The Star that Fell into a Tear

Abstract

The Yiddish comedian Shimen Dzigan collapsed on stage on 5 April 1980, in the Ohel Shem Theatre, Tel Aviv, Israel, in front of the 1,000 spectators gathered for the second performance that evening of Doktoyrim heysn lakhn (Doctors Prescribe Laughter). This article deals with the collapse and consequent death two weeks later of Dzigan on stage, with an examination also of the simultaneous downfall of three iconic figures from Yiddish modern culture: Sholem Aleichem, the writer of the piece Dzigan was performing; Menakhem-Mendl the character; and Shimen Dzigan the actor. Dzigan's status as the last living representative of Yiddish theatre in Israel caused many to interpret his physical collapse as the metaphorical end of the Yiddish theatrical tradition. In this article I offer an alternative interpretation of Dzigan's death and the afterlife.

Notes

3 The Yiddishpiel theatre performed the play Di eybike Dzigan un Shumacher (Dzigan and Shumacher Forever) in 2004. In 2013, the troupe staged a new play entitled Dzigan un Shumacher knakn shoyn vider (Dzigan and Shumacher Are at It Again), a musical comedy by B. Michael and Ephraim Sidon, starring Yaakov Bodo and Dovale (Dov) Glickman, and directed by Shmuel Atzmon-Wircer.

1 On Saturdays, Dzigan and Shumacher (and later Dzigan alone) usually performed twice.

2 This reconstruction of the death scene is based on Avraham Rotem’s (1980) account; a private Interview conducted with Uzi Essner (2020), musical director of the last show; and other reports in the Hebrew press (Kliger 1980; Ron 1980).