''Mirele Efros'' (also anglicised as Mireleh Efros) was an 1898

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

play by Jacob Gordin. Some have called it "the Jewish Queen Lear". The title character is a powerful matriarch who becomes bitterly estranged from her own family. Lulla Rosenfeld, in her commentary to Jacob Adler's memoir, describes the central character as part of a tradition running at least from Solomon Ettinger's ''Serkele'' (1825) to

Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withd ...

' '' Awake and Sing'' (1935). The title role was, according to Rosenfeld, "performed by every leading Yiddish actress".Adler/Rosenfeld (2001). Rosenfeld's commentary
p. 260
It was originally played by Keni Liptzin, during the first heyday of

Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; na ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It was also notably played by Polish actress Esther Rachel Kaminska, who performed the part in New York in 1912. The Liptzin production had David Kessler as Mirele's son and Dinah Feinman (the former wife of Jacob Adler) as her daughter-in-law Shaindl. A silent Yiddish film based on the play was produced in Warsaw, in 1912, directed by Andrzej Marek (Mark Arnstein) and starring Esther Rachel Kaminska, along with her daughter Ida Kaminska. A film adaptation of the play was made in the United States in 1939. It was directed by

Josef Berne Josef Berne (January 19, 1904 – December 19, 1964) was a Russian-born American writer, film director and producer. Berne was born Josef Berstein on January 19, 1904, in Kyiv, Russia (now Ukraine). He also wrote and directed Yiddish languag ...

with Berta Gersten in the title role and Ruth Elbaum as Shaindl. It was made in

with English subtitles.Mirele Efros
. National Center for Jewish Film. jewishfilm.org. Retrieved 2017-04-14.

Plot

The title character, Mirele, is a fifty-year-old widow when the play begins who, over the last several decades, salvaged her late husband's failing business. Honest, hardworking, and astute, but also autocratic, her authority is challenged by her daughter-in-law Shaindl, who insists that it is time that her husband, Mirele's son, inherit the business. The inheritance is given—the house as well—but grudgingly, in such a manner as to cut off Mirele from her family. She takes refuge with her faithful steward, Kalman, towards whom she continues to behave as an autocrat. Ten years later Shaindl, her marriage and the business both going poorly, attempts to heal the breach in time for her son's ''

bar mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

''. Mirele refuses, but after Shaindl's departure she collapses in grief. Ultimately, the boy successfully approaches her on the day of his ''bar mitzvah'' and convinces her to come. Despite its tragic,

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

an tone, the play, atypically for Gordin, ends happily, with song and dance.

References

Readings

* Adler, Jacob, ''A Life on the Stage: A Memoir'', translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, {{ISBN, 0-679-41351-0. 259-261 (commentary) Yiddish plays Plays and musicals based on King Lear 1898 plays Plays by Jacob Gordin