By Mark Altman
NWTP Artistic Director

What was he trying to say? What did it all mean? Just some of the questions we inevitably ask upon seeing something as allegorical, symbolic, poetic, as The Amulet. You probably expect me to provide an answer.

I will start by saying "thank you" to Peretz Hirshbein for calling two of his characters in The Amulet Mirel and Yachne. I recognize those names from Abraham Goldfaden's The Witch, an early Yiddish play attacking superstition. So is this play an attack on superstitious ideas and practices? Maybe. But what about the character of Menashe? His name is nowhere to be found in The Witch.

Well, let's start from the beginning, and we're talking an "In the beginning..." kind of beginning. Menashe is the firstborn son of Joseph (he, of the technicolor dreamcoat), son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. Where's this going? Absolutely nowhere. Off to the barren desert of Numbers and Deuteronomy. Forty years of wandering and then it's time to enter the Promised Land. Hoorah! But wait. The tribe of Menashe says: "The land is good here on this side of the River Jordan; we'll stop here." But since these are, after all, Jews we're talking about, half the tribe doesn't want to stop there. They cross the river into the Land of Israel.

Ah, across the river. Not only is crossing the river a major theme in this play, Across the River (Oyf Yener Zayt Taykh) is also Hirshbein's actual title for the play (We thought The Amulet would sell more tickets). He's telling us he supports Zionism. We've finally found the key to the meaning of the play! But have we? There's a sad ending, so maybe he's telling us he doesn't believe in Zionism. But look again. He tells us it's so beautiful across the river.

We know Hirshbein always wanted to visit Israel and ultimately did. We also know that he was enamored with the agrarian lifestyle of his youth as expressed in his play Green Fields. So if we're right that across the river is the Zionist ideal, why can't our heroine get there? Is it too difficult or is it just a pipe dream? Her grandfather, Menashe the ferryman, used to cross the river before he lost his vision and now he's dead. Would the amulet she threw away -the amulet that Menashe promised was her key to happiness -- have helped her get across? If only Hirshbein were here to tell us. Alas, the trail has been eaten. We're on our own.