Maxim Gorky
on the Habima, 1926:
"A vivid example of irresistible force is the Habima Theatre. It has
been created by young Jews guided by Zemach, an artist of value, and by a stage manager of genius, I might say,
Vachtangoff. This
remarkable work was organized by them among hunger and cold in a
constant fight for the right to express themselves in the language
of he Bible, the language of Bialik's genius. All the artists of
Habima are young men and women forced to earn their bread by hard
toil.
Autographed photo of Maxim Gorky,
Courtesy of the
New York Public Library
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I know what difficulties and obstacles these people had to
overcome, what energy they have used in their fight with the
stupidity, the envy, the hatred, but I will not speak of suffering
when I can speak of the victory of the spirit. We have spoken of
evil, this only fortifies it in our life. Has not the time come to
overlook our sufferings? I saw three times at that Theatre, the play
in two acts of Pinski, "The Eternal Jew," and I was present at the
dress rehearsal of Ansky's "Dybbuk." The title part in Pinski's play
was performed by a remarkable artist, Zemach, who gave a formidable
picture of a prophet of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus. He played with superhuman power and conviction. Without
understanding the language, and struck only by Zemach's force and
sonority, I lived all the suffering of the prophet whose words do
not reach the hearts of the people he loves. I felt the great
despair of a loving heart. |
The grey shadow of the
curtain vanished. It seemed as if the stage, separating the present
from the distant past, had disappeared and a colorful and
picturesque market near the walls of a little city of Judea appeared
to our eyes. One could see from the gates the valley sweltering in
the torrid heat and a lonely, dusty palm tree on the horizon. From
that moment on the irresistible force of beauty seizes your heart,
plunges it into the life of the Jewish city, carries it into the
past, twice millenial, and the heart lives the terrible day of the
destruction of Jerusalem. Your reason asks, "What does mean to you,
Russian atheist, Jerusalem or Zion? What does mean the destruction
of the Temple?" But the heart trembles with sadness before the
suffering of the prophet who foresees the woes of the people, and
before the light-hearted stupidity of the people who laugh at the
words of the prophet.
One feels the suffering
of others as deeply as one's own, because on the stage several young
talented people live, more really than in real life, the life of
wolves, where the human being defends himself and defends what he
loves, and is so often forced to be a hypocrite and a liar. I speak
of the Jew, of the one who is persecuted, like a rat by the dogs, by
his own kin and by strangers, and still endeavors, being gifted with
talent by nature, to love with passion that same country where he is
persecuted, the country of the pogroms.
This astonishing
performance reminds me, by its beauty and harmony, of the best years
of the Moscow Art Theatre, when these admirable artists were young
and animated by the faith in the sanctity of their work, but the
artists of Habima, it seems to me, having a great advantage over
those of the Moscow Art Theatre of the same epoch; their art is not
inferior, but they have more passion, more ecstasy. For them the
Theatre is a rite, and one feels it immediately. The words, the
gestures, the music--everything is deeply harmonious--and in all
that burns the great wisdom that only art and talent can light.
A great amount of work
has been put into this Theatre and a new, magnificent proof of magic
force of Jewish art and talent has been created. Habima is a Theatre
the Jews can be proud of."
MAXIM GORKY
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