was nothing but a slave, and that the money I earned was given to me through the kindness of these upstarts. I hate them —I hate them! They have distorted my soul, killed my hopes and broken my wings. They have inbred cowardice in me, opposed me every time I made a venture for freedom. I have not a strong will, but I detest them with all my heart. I hate them! I also am a Jew, and I do not feel guilty before you.
LEAH. You are not to blame, but I cannot expel that feeling from my heart. I love you, yet I feel as though I were angry with you. What destroys my confidence in you?....Don't be angry, Vladimir. I am not to be blamed for that. (Strained pause. The harmonica is heard again, muffled.) Are you angry with me?
Berzeziın. No! Grieved. I regret that people have succeeded in kindling enmity in your soul....Who is that playing out there....As if he were erying about something?
LEAH. That is an ailing little boy, the son of a neighbor, a Jew. One day the Gentile boys played a mean trick on him. They baptized him in a cistern of rain water. It was in the autumn, and cold, very cold. He was taken sick, and lost the use of both legs.
BEREZIN (sishs). Yes, this hatred is fostered in the children from their birth. (The music ceases.)
LEAH. When I was a half-grown girl and went to the gymnasium, something happened to me....I will never forget that—never in all my life, until I die. I cannot help thinking of it now. (Muses.)
BEREZIN. What was it?.... (Pause.)