page_title: Abraham Goldfaden
section_title: Plays
hierarchical_section_title: Abraham Goldfaden / Works / Plays
caption_attribution_description: Libretto of the play Bar-Kochba from the yiddish playwright Abraham Goldfaden.
context_page_description: Abraham Goldfaden was a Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages Yiddish and Hebrew, author of some 40 plays. Goldfaden is considered the father of modern Jewish theatre.
  In 1876 he founded in Romania what is generally credited as the world's first professional Yiddish-language theater troupe. He was also responsible for the first Hebrew-language play performed in the United States. The Avram Goldfaden Festival of Iaşi, Romania, is named and held in his honour.
  Jacob Sternberg called him "the Prince Charming who woke up the lethargic Romanian Jewish culture." Israil Bercovici wrote of his works: "we find points in common with what we now call 'total theater'. In many of his plays he alternates prose and verse, pantomime and dance, moments of acrobatics and some of jonglerie, and even of spiritualism..."
context_section_description: Sources disagree about the dates (and even the names) of some of Goldfaden's plays. The titles here represent YIVO Yiddish>English transliteration, though other variants exist.
  Di Mumeh Soseh (Aunt Susie) wr. 1869
  Di Tzvey Sheynes (The Two Neighbours) wr. 1869 (possibly the same as Di Sheynes 1877
  Polyeh Shikor (Polyeh, the Drunkard) 1871
  Anonimeh Komedyeh (Anonymous Comedy) 1876
  Di Rekruten (The Recruits) 1876,  1877
  Dos Bintl Holtz (The Bundle of Sticks) 1876
  Fishl der balegole un zayn knecht Sider (Fishel the Junkman and His Servant Sider) 1876
  Di Velt a Gan-Edn (The World and Paradise) 1876
  Der Farlibter Maskil un der Oifgeklerter Hosid (The Infatuated Philosopher and the Enlightened Hasid) 1876
  Der Shver mitn eydem (Father-in-Law and Son-in-Law) 1876
  Di Bobeh mit dem Eynikel (The Grandmother and the Granddaughter) 1876, 1879
  The Desolate Isle, Yiddish translation of a play by August von Kotzebue, 1876
  Di Intrigeh oder Dvosye di pliotkemahern (The Intrigue or Dvoisie Intrigued) 1876,  1877
  A Gloz Vaser (A Glass of Water) 1877
  Hotye-mir un Zaytye-mir (Leftovers) 1877
  Shmendrik, oder Di komishe Chaseneh (Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding)  1877,  1879
  Shuster un Shnayder (Shoemaker and Tailor) 1877
  Di Kaprizneh Kaleh, oder Kaptsnzon un Hungerman (The Capricious Bride or Pauper-son and Hunger-man) 1877  presumably the same play as Di kaprizneh Kaleh-Moyd (The Capricious Bridemaid) 1887
  Yontl Shnayder (Yontl the Tailor) 1877
  Vos tut men? (What Did He Do?) 1877
  Di Shtumeh Kaleh (The Mute Bride) 1877,  1887
  Di Tsvey Toybe (The Two Deaf Men) 1877
  Der Gekoyfter Shlof (The Purchased Sleep) 1877
  Di Sheynes (The Neighbors) 1877
  Yukel un Yekel (Yukel and Yekel) 1877
  Der Katar (Catarrh) 1877
  Iks-Miks-Driks, 1877
  Di Mumeh Sose (Aunty Susie) 1877
  Brayndele Kozak (Breindele Cossack), 1877
  Der Podriatshik (The Purveyor), 1877
  Di Alte Moyd (The Old Maid) 1877
  Di Tsvey fardulte (The Two Scatter-Brains) 1877
  Di Shvebeleh (Matches) 1877
  Fir Portselayene Teler (Four Porcelain Plates) 1877
  Der Shpigl (The Mirror) 1877
  Toib, Shtum un Blind (Deaf, Dumb and Blind) 1878
   Der Ligner, oder Todres Bloz (The Liar, or, Todres, Blow) (or Todres the Trombonist) 1878
  Ni-be-ni-me-ni-cucurigu (Not Me, Not You, Not Cock-a-Doodle-Doo or Neither This, Nor That, nor Kukerikoo; Lulla Rosenfeld also gives the alternate title The Struggle of Culture with Fanaticism) 1878
  Der Heker un der Bleher-yung (The Butcher and the Tinker) 1878
  Di Kishefmakhern (The Sorceress, also known as The Witch of Botoşani) 1878,  1887
  Soufflé, 1878
  Doy Intriganten (Two Intriguers) 1878
  Di tsvey Kuni-lemels (The Fanatic, or The Two Kuni-Lemls) 1880
  Tchiyat Hametim (The Winter of Death) 1881
  Shulamith (Shulamith or The Daughter of Jerusalem) wr. 1880,  1881
  Dos Zenteh Gebot, oder Lo Tachmod (The Tenth Commandment, or Thou Shalt Not Covet) 1882,  1887
  Der Sambatyen (Sambation) 1882
  Doktor Almasada, oder Di Yiden in Palermo (Doctor Almasada, or The Jews of Palermo also known as Doctor Almasado, Doctor Almaraso, Doctor Almasaro) 1880,  1883
  Bar Kokhba, 1883,  1885
  Akeydos Yitschok (The Sacrifice of Isaac), 1891
  Dos Finfteh Gebot, oder Kibed Ov (The Fifth Commandment, or Honor Thy Father), 1892
  Rabi Yoselman, oder Di Gzerot fun Alsas (Rabbi Yoselman, or The Alsatian Decree) 1877,  1892
  Judas Maccabeus, 1892
  Judith and Holofernes, 1892
  Mashiach Tzeiten?! (The Messianic Era?!) 1891  1893
  Yiddish translation of Johann Strauss's Gypsy Baron 1894
  Sdom Veamora (Sodom and Gomorrah) 1895
  Di Katastrofe fun Brayla (The Catastrophe in Brăila) 1895
  Meylits Yoysher (The Messenger of Justice) 1897
  David ba-Milchama (David in the War) 1906,  in Hebrew
  Ben Ami (Son of My People) 1907,  1908
caption: Libretto for Abraham Goldfaden's historical operetta Bar Kochba (1883), published in 1917
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