THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Yiddish Theater Loses a Stalwart Performer

By MOSHE RON

The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent

TEL AVIV — It is hard to
get accustomed to the idea
that Szymon Dzigan is no
more amongst us and will
not appear anymore on the
Yiddish stage.
Death overcame him in a
moment when he was full of
energy and plans for the fu-
ture. He planned a special
Sholem Aleichem perform-
ance on the occasion of the
'120th birthday of the most
_ —amous Yiddish writer. He
put his whole heart and soul
into this performance.
Maybe he knew somehow
what would happen after it.
He knew that his physical
power had become weaker,
but his acting on the stage
was still filled with young
fire.
In the midst of his second
Sholem Aleichem perform-
ance on Hol Hamoed Pesach
at the Ohel Shem hall in Tel
Aviv, Dzigan collapsed and
was unable to continue.
Dzigan's death is not
only a disaster to his fam-
ily, but also to all the
Jews from Eastern
Europe. He had accom-
panied these Jews with
his jokes and humor
throughout their suffer-
ing. His jokes were ac-
cepted in the camps like a
piece of bread: one
enjoyed them and forgot
the hunger.
Dzigan, together with Is-
rael Szumacher, spent five
years in Soviet camps and
knew the bitter reality. But
he never lost his courage

and humor. Even at the
Ichiliov Hospital in Tel
Aviv after his collapse, the
doctors enjoyed his humor.
With Dzigan's death,
political Yiddish satire has
passed away in Israel. In his
mouth every critic of our
political and social life
sounded like the reproach of
a mother to her child.
Dzigan loved Israel. He
was completely attached to
Israel and its people. His sa-
tire aimed at the weak
points of our reality, in
order to remove and correct
them.
He was so popular
among the leaders of the
country. He was a fre-
quent guest of Cabinet
members and when he
came to the Knesset in
Jerusalem, he was a cen-
tral figure.
Important Israeli leaders
appealed to him to tell cer-
tain jokes on the stage, be-
cause his jokes had a strong
impact on people — from the
common man to the aristo-
cratic drawing rooms.
Dzigan, who was deeply
rooted in Polish Jewry,
could not tear himself away
from it. He carried the Yid-
dish word all over the world
— the bit of Yiddish comfort
which had been left after
the Holocaust. He often said
that his entire stage ac-
tivity, his humor and
travels all over the world
through Jewish com-
munities, have served as a
shield for him to live with
the idea that Polish Jewry
had died in the Holocaust

and will never live again.
Deep in his heart he car-
ried this wound which could
never be healed.
Szymon Dzigan was
buried April 16. His cof-
fin lay in state at the
Sholem Aleichem House
in Tel Aviv. Many
thousands filed past his
coffin with tears in their
eyes, from dignitaries to
the common people.
It was the first time in Is-
rael's history, that the
president of the state came
to the funeral of a Yiddish
actor. Habima actor Shimon
Finkel and the chairman of
Leiwik House, chief editor
Mordechai Zanin, in their
eulogies spoke about the
heavy loss to our culture.

The World Union of Yiddish
Journalists, the manage-
ments of Leiwik and Sholem
Aleichem House, artists,
editors and writers made all
arrangements for the burial
and the special memorial
meeting for the day of
Shloshim.
They also decided on set-
ting up of ' a fitting
tombstone over his grave.
He was buried near his
longtime theatre partner
Israel Szumacher and the
founder of the first Yiddish
Revue theatre "Ararat," the
poet Moshe Broderson, at
the Kiriat Shaul cemetery.
The tombstone will be a
memorial to the great Yid-
dish theatre talent Szymon
Dzigan.

Friday, May 16, 1980 1

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JPAS"Gate of Nicanor'
New Folktale for Children

PHILADELPHIA —
"Gate of Nicanor" (Jewish
Publication Society) tells
how a wealthy Jew named
Nicanor 2,000 years ago
commissioned the master
craftsmen of Alexandria to
create a very special set of
doors. These doors,
Nicanor's contribution to
the rebuilding of the great
Temple in Jerusalem,
would be set in the gate of
the innermost court of the
Temple — a place so sacred
that only the high priests
were allowed to enter.
The story of the doors —
known to this day as the
Gate of Nicanor — and of
the near-tragedy of their
ransport to Jerusalem, is
11 1Whe subject of this book.
The pious Nicanor spent
his entire fortune on the
onstruction, but. what
abulous doors the
craftsmen made! Fashioned
elaborately of gold and
silver, and depicting in 12
enormous panels the sym-
bols of the tribes of Israel,
the doors were so heavy that
100 men could barely lift
them aboard the ship that
would carry them to the
Holy Land.
During the sea voyage,
a fierce storm raged, and
the sailors were forced to
throw most of their cargo
overboard in order to
keep the ship on course.
One of Nicanor's magni-

ficent doors had to be
sacrificed. When the sea
finally became calm and
the ship reached its des-
tination, Nicanor
lamented that he had
only one door to give for
the gate in the Temple.
How the lost door
miraculously washed
ashore to rejoin its partner
is the turning point of this
splendid folktale, an an-
cient story from the Tal-
mud, now retold for con-
temporary children and
adults.
Illustrated in two colors,
"Gate of Nicanor" is a story
of faith and adventure.
The author, Eric A.
Kimmel, is an associate pro-
fessor of education at Port-
land (Ore.) State Univer-
sity. His previous books for
children include "The Tar-
tar's Sword," "Mishka,
Pishka & Fishka" and "Why
Worry?" '-fis articles on
children's kooks related to
Jewish themes have ap-
peared in Response, the
Horn Book and Children's
Literature in Education.

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