Written in 1907 and staged around the world to critical acclaim and—sometimes—controversy, Sholem Asch’s Yidish-language drama Der got fun nekome (The God of Vengeance) was enormously provocative in its time, and remains one of the most significant Jewish plays of the twentieth century. This kit provides resources to help teachers tell the story of this play, its uniquely fraught production history, and its historical significance.
Cover image: The cast, producer, and playwright of the Broadway production of God of Vengeance, found "guilty of presenting an immoral performance" in 1923. Lead actor Rudolph Schildkraut, a renowned performer from Austria, stands fourth from the left, in the front; the producer Harry Weinberger stands second from the right; and the playwright, Sholem Asch, is at the extreme right.
Teachers' guide
Reading and Background:
- You can find an overview of the playwright’s life and work in the YIVO Encyclopedia.
- For an introduction to God of Vengeance, including a plot overview and production history, read “Ten Things You Need to Know about God of Vengeance,” written by David Mazower for the Digital Yiddish Theatre Project. Mazower is the great-grandson of Sholem Asch, and his article is richly illustrated with items from his family's collection and various archives, including production photographs, drawings of actors in their costumes, posters, portraits of Asch and his family, and a program book from a 1922 production of the play in Greenwich Village.
- The God of Vengeance, translated into English by Isaac Goldberg and published in Boston in 1918, is freely available on Google Books.
- Paula Vogel’s Tony-nominated play Indecent, published by New York’s Theatre Communications Group in 2017, creatively traces the history of God of Vengeance’s creation and controversies.
- In the play, the brothel-owner's daughter, Rifkele, and Manke, one of the sex-workers in his employ, share a famously tender encounter upon returning to the brothel on a rainy night. The scene, and the romantic passion between the two characters, have inspired both controversy and admiration for the way Asch depicts two women in love. Questions on the place of lesbianism in Jewish life, law, and thought are likely to arise upon a reading of the play. For insight into the topic, see this survey of lesbianism throughout Jewish history, written by Rabbi Rebecca T. Alpert and published in the Jewish Women's Archive Encyclopedia; or this article by Rabbi Elizabeth Sarah originally published in The Jewish Quarterly (Autumn 1993), which provides a survey of how the issue is treated in traditional rabbinical texts.
- Those interested in discovering more about Jews' involvement in prostitution, and in combating it, may seek out Edward Bristow's 1983 book Prostitution and Prejudice: The Jewish Fight Against White Slavery, 1870-1939.