[_Points to a chair._
REBECCA.
Not Abram's daughter, Rafael; Aaron's daughter. My father was here
only yesterday.
RAFAEL.
Oh, Aaron's daughter! Oh yes! Aaron was here only yesterday!
REBECCA.
Yes.
RAFAEL.
And now you are here.
REBECCA.
Yes. He came to sell some wool.
RAFAEL.
Some wool? I thought it was a lamb he came to sell. Ah well! [_Motions
to chair._] Let us proceed to business.
REBECCA.
But I did not come on business.
RAFAEL.
We are quite alone.
REBECCA.
From what your friends Samson and Daniel have just told me, I should
think not.
[_She examines the room._
RAFAEL.
How do you like it?
REBECCA.
[_Laughs._] Father said I ought to come and see Esther.
RAFAEL.
Oh, so your father--a thoughtful man; your father, a man of tact,
admirable tact!
REBECCA.
You say such strange things!
[_A pause. She begins to struggle with a ring on her finger._
RAFAEL.
[_Yawning._] Admirable tact!
REBECCA.
This ring--it's so tight--it hurts my finger so! I took it from
Isaac's son one time--when we played that our fathers had engaged us
to marry. I don't suppose it was quite proper of me, was it, Rafael?
It was years ago--but--but--[_pulls_]--it doesn't come easily! [_She
stretches out her hand to him._] Don't you want to clear it away,
Rafael?
RAFAEL.
[_Goes to the cupboard._] Just a moment.
REBECCA.
[_With her hand still out._] Everybody out, Rafael?
RAFAEL.
[_Bringing a plate._] There's not a Jew in the house.
[_He removes the ring easily, and gives it to her on the plate._
REBECCA.
[_Vexed._] Your servant--that Christian person--I suppose she's
listening at that door?
RAFAEL.
[_He sits on the table._] You might go up and see.
REBECCA.
[_After hesitating, she runs up the stairs and opens the door._] Oh! I
don't believe there is any one in the house but us! I'm afraid to come
down!
RAFAEL.
You needn't be!
REBECCA.
You mustn't come up!
RAFAEL.
They'll be home soon. Let us proceed to business.
REBECCA.
[_Archly coming down one step._] Do you call it business?
RAFAEL.
I can't say I do. I weigh 12 stone, Rebecca, and your father won't
give but 8000 guilders. That's--that's 666 guilders a stone; 14 into
666, that's only 45 guilders a pound! And----
REBECCA.
No, it's over 47-1/2 guilders a pound.
RAFAEL.
I am sure you are right--only 47-1/2 guilders a pound he'll give for
me. No, I can't say I call that business.
REBECCA.
[_Coming down a step._] You don't seem to have much sentiment about
it, Rafael.
RAFAEL.
Ah, if it were only a matter of sentiment! [_She comes down two
steps._] But sentiment after business, Rebecca, after business. I
am 40 inches round the chest, Rebecca; and if my heart should swell
I should be doubtless 45. But at eight thousand guilders, Rebecca,
it doesn't swell!
REBECCA.
But I--I don't like to talk this way, Rafael; it doesn't seem to me
quite--quite nice.
RAFAEL.
That is your delicacy, Rebecca, your extreme delicacy. But we must not
mix delicacy with business, Rebecca. He sticks at eight thousand, and
not a thing, I suppose, in the way of dresses, finery, rigging----?
REBECCA.
It's really most unpleasant to have to talk of such things. Of
course I shall have a dozen of everything; father has told me
so--when I am--when I--I can't say it! I really can't speak of it.
RAFAEL.
That's your shrinking nature, Rebecca, your extreme sensitiveness!
H'm! How should a man's heart know which way to beat? On the one
side the daughter, with her delicacy, her shrinking nature; on the
other side the father, who sticks at eight thousand guilders! No;
at eight thousand I will not love you. It would not be dignified at
eight thousand!
REBECCA.
[_Coming down the remaining steps._] But you don't suppose that if
my father were willing to give, say, ten thousand, he would begin at
more than eight thousand; not with _your_ father--now would he,
Rafael? But I think that nowadays, when young people are to be--when
they intend--they ought to have some sentiment for each other.
RAFAEL.
H'm!
REBECCA.
And, moreover, I think that young men should be more careful as to
how they let themselves be talked about--more careful than you are.
They call you an infidel, Rafael, and they say disagreeable things
about you and this impertinent servant of yours.
RAFAEL.
They do! [_A pause._] Of course, if we were to contemplate
matrimony--you and I--such a matter would be very serious.
REBECCA.
It certainly would.
RAFAEL.
And so it's very fortunate, Rebecca, that we have been talking in a
kind of irony--you and I--over a matter which was never even
remotely possible! Isn't it?
REBECCA.
[_After a pause._] Yes, _very_ fortunate. It would have been most
unfortunate for you if you had ever entertained the idea. If your
father or mine entertain it, we must speedily end that. Go on with
your scullerymaid; it's nothing to me.
RAFAEL.
No, it's nothing to you, Rebecca! You and I don't want to marry, and
they are trying to chain us together against our wills! We must
fight them, Rebecca! We must put our backs against the wall! Your
father will whisper avarice to you. He'll bid you look around. "This
is thy neighbour's house," he'll say. "It will all be Rafael's;
see--see--treasure, value, gain; see the jewels there, the gold and
silver, the rich laces and old articles of art--all his, my
girl--and his father will die soon! He'll die of joy if he gets
eight thousand guilders with his daughter-in-law. And then it will
be all yours--yours and Rafael's; yours to hug and wrap your soul
around, my girl; all--all, from the last atom of diamond dust in
the cases there, to the rust on the nail in the latch on the door
that keeps away the moans of the starving!"
REBECCA.
But do you think----?
RAFAEL.
But you won't be betrayed by an old man's lust for gold. No! You'll
say: "Father, I have a heart; I will not give myself to one I do not
love, to soothe your itching palm!" You'll look well saying that,
Rebecca! You'll stand and face him in the dignity of truth! You'll
be defending the next generation against the crawling viper of
greed! I'd like to be there! I'd like to see the flash in your eyes;
even now you cannot think of it without fire in your look! I see the
anger of righteousness; I cannot too deeply express my respect,
Rebecca!
REBECCA.
Do you think I don't know what you mean? You think I want to marry
you--to get you away from this vile creature--this unthinkable
person who----
_Enter ROSA._
RAFAEL.
Will you be so good as to say no more about Rosa! If a man--[_He
checks himself._] Let me tell you what she is to me----
ROSA.
Rafael, Rafael!
REBECCA.
Oh! She calls you Rafael! She was listening all the time! What they
say is true: you thrust your shameful doings in my face! I shall
tell my father--I shall tell everyone; they will stone you from the
Ghetto! You tried to make a fool of me; and you--you----
[_She bursts into tears. Exit._
RAFAEL.
And now I'm going to break my poor old father's heart. I am going to
tell him that you and I were married by the Civil Authority beyond
the Ghetto, that we are one and indivisible. Poor old man! I am not
without love for my father, you know. He will think that I am lost
for ever; he will turn me away from his door with a curse on his
lips; and then, when we are gone, he'll sink down in his chair and
weep; a broken life, an old age come to nothing! And he may die at
any moment--it may kill him--and he _might_ have died and never have
known it.
ROSA.
Rafael, I can't be the cause of his death! Don't tell him, Rafael! I
will try to live on--as we are.
RAFAEL.
Live on as we are, with this doubt in your heart? You have said I
dared not face poverty for your sake. Such a doubt must be killed at
any cost. I won't have it coming back to you to mar your faith in me
in after years. No; there's no question of my not telling him;
there's only the question of how to tell him.
ROSA.
Rafael, I would rather you wouldn't! I have been selfish; I forgot
about your father; I forgot about your music.
RAFAEL.
My father will probably speak first of Rebecca. I shall say: "No,
father, I will marry no woman I do not love." Then that will be
settled; my father will let the matter drop. Then I shall tell him
about you. Either he will be violent or he will ask me a few
questions between his teeth, such as: "How much money have you?"
ROSA.
Nothing!
RAFAEL.
Or, "What vocation are you master of?"
ROSA.
The music--if he could only hear----!
RAFAEL.
My father is as deaf to my art as he is blind. "Are you master of an
art, when it will not yield you bread?" he will say.
ROSA.
But it will yield you bread, if you will but wait, Rafael!
RAFAEL.
I was very happy when I came through that door. I saw Hanakoff this
morning. He is going to play my Fantasia to-night, Rosa, before the
aristocracy; he is going to let me lead his orchestra! And in a
month he would have played my Symphony!
ROSA.
Would have! Why not, then?
RAFAEL.
Why not? It won't be possible, Rosa.
ROSA.
It must be possible! Why not? Why not?
RAFAEL.
Well, because the Symphony isn't finished, and in the time when I
thought to finish it I shall be working with my hands to keep us
from starving--if a man can keep from starving by working with his
hands!
ROSA.
Rafael, you shall not tell your father! You shall not sacrifice your
career to me. I wounded you too deeply. I didn't mean what I said--I
didn't realise what I was doing. See, dear, we must wait for the
Symphony. You must go on with your work--you must have peace--you
must know that I love you--that I cannot doubt you! Don't you feel
that the music will succeed?
RAFAEL.
It must succeed! It's beautiful. My God, I know it's beautiful!
Because it is you, Rosa, shining through my art, lifting up my
spirit till I can't call the work mine. It comes from you and from
God!
ROSA.
Then, against my will, will you put me between God and the message
he sends to the world through you? No!
RAFAEL.
I must accept the challenge you have made. I am a musician; but I'm
a man first!
ROSA.
But--but I---- [_She weeps._
RAFAEL.
Don't--don't! And this is the day I had looked forward to for so
many weary months; my music has found a great man who believes in
it, and on that day my spirit is sunken within me; I am waiting to
give my father a blow that may kill him, and the woman I love so
tenderly is sobbing her foolish little heart out on my knee!
ROSA.
[_Springing up._] Not now! I have stopped sobbing--the tears have
cleared my eyes--I see better than you! I will not have you magnify
the doubt I threw into my angry words. There was no doubt; I spoke
falsely. Have I not given you my life? I should not dare to doubt
you! There are things that must not, shall not be done. We are going
to pass through a fire of hatred, scorn, ridicule. We _must_ have
success, we _must_ triumph, and we must protect your father from
harm. Go! Tell your father you cannot marry Rebecca; tell him he
must not think of that. Lead him home, speak kind words to him, but
don't tell him of me. And then go to work on your Symphony. You say
I inspired it. You touch my vanity. I want to inspire it to the end!
Don't mind me, don't think of me. Work, work, and only let me once
in a while come softly, silently, and----
[_She kisses his hand._
RAFAEL.
Rosa! Rosa! How you tempt me! I want to do what is right. I can't
tell which it is, but the child of my soul is coming forth into the
world, and your kiss is so like a mother's kiss--it seems to bid me
be gentle to my child--not to kill it before it is born. Oh, how I
love my music--love it because it lets me express my love for you! I
say the world shall never forget how I loved you when my music goes
down to history! Rosa, Rosa, can you wait--can you trust me?
ROSA.
[_Joyfully._] You are going to grant my prayer--you're going to
wait--wait! I'm so glad--I'm so glad!
RAFAEL.
Unless they force me to it, I'll wait. I must go and find my father;
it's late already. And then to the Symphony! Ah, you--you are my
Symphony--it cannot fail! We must have success--and then let the
Ghetto do what it can! I ought to be back in an hour. Will you steal
a moment to let me tell you how things stand?
ROSA.
Yes! yes! Good-bye! good-bye! Remember, there is no Rosa--she does
not exist!
[_RAFAEL shakes his head laughingly; kisses her. Exit. She stands
smiling and happy._
A VOICE WITHOUT.
That was the man; he's going to marry a Christian!
ROSA.
Oh!
ANOTHER VOICE.
He's going to marry the Christian servant in his father's house!
VARIOUS VOICES.
Oh! Shame! shame! [_ROSA runs to the window._] Oh! Oh!
THE SECOND VOICE.
It's a sacrilege! He's an infidel!
THE THIRD VOICE.
He's a dog! [_Mingled cries of "Yes, yes!"_
ROSA.
What will they do? That girl! that girl! she has told them!
THE FIRST VOICE.
Shall he do this in our teeth and not suffer?
VARIOUS VOICES.
No, no!
ROSA.
Ah! they'll stone him! Ah! O God, it might be the last time he ever
touched my lips!
A WOMAN'S VOICE.
Stone him! Stone him! He mocks our God!
ROSA.
Ah, Rafael! What shall I do?
VARIOUS VOICES.
He does! He's a dog! He insults us all! Out of the Ghetto with him!
Come on!
[_A number of rough men and women charge along the street, and are
seen through the window, repeating their cries, which then begin
to diminish in the distance._
ROSA.
It has come! He's alone--he'll face them--he will not yield an inch!
[_A rising yell of the mob is heard._] Rafael! No, he shall not be
alone! No! No!
[_She opens the door. A yell from the mob farther in the distance;
she locks the door and runs off past the window. A still more
distant yell from the mob dying away._
END OF THE SECOND ACT.
THE THIRD ACT
SCENE: _A street. At the right the entrance to the synagogue, with
steps and a portico. At the left the house of AARON, before which
are some chairs, in the shade of an awning. Some trees and shrubs
give a grateful contrast to the surroundings of SACHEL'S house, seen
in ACT I._
_The final chant of a Jewish service is heard within the synagogue.
Enter REBECCA, flushed from her interview with RAFAEL, as the chant
ends, and among others, AARON comes out of the synagogue._
AARON.
Ah, you've come back! Did you find Esther at home?
REBECCA.
No; you knew she would not be at home!
AARON.
Eh! After you had gone, my dear, there I saw her, going into the
synagogue.
_Enter ROSA; she looks about anxiously._
Well, how did you--how did you get on?
REBECCA.
[_Angrily, seeing ROSA._] I----
AARON.
[_Seeing ROSA._] 'Sh! It's all arranged, my girl! You wanted him; now
you have him. Are you happy?
REBECCA.
[_Her eyes on ROSA, with growing malevolence._] Yes.
AARON.
Go in. Rafael is coming here, and the Rabbi--a quiet talk. Make
yourself look well; the boy's a little high-strung, you know.
By-and-by we will go out by the shop door; we will come round this
way and join them. We must use tact. Will you come in?
REBECCA.
[_Still facing ROSA._] In a moment. [_Exit AARON._
ROSA.
[_Overcoming a reluctance._] Have you seen Rafael?
REBECCA.
He's not here. [_Malignantly._] He went home again.
ROSA.
Do you speak the truth?
REBECCA.
If I spoke all the truth I know you would not stay to hear it!
ROSA.
All the truth you know would not take long to tell! [_Exit._
REBECCA.
She hates me! She shall hate me more!
[_Exit into the house._
_Enter SACHEL and ESTHER from the synagogue; she looks about._
SACHEL.
You do not see him?
ESTHER.
Not yet.
SACHEL.
He won't come; he suspects that the Rabbi will try to influence him.
_Enter SAMSON and DANIEL._
ESTHER.
He said he would walk home with us. Good afternoon, have you seen
Rafael?
DANIEL.
Good afternoon. [_To SAMSON._] _Have_ we seen Rafael!
SAMSON.
Is he looking for us?
SACHEL.
He might be; he does not care what vagabond he goes with.
DANIEL.
It is true! For I hear he is about to turn Christian and marry his
father's maid-servant!
SAMSON.
And any one who dislikes it is to be thrown out of the house--even if
it be his father! Daniel, shall we stay to meet such a person?
DANIEL.
I scorn the interview! [_Exeunt._
SACHEL.
You are rascals and liars! [_To ESTHER._] They speak the truth! It
is Rosa who has turned my son against me!
ESTHER.
Oh, be still! Here comes the Rabbi!
_Enter THE RABBI, with a father, a mother, and their son, who seems
subdued, as if after an exhortation by THE RABBI. THE RABBI
dismisses them blandly._
THE RABBI.
That boy came as stubborn as a donkey, but a little touch of
sympathy, enough concession to soothe his pride, a little tact
withal, and he departs as meek as a lamb.
SACHEL.
But Rafael is my son, and you cannot twist him about your finger. He
has no heart; he treats me like a dog. They say he is foul of my
maid-servant. If it's true----
THE RABBI.
'Sh! 'sh! Scandalous! Are you every gossip's plaything? Come!
Violence, violence--we shall do nothing with violence. Rafael is
young, short-sighted and stubborn; but he's a good fellow at heart.
We must handle him delicately, like a big trout. You leave him to
me, and he will stay at home and marry Aaron's daughter, willingly.
[_They sit in front of AARON'S house._
ESTHER.
Now what did I tell you, you silly old man!
THE RABBI.
Silly old man! Not at all. An affectionate father, deeply troubled
about his only child--sorely vexed because too many things have gone
wrong at once! Would you have him sit still and not open his month?
Oh no, Sachel is not the man to let things take care of themselves!
SACHEL.
It is true! What does she know about the feelings of a parent? Ah, I
would mould things now, Rabbi, but times have changed. Once, as it
is written in the Books of Moses, a son must obey his father, or he
would be stoned to the gates of the city! That was right!
THE RABBI.
It was right then; but, as you so very rightly observe, Sachel,
times have changed; and when one throws stones now, one must pay for
the windows. So, instead of stoning Rafael, we shall marry him to
Rebecca; and in time you shall be the grandfather of a boy; a boy, I
say! Ha, ha, ha! You don't laugh enough, Sachel!
SACHEL.
I cannot laugh! I tell you there is a serpent in my house. This
girl--this Rosa, I could swear that she----
THE RABBI.
Shame! shame! I won't hear about it! It was for you that I was
preaching, but you do not listen when you come to synagogue. Of
course, you were thinking about Rafael. You leave him to me. He
shall marry Rebecca, do you hear? In such matters as this you are a
child!
SACHEL.
He shall do my bidding, or he shall go in rags! 'Sh!
[_They all listen. Enter RAFAEL, with his hand bound up carelessly
in a handkerchief._
THE RABBI.
Why, it's Rafael! What an unexpected pleasure!
RAFAEL.
It _is_ a long time since I have seen you.
SACHEL.
Daniel and Samson are liars! But if it were true, I would----
THE RABBI.
Tut, tut! What's the matter? Mumbling about business matters on the
Sabbath! Well, well, how you've shot up since--since----
RAFAEL.
Since last I came to the synagogue I have had time to grow.
THE RABBI.
I pass that over. I don't look upon you as gone astray. You are
seeking for the light, and when you find it, whether you think so
now or not, you will find it there! [_Indicating the synagogue._]
Just as when you find happiness you will find it here.
RAFAEL.
In the house of Aaron?
THE RABBI.
With your father, and at home, under the roof where your mother
lived. Ah! what a fine career is open to you in following out your
father's business! It isn't every boy who has such opportunities!
RAFAEL.
Business! You in your synagogue--you ought to be the enemy of
business. You ought to preach it to our people without end that
their life of morning, noon, and night, and not a breath drawn but
for sake of gain, is a sickly mockery of life, and that it is
against the law of Moses!
THE RABBI.
Another prophet! Business, gain, contrary to the laws of Moses! Go
on, my boy! Let us have the sermon you would preach! Ha, ha! Go on!
Now I shall learn something.
RAFAEL.
Have I not read in the Book of Moses how the people divided the
soil, and there was no one who had more than another; and there was
no grinding of the poor, and there was never any selling of lands:
"For mine is the soil, and you are but strangers unto Me!" And
among them was not business despised? How did Jacob speak of
Issachar?
THE RABBI.
Bravo! "A strong ass," eh? Ha, ha, ha! You've been deep in the
Pentateuch. Where will you find such inspirations in any other
Sacred Book? But you should read them under guidance, you foolish
boy!
RAFAEL.
Under guidance! There is a guidance born in me that takes me where I
am, and I do not fear! It is a guidance that lives to-day; it is not
a guidance dug from the bones of a dead people of the dim past! I
know. You are going to say that Solomon did business, that David did
business. I don't care if they did! And you tell me that I skim the
surface, that I miss the spirit of the Jewish faith; and I tell you
that it is this spirit that my soul revolts against--the spirit that
holds our people in chains--the chains of the Ghetto!
THE RABBI.
Ghetto! There is no Ghetto! We do not live in Ghettos now, my boy!
Preposterous!
RAFAEL.
And now _you_ are skimming the surface, and _you_ will not see the
truth that underlies! You say there is no Ghetto! Could I ever play
with any but another Jew when I was a child? Could I ever eat with a
Christian? Was I ever taught by any but a Jew? No, you have taught
me to despise the Christians!
THE RABBI.
They persecuted us for ages; they have not taught us to admire them.
RAFAEL.
They have ceased to persecute us, they have taken down the stones of
the Ghetto walls, but still we are taught to despise them; still we
try to think ourselves the chosen people. We set ourselves as a race
against them and the universal brotherhood of man. This is the proof
of it: _our women we marry, theirs we pay!_
THE RABBI.
That is not true; it's a shameful calumny!
RAFAEL.
I can pick you ten young men to prove it--out of those that heard
you preach to-day!
THE RABBI.
How dare you say such a thing! Are you a Jew no longer? Am I
speaking to a Christian?
RAFAEL.
You are speaking to a Jew who claims to-day and to-morrow as his
own--not yesterday! A Jew who believes that it shall not be asked if
a man worship in a synagogue or in a cathedral, in a chapel or in a
mosque, or in silence and solitude under God's own dome! And the
falsehood you have brought me up by; our hatred and our bigotry
which keeps us away from them, our cursed earthiness which keeps
them away from us--I loathe it all--I hate it--I will fight it as
long as I live! I am a Jew--a Jew of to-day and to-morrow; and every
man whom God created in his image is my brother!
THE RABBI.
The boy's gone daft! Daft!
SACHEL.
No, not that; he's been poisoned--poisoned by this damned creature in
my house! She's his----
THE RABBI.
Be still! I lost my self-control--set me a better example. I--I--it
is many years--indeed, I may say I have never listened to such a
tirade! Let me tell you, you will live to regret what you have said
here in the very shadow of the synagogue. I will not treat it
seriously; I cannot! That you--a mere boy who has gobbled a bit here
and a bit there from the Book of Law, should have the monstrous
effrontery to--to----
RAFAEL.
Father, are you ready to walk home now?
SACHEL.
I--I am not rested yet. [_He pokes THE RABBI._
RAFAEL.
From the sermon?
_Enter two rough fellows, supporting another, who has a swollen eye;
they stand at a distance, with sinister looks at RAFAEL._
SACHEL.
Ha, ha! [_Pokes THE RABBI._] You don't laugh enough!
THE RABBI.
As I was about to say, when I was interrupted, you have said that
Rafael wants to go away. Then let him go! When he comes back he'll
have a different view of his people. Do you fear he won't come back;
not come back to his home--to his blind old father? You are foolish,
Sachel! Drive him away, and he'll find that there is no home in the
world like a Jewish home--that a clock ticks nowhere in the world as
it does by one's own hearth. Ah, the Christians don't know what
family life is; they have nothing to compare with ours. It is
because we stay by one another, because we are sober and temperate
and industrious and respectful of our elders!
[_RAFAEL goes up, faces the three men at the back; they slink off.
He returns, showing a new determination in his face._
SACHEL.
He ought to marry; then he would appreciate that.
THE RABBI.
Marry? Who spoke of marrying? He doesn't want to marry yet; I
wouldn't have him marry yet. Don't try to hurry Rafael; he's not the
fellow to stand it. My dear friends, when the time comes, and a
strong, fine-looking young fellow makes up his mind that----
RAFAEL.
It is a good idea. I have been thinking of marriage all day.
SACHEL.