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Jewish World Review / March 15, 1998 / 17 Adar, 5758
Jonathan S. Tobin
THERE IS A SCHOOL of thought with deep roots in Western culture which has
always viewed the Jews as the bad guys. Not because any of the crimes "The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion" would ascribe to us. There are a lot of
people who have always resented the Jews because we "invented" G-d. More to
the point, they see us as the inventors of morality in the broadest sense of
the word - what many are fond of calling the Judeo-Christian tradition. The
18th century Enlightenment philosopher and writer Voltaire is just the most
prominent of these intellectual anti-Semites.
With all due respect to the traditions of other cultures, these critics may
have a point.
It was only with the collision of the ancient Jews with the pagan societies of
the Eastern Mediterranean that a lot of the concepts such as the sanctity of
life (i.e. no human sacrifices) and codes of sexual conduct began to spread.
Think of the Jews as sort of the Christian Coalition of the ancient Middle
East, and perhaps you can imagine why we were seen as such a troublesome
people. This was and is an awkward role for a people to play. Much of the
Jewish history in the Bible is the story of our struggle with the expectations
set for us in the Torah. The culturkampf comes as often from within as
without.
A problematic piece of theater
I was reminded of this struggle recently while attending a new production of
the French opera "Samson et Dalila" at the Metropolitan Opera
This particular Samson opera is a problematic piece of theater. Written by the
late 19th century composer Camille Saint-Saens, it is more oratorio than
opera. Which is to say, there isn't a lot of action going on. Little seems to
happen on stage even when they get to the good parts like the famous haircut
scene.
In the piece, Saint-Saens also seemed to load the dice in favor the
Philistines over the Hebrews. The Philistines get all the really good music
including: love songs and a Bacchanal ballet that really rocks. Outside of
Samson's heroic call to revolt, all the Hebrews seem to do is stand around the
stage and shrei gevalt. (scream in anguish).
Yet in spite of himself, Saint-Saens produced a work that was profoundly moral
as well as dramatic. If the guiding principle of 19th century French opera is
the triumph of sex over absolutely everything in life, then "Samson et Dalila"
can prove the opposite.
Tales of Samson
The Samson story is one that has always fascinated secular writers and
thinkers as well as Biblical commentators. It has everything: action, sex,
sin, redemption and what Cecille B. DeMille would recognize as a wow ending.
For some Jews, Samson has even come to represent the dilemma of modern Israel.
It was Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol (1895-1969)who referred to the
Jewish State as "Shimshon der Nebedicher" - (Samson the nebbish) - the mighty
military power who thinks of itself as a victim and patsy.
Zionist leader and writer Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880-1940) used the story of
Samson the Judge for his only full-length novel. It is (in contrast to
Jabotinsky's brilliance as a journalist and orator) a dreadful book with
little literary merit. Its sole claim to fame is a short passage in which the
Biblical judge comes upon two brothers, one honest and one lazy, who have an
equal share in a field. The lazy one does little work but claims the entire
harvest. The honest one is entitled by right to all of the fruit of his labor
but, to be a nice guy, he only claims half. Jabotinsky's Samson rules that the
lazy brother is entitled to 75 percent of the harvest. Why? asks the honest
brother. Because he had conceded half already, says Samson, it is only his own
half that is under dispute and that the judge splits evenly. "Your brother is
a liar," says Samson. "But you are a fool and that is worse." Any resemblance
of this parable to territorial disputes in the modern Middle East is entirely
intentional.
The struggle within
But the real battle in Samson is the struggle within the character: the carnal
versus the moral. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz writes of Samson in his book "Biblical
Images" (Basic Books) that in contrast to other Biblical judges, who were
"generally upright, G-d-fearing examples to others...Samson offers us a
perplexing exception to the rule - mischievous, vehement, full of a certain
devil-may-care impetuousity and bravado." He is, in Steinsaltz's words, "the
prophet of divine power expressed as physical force." By succumbing to the
temptations of Philistine hedonism Samson endangers the national struggle of
the Jews as well as dooming himself.
Ironically, of all depictions of this story, it is the new MET production,
conceived and designed by Elijah Moshinsky, an English Jew, which brings these
out these struggles as well as any I've seen..
In his vision of the story, the ancient Hebrews are in dark tones of black and
grey, dressed in the drab clothes of the Eastern European victims of the
Holocaust. They wear tallit and tefillin, and look to G-d to save them from
their oppressors.
In contrast, Moshinsky's Philistines are the epitome of paganism run amuck.
Half naked and daubed with wild shades of orange and red, they are savages who
prey upon the Jewish victims. They are sensual, while the Jews are spiritual.
Samson attempts to bridge the gap but cannot.
Ultimately, he will bring down the temple of Dagon upon people who have proved
themselves not merely evil but bestial.
Unlike other religions, Judaism has never taught a dichotomy between the
spirit and the flesh. Each serve G-d's purpose. But without law and morality,
sensuality is ultimately destructive. It is a lesson that Samson learns only
too late.
As brilliantly sung and played by Placido Domingo (who opera trivia fans know
spent two years early in his career singing in Israel) and the appropriately
sexy Denyse Graves, the famous lovers are a compelling couple in a story that
is well told with powerful music.
So while New York theatergoers search for Jewish themes on Broadway and off
this season, the fact is, the best Jewish story told on stage this year might
be the one at the opera house. The search for Jews at the opera
Still searching for Jews at the opera
in New York.
The MET is an unusual place to be thinking of things Jewish. It is a temple of
western culture which often celebrates the values of hedonism in a way
Voltaire might have enjoyed. Yet the search for Jews at the opera often
uncovers some interesting finds. Even there, our Biblical heritage sneaks in
every now and then. And occasionally, as with the current "Samson," the
effect is telling.
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger.
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