Ben-Zion Tomer et Les Enfants de l’ombre : entre Yoram et Yossele
Kaufmann, Francine
Ben-Zion Tomer et Les Enfants de l’ombre : entre Yoram et Yossele - 2006.
41
Children of the Shadows was first performed at Habimah National Theatre in 1962, then in the United States and Canada in 1964. Today a classic of Israeli theatre history, taught in Israeli schools and departments of Hebrew Literature around the world, the play unveiled the conflictual identity of a Shoah survivor in the time of the pre-State Yishuv’s struggle for survival. Striving to be accepted by the other children of his kibbutz and compelled to hide, even from himself, his past and his wounds as a “Child of Teheran”, Yossele became Yoram, a hero of the War of Independence. But the arrival of his surviving family and friends forced him to face his diasporic and once victimized Self. In the sixties, the play triggered a lively debate about the components of Israeli identity, the cult of heroism and contempt for non-fighting victims of the Nazism.The article describes the reception of the play and tries to shed light on the still relatively unknown biography and personality of the playwright, who was born in Poland (1928) as Beniek (Benzi) Teitelbaum and died in Tel Aviv in 1998, as Ben Zion Tomer, teacher, diplomat, poet, translator, and “Israeli”.
Ben-Zion Tomer et Les Enfants de l’ombre : entre Yoram et Yossele - 2006.
41
Children of the Shadows was first performed at Habimah National Theatre in 1962, then in the United States and Canada in 1964. Today a classic of Israeli theatre history, taught in Israeli schools and departments of Hebrew Literature around the world, the play unveiled the conflictual identity of a Shoah survivor in the time of the pre-State Yishuv’s struggle for survival. Striving to be accepted by the other children of his kibbutz and compelled to hide, even from himself, his past and his wounds as a “Child of Teheran”, Yossele became Yoram, a hero of the War of Independence. But the arrival of his surviving family and friends forced him to face his diasporic and once victimized Self. In the sixties, the play triggered a lively debate about the components of Israeli identity, the cult of heroism and contempt for non-fighting victims of the Nazism.The article describes the reception of the play and tries to shed light on the still relatively unknown biography and personality of the playwright, who was born in Poland (1928) as Beniek (Benzi) Teitelbaum and died in Tel Aviv in 1998, as Ben Zion Tomer, teacher, diplomat, poet, translator, and “Israeli”.
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