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April 20, 2012 Keren and Moshe. Their Voyage in Search of the Hebrew AlphabetA fictitious tale based on the symbols of the Festival of the First Fruits (Shavuot)
Like a bride with her groom on their wedding day,
There were lights and shofars and celebrations gay,
With His voice upon the wind, the mighty Lord then
Gave us his commandments, of which there were ten.
Just to inform you on what the Laws contain,
They tell us all the things from which we must refrain.
(excerpt)
by Razia Mizrahi SCENE I: Keren lands
The background image shows scenery representing the present location, XXXX (for example in Berlin it might be a scene of rooftop TV antennas).
Keren enters the stage by landing in her flying suitcase.
She slowly pokes her head out.
Keren: Hi! …Is the coast clear? You guys didn’t happen to see an ink splodge, did you? It has this really ugly face with a mischievous look on it?
Kids respond
Well you guys are lucky! Because it’s after me, and it’s trying to get me all dirty and stain the white blouse I put on specially for the Shavuot ceremony. Have you ever heard of anything like it? A splodge that chases after human beings? Me neither, but it happened to me in a dream, I swear! Wait a minute…. Where am I?
Kids respond “XXXX” (the name of the place)
Ahhh! XXXX! Well, my name is Keren and I’m from Jerusalem. Do you know where that is?
Kids respond
That’s right! In Israel. That’s at the far end of the Mediterranean if you’re traveling east. Tell me… are you guys going to the garden too, or are you going to school?
Kids respond
I go to school too… well usually, that is most of the time. I’m in second grade… that is, I usually am, most of the time. But this morning, before my mother came to wake me up to go to school, like she does every morning… most of the time that is,… This morning, as I was saying before, I dreamt that this horrible ink splodge was coming straight at me and my white blouse. And then I heard my mother’s voice:
Background image changes to Keren’s room
Mother: Good morning, Keren!
Keren: No, no, you won’t splodge me! I have to wear this pretty blouse to the Shavuot ceremony!
Mother: Keren, wake up! It’s just a dream, dear. Time to get ready for school.
Keren: I won’t go to school. I’m being followed by an ink splodge that wants to ruin my clothes.
Mother: It was just a dream, that’s all. Come on, get up! I have to go to work and you have to go to school.
Keren: No, I mustn’t.
Mother: Yes, you must. There’s a law says that all children have to go to school.
Keren: But a few weeks ago, at Pesach, we learned that the most important thing is freedom. And I don’t want laws like those that the Pharaoh imposed on us.
Mother: Oh Keren, honey… We can’t just all do exactly as we please. Imagine if, say, there were no traffic lights. Everybody would just drive around any which way, whenever they felt like it, and they would cause harm to others.
Keren: But school is different.
Mother: Keren, you’ve still got a lot to learn about life, and that’s what school is for. Now get up!
Background image of XXXX
Keren: So I got up, got dressed, and instead of going to school, I ran away as fast as I could. I crossed Brody Street and ran into this forest they have over there in Jerusalem. I saw this suitcase and climbed inside and suddenly it started shaking! It lifted up off the ground and flew up into the sky, into the clouds. It went into outer space went round the earth twice, and landed again in here in XXXX.
Sings
Saw a suitcase in the street,
And inside I did creep.
Then everything began to shake,
And we took off for outer space!
We were out in space with no spaceship…
Went twice round the world, round trip!
Then we flew back to where we’d been,
And my-oh-my what sights we’d seen!
Such beauty there I did behold,
Blue skies, white clouds, and things untold!
Saw tops of trees and city grids,
We were at [location] with all the kids!
Shalom! Shalom! And what God sends,
Do you guys want to be my friends? (3x)
Then let’s be friends!
SCENE II: The meeting with Moshe
Moshe flies in on a flying staff. He lands and starts searching around for something with a magnifying glass.
Moshe: Here they are! I’ve found them!
He lurches forward trying to catch something on the ground with his hands.
Moshe: No, it’s just a shadow. But they have to be around here somewhere. Hello, Shalom. Excuse me. Have you seen three black Hebrew letters around here? Their names are Tav, Resh and Shin and they look like this.
An image is projected onto the background screen showing the three letters on a “WANTED” poster.
Keren: Shalom. No, I haven’t seen them.
Moshe: Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear… (starts to cry)
Keren: But perhaps the kids here have seen them.
Moshe: Good idea! Hello children, I need to find the letters Tav, Shin and Resh really badly. They can’t have gotten far. Have you seen them, by any chance?
Kids respond. Moshe cries.
Moshe: They’re nowhere to be found, and if I don’t find them there’ll be total chaos.
Keren: Who are you looking for?
Moshe: The Hebrew letters.
Keren: How come? What happened?
Moshe: When I came down from Mount Sinai and broke the Tablets of the Law, the letters flew off into the air. Now the people have no laws, and without laws, people just do as they please and chaos reigns.
Keren: Flying letters? Tablets of the Law? Laws? The people? What are you talking about, if you don’t mind my asking?
Moshe: I brought my people, the Children of Israel, out of Egypt.
Keren: Moshe Rabenu!
Moshe: I am he.
Keren: From 4,000 years ago?
Moshe: With my staff – this magic stick here – I can go anywhere, any time.
Keren: Meet my friends; my name is Keren, from Jerusalem, and you’re my hero. The way you went to Pharaoh like that and ordered him to let your people go, (sings) “shlach et ami.”
Moshe: Me, a hero? I’m not sure I’m that great of a hero. I broke the Tablets of the Law with my own hands, broke the tablets with the most important laws written on them!
Sings; the song is accompanied by illustrations)
From Egypt’s land we went into the desert heat,
With the dry burning sand, burning holes into our feet.
But then when we were hungry, God sent Manna from the sky;
And then when we were thirsty, he gave us water from on high.
Seven weeks later, at Sinai we set up camp,
That’s forty-nine days, and, I can tell you, quite a tramp.
With fire and rays from heaven, we began to see,
That the people of Israel will be eternally.
Like a bride with her groom on their wedding day,
There were lights and shofars and celebrations gay,
With His voice upon the wind, the mighty Lord then
Gave us his commandments, of which there were ten.
Just to inform you on what the Laws contain,
They tell us all the things from which we must refrain.
And just to make sure to drive the message home,
I went up on the mountain and had them done in stone.
I came down from the mount after forty days and nights,
With the Tablets of the Law to put the people right.
But my eyes could not believe the sight I did behold:
The Children of Israel weren’t doing as they were told.
The were whooping and a-singing, but not on God’s behalf,
No, they were all gathered round some silly golden calf.
They were worshipping this thing, and I just couldn’t see why:
He never gave them miracles or bread from the sky,
Miracles and lightning weren’t enough for these clowns.
So I rose up in anger and threw the tablets down.
Yes, I flung down the tablets and they broke upon the ground.
Then people stopped their singing and stood without a sound.
Then amid this eerie silence, something flied up in the air,
And holding our breath we could all see them there:
These little Hebrew letters, a flying alphabet!
Like aleph, mem, and tav, which together spell emet.
There were twenty two in all that rose to the sky,
And we just couldn’t help it, we all began to cry,
We all felt oh-so-sorry, we knew we were to blame.
I tried to put things right, tried to glue them back again,
But with certain letters missing things’ll never be the same.
We have to get them back to the Tablets whence they came!
But I just can’t find them anywhere, and the people live in chaos, without laws. It’s a total disaster! (Cries)
Scene III: Resh, Shin, and Tav are discovered
Keren: Don’t worry, Moshe. We’ll help you to find them and the laws will be engraved again on the Tablets of the Law.
(“Action-scene” music. Keren ties a headscarf to his head, Rambo-style).
When was the last time they were seen?
Moshe: (Gets out a map) It was a week ago, in Turkey, I met a poet who told me that the letters Resh, Shin, and Tav knocked on his door while he was writing a poem dedicated to the woman he loves. When he opened the window they looked at the pages he had written and flew off headed towards the Black Sea.
Keren: A-ha! They’re looking for a home, they need warmth and love. What else do we know?
Moshe: Near the Black Sea I met a fisherman who told me they were headed over here, on their way to XXXX.
Keren: Resh, Shin, Tav. A-ha! We need to look for them in a warm, cozy place, a place full of love.
Moshe: Sounds like the soup my wife Tzipora cooks.
Keren: Can you smell what I smell?
Moshe: Yes.
Keren: A dish, something delicious.
Moshe: And warm.
Keren: Like you’d find in a cozy home! It’s coming from the audience.
Moshe and Keren go down into the audience and walk among the kids. There they discover a woman sat down with a cooking pot between her knees.
Keren: Shalom, ma’am. In the context of an inquiry we’re conducting and in light of the fact that we’re searching for some Hebrew letters, I must please ask you to open this pot.
Women: I’d be happy to, but I don’t understand what some letters would be doing in a pot full of meatballs.
The woman uncovers the pot and out fly Resh, Shin, and Tav.
Moshe: Resh! Shin! Tav! Come to Daddy…!
The letters disobey him.
Moshe: Come on now!
Keren: They’re afraid. Their home, the Tablets, was destroyed. They have to know that a warm place awaits them.
Song (accompanied by illustrations of the plays on words in the song)
Tav, Resh, and Shin, make much-needed words,
Words that get written, words that get heard,
Words for what was, and words for what’s to come,
Word to say what’s right, so we don’t end up getting done.
Words that we need to grasp one another.
Words that we need to talk to each other.
Come back to your people, waiting by the Mount.
You need to get on home, so go and help them out.
Now the Hebrew word for “head” is called rosh,
But rosh without resh, is fire, is esh.
Which rhymes with our word for the sun, shemesh
But sun without Shin is one big mess.
Fire, sun, head, in Hebrew
We need you all, we need all of you.
[Shin, get back to where you once belonged.]
Now the Hebrew word for a date’s Tamar,
But without the Tav, it’s bitter, that’s mar.
Who wants a bitter date on their tongue?
We want a date that’s sweet and young!
[Tav, get back to where you once belonged.]
Resh, Shin, and Tav, it’s you we must have!
Shin, Tav, and Resh, we need you in the flesh!
Tav, Resh and Shin, jump when I say when….
…When!
The letters jump into Keren’s arms.
Moshe: Bravo!
Keren: Yes, but we only have three of the 22 letters. Now they have to tell us where the others are.
Scene IV: The letters’ story
Shin: After our home was destroyed…
Tav: The Tablets of the Law.
Moshe: I’m Sorry!
Resh: We flew,…
Tav: and flew,…
Shin: and flew.
Resh: Until we grew tired…
Tav: and landed in a big, dark forest.
Moshe: Oh, how scary!
Shin: And we walked,…
Resh: and walked,…
Tav: and walked,…
Resh: when suddenly…
Shin: all the letters fell into a deep well.
Resh, Shin, and Tav: Aaaaahhhh!
Moshe: Aaaaahhhh!
Resh: But,…
Tav: we,…
Shin: the three last letters of the alphabet,…
Resh: Resh,…
Shin: Shin,…
Tav: Tav,…
Resh: didn’t fall into the well.
Shin: We cried down to them:
Tav: “We’ll get you out of there, just hang tight.”
Resh: And we thought,…
Shin: and thought,…
Tav: and thought, but we couldn’t come up with the answer.
Shin: So we flew,…
Tav: and flew,…
Resh: and flew,…
Shin: in search of a way to rescue them.
Tav: Can you guys help us?
Moshe: Can we? Do we have an answer?
Keren: We do! I’ve got an idea. Suitcase, take us to the great forest!
All climb aboard the suitcase, which then flies off. (Exeunt.)
Scene V: The letters return to the Tablets
The suitcase lands in the great forest, by the well. From inside it, the letters can be heard crying for help.
Keren: Stay calm, guys! We’re here and we’re going to get you out of there.
Moshe: Dear letters, it’s time for a roll call.
Letters: Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Waw, Zayin, Het, Tet, Yod, Kaph, Lamed, Mem, Nun, Samech, Pe, Sadhe, Qoph.
Resh: Resh.
Shin: Shin.
Tav: Tav.
Moshe: Praise be to the Lord! All safe and sound. But how are we going to get them out of the well?
Keren: Well learning to read and write is good for something. Resh, Shin, and Tav each have their own special beauty. But if we put them together, they form the Hebrew word reshet, which means “net.” We can throw the net down the well, catch all the other letters in it and pull them out.
Resh, Shin, and Tav: That’s a brilliant idea!
Moshe: You are a very clever girl.
Keren: That’s because I studied in school.
Resh, Shin, and Tav climb aboard the suitcase. A “magical” sound is heard and Keren pulls them out again in the form of a net. Keren casts the net down the well and the letters come out from it one by one and climb into the suitcase. Another magical sound is heard. Moshe takes out the restored Tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them.
Song:
I am the Lord your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not take My name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
The sounds of a shofar are heard, along with an ovation of a large audience, and lively klezmer music.
THE END
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