Theatre Review—

You Don’t Have To Be Jewish To Enjoy ‘Orthodox’

By Julie Stern

NEW HAVEN — In terms of numbers, Jews represent a tiny minority in this country, a little over two percent of the American population. Within that group, however, is enormous diversity ranging from the fundamentalist black-clad Hasidic sects, as fiercely locked in the past as the Pennsylvania Amish, through the various Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements who worship with different degrees of piety and liberalism, to the completely secular, or non-observant, Jews who have assimilated intellectually into the majority culture and see their Jewishness not as a religion but as an ethnic heritage.

Of course this variety of practice and belief exists in Christianity as well, but because they are members of a minority group — subject to scrutiny by the mainstream society — it happens that some Jews who have chosen to assimilate feel embarrassed by the manners and style of the ultra-Orthodox. They resent the notion that these people claim to be the “real” Jews, entitled to speak for all others.

In the program notes to Modern Orthodox, currently on the boards at Long Wharf Theatre, playwright Daniel Goldfarb explains that his comedy is the outgrowth of his examination of his own negative attitude toward Orthodox Jews, a visceral mixture of rage, pity and shame. Happily, Mr Goldfarb has used the play as a way of working out his feelings rather than a sounding board to vociferate them. It is not a satire but a comedy of manners, drawing its humor from the juxtaposition of vastly different personalities.

Ben Jacobson, a tall, handsome, ultra-smooth financial analyst, has decided to propose to Hannah Ziggelstein, the attractive medical student with whom he has been living the past five years. To formalize the engagement he wants to surprise her with a diamond ring. This brings Ben into contact with Hershel Klein, a young diamond merchant who has been recommended by the cousin of a friend.

Hershel is “modern Orthodox.” He has no beard and wears ordinary clothes, with the only obvious symbol of his faith being the yarmulke, or skullcap, embroidered with a New York Yankees insignia. He is gauche, bumptious and totally unself-conscious.

Between breathlessly invoked prayers in a language Ben does not understand, Hershel reveals that he too is engaged, to a young woman in Belgium who has been chosen for him by his family. They have never met, but the two have exchanged several letters and Hershel recently sent his young lady his photo.

Hershel’s ebullient Jewishness annoys the fastidious Ben, who becomes more and more Wasp-like in his desire to distance himself from this person he calls “Sid the Yid.” He makes a few derisive comments which go right over Hersh’s head until finally, in a gesture of deliberate insensitivity, he demands Hershel remove his yarmulke as a condition of the sale. After a moment of disbelief, to close the deal Hersh does as he is asked.

As Ben and Hannah are about to celebrate their engagement later that evening, a tearful Hersh batters on their door and announces his life is ruined. His fiancée committed suicide and he is now a pariah in his Brooklyn community. His parents have kicked him out, his brother and sisters won’t speak to him, and it is all Ben’s fault, the result of having taken off his yarmulke. He did that for Ben, and now it is up to Ben to be his friend and take him in.

Because the compassionate Hannah takes pity on the distraught stranger, the couple does not turn him away. But the challenge of life with Hershel — no lights and no phones on the Sabbath, he can’t be alone in a room with a woman, he has plans to bury all their pots and pans in Riverside Park as a first step in making them kosher, along with his hyperemotional weeping, his blatant sexism and his implacably cheerful obtuseness — make them desperate.

The only way to get rid of Hershel, decide Ben and Hannah, is to find him a replacement for the lost fiancée. Being modern themselves, Ben and Hannah set out to find him a nice Jewish girl in a modern way — the Internet, using Jewdate.com.

Through exposure for the first time to what he calls “ersatz Jews,” Hersh begins to grasp the secular idea that it is important to understand the promptings of your own heart as well as the lessons of the Talmud, while Ben starts to come to terms with his own prejudices and insecurities. He realizes where his contempt for Hersh and his blind faith has come from. And even Hannah has her own realization, concerning her own capacity for making a lifelong commitment.

Modern Orthodox works well because Michael Goldstrom is so over-the-top funny as the bumbling Hersh, especially in contrast to Matthew Rausch as the deadpan Ben. Julie Lauren is the appealing Hannah who, in her green scrubs, could have stepped right off the set of er. Rebecka Ray is a droll piece of work as Rachel, the girl found for Hershel who knows how to play the game and get exactly what she wants.

Daniel Goldfarb has written some very funny lines that capture the incongruity of this cultural collision. As an intellectual discussion on the nature of religion and faith, however, I think it is a stretch, taken on to give the work more substance. Still, Modern Orthodox is an upbeat and entertaining production, and like they used to say about Levy’s Rye Bread, “you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy it.”

(Performances continue Tuesday through Sunday evenings, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons, through November 19. Contact Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive in New Haven, at 203/787-4282 for performance times and ticket details.)