have earnestly walked in your truth.
The circle is formed. The oath binds them all within it until it is fulfilled. The WOMEN who surround CHANA turn expectantly toward her. She is deep in prayer. Her daughters enter the circle, approaching her.
SHAINE RUTH : Talk to us, Ima ! Tell us what happened!
BLUMA : Why did you leave us?
Scene one
CHANA ’S inner monologue, begun as prayer, transforms into confession. To BLUMA, SHAINE RUTH .
CHANA : [ looking around at the house, as if in a dream .] Twenty years of my life I gave to this house, hour by hour, day by day. To build something harmonious and good. For twenty years I held my finger in the dike, to keep the horror around me from flooding through. You never saw, never even suspected. But even a sponge gets full, so full it cannot hold another drop….
The woman who ran away two years ago was not the mother you knew…. It had nothing to do with you, my innocent children…The dam finally broke.
CHANA becomes aware of the circle of sacred oath.
CHANA : I could have cowered—as always—allowed myself to drown. But for some reason, I stood up. A strong urge to live gave me strength I didn’t know I had. I turned my back on everything and ran for my life. Only later did the mind wake up, with regrets, pangs of conscience, longings—
FRUME : Who were you running away from?
ADINA : Who was chasing you?
GITTE LEAH : Stories.
TOVAH : You left for her. [ points to ZEHAVA .]
ETA : Everyone knows.
ZEHAVA : Not one of you knows anything! You swore to listen, so listen!
The WOMEN grow silent, remembering their sacred oath.
CHANA : [ focused on her daughters. ] Blumaleh, Shaine Ruth, when I left I never dreamt that it would end this way. The minute I could, I tried to settle everything quickly and quietly so I could come home to you—my children. But you [ pointing to FRUME .] all of you, blocked my way. The family, the community, my friends [ looking at ETA and TOVAH .] you all stood together against me as I smashed myself again and again against the walls of your hard, cold hearts…
SHEINHOFF : Chana, you gave us no other choice…
FRUME : You left.
GITTE LEAH : It’s your own fault.
CHANA : [ bitterly .] I thought so, too. I tried to figure out where I had gone wrong…what had happened to my marriage and why. It didn’t start out bad…. [ looking at her girls. ] .
GITTE LEAH : Not bad?! Why you ungrateful woman! You didn’t deserve a man like Yankele.
FRUME : It was a miracle, such a match: a Talmud scholar, from a most respected family…
GITTE LEAH : His father was an ADMOR …
TOVAH : And his Uncle, Rav Aaron, was on the Council of Torah Sages—
ETA :—and the head of a Yeshiva— A Grosse Yichoos! (a great honor).
CHANA : Yes, Yankele was a gift. A match made in heaven…. by accident. I knocked on the wrong door and he opened it. Right after he saw me, he sent matchmakers to talk to my father. You were all so shocked. That such a family would want me! You never dreamed of looking into the background of the distinguished bridegroom. Who was I, after all? The despised failure. My sister was already burning to fix me up with a fat, newly religious Jew, with hairy knuckles and a bald head….
FRUME : She was burning because you’d defiled your honor…
GITTE LEAH : With a soldier! What a disgrace!
ETA : [ scandalized .] Vus!? (what) She was defiled?
TOVAH : By a soldier!!!?
GITTE LEAH : A soldier she met with all her running around. [ to CHANA ] You swore to tell the truth, so tell it!
GITTE LEAH enters the circle and swivels CHANA around like a boxer in the ring.
CHANA : [ with sarcasm .] A soldier? Why not the whole platoon? The entire army? [ to everyone, bitterly. ] The truth was, a miracle happened. I was defiled by a letter.
Shocked, aggressive responses.
GITTE LEAH : [ to everyone, disgusted .] Aren’t you ashamed
The circle is formed. The oath binds them all within it until it is fulfilled. The WOMEN who surround CHANA turn expectantly toward her. She is deep in prayer. Her daughters enter the circle, approaching her.
SHAINE RUTH : Talk to us, Ima ! Tell us what happened!
BLUMA : Why did you leave us?
Scene one
CHANA ’S inner monologue, begun as prayer, transforms into confession. To BLUMA, SHAINE RUTH .
CHANA : [ looking around at the house, as if in a dream .] Twenty years of my life I gave to this house, hour by hour, day by day. To build something harmonious and good. For twenty years I held my finger in the dike, to keep the horror around me from flooding through. You never saw, never even suspected. But even a sponge gets full, so full it cannot hold another drop….
The woman who ran away two years ago was not the mother you knew…. It had nothing to do with you, my innocent children…The dam finally broke.
CHANA becomes aware of the circle of sacred oath.
CHANA : I could have cowered—as always—allowed myself to drown. But for some reason, I stood up. A strong urge to live gave me strength I didn’t know I had. I turned my back on everything and ran for my life. Only later did the mind wake up, with regrets, pangs of conscience, longings—
FRUME : Who were you running away from?
ADINA : Who was chasing you?
GITTE LEAH : Stories.
TOVAH : You left for her. [ points to ZEHAVA .]
ETA : Everyone knows.
ZEHAVA : Not one of you knows anything! You swore to listen, so listen!
The WOMEN grow silent, remembering their sacred oath.
CHANA : [ focused on her daughters. ] Blumaleh, Shaine Ruth, when I left I never dreamt that it would end this way. The minute I could, I tried to settle everything quickly and quietly so I could come home to you—my children. But you [ pointing to FRUME .] all of you, blocked my way. The family, the community, my friends [ looking at ETA and TOVAH .] you all stood together against me as I smashed myself again and again against the walls of your hard, cold hearts…
SHEINHOFF : Chana, you gave us no other choice…
FRUME : You left.
GITTE LEAH : It’s your own fault.
CHANA : [ bitterly .] I thought so, too. I tried to figure out where I had gone wrong…what had happened to my marriage and why. It didn’t start out bad…. [ looking at her girls. ] .
GITTE LEAH : Not bad?! Why you ungrateful woman! You didn’t deserve a man like Yankele.
FRUME : It was a miracle, such a match: a Talmud scholar, from a most respected family…
GITTE LEAH : His father was an ADMOR …
TOVAH : And his Uncle, Rav Aaron, was on the Council of Torah Sages—
ETA :—and the head of a Yeshiva— A Grosse Yichoos! (a great honor).
CHANA : Yes, Yankele was a gift. A match made in heaven…. by accident. I knocked on the wrong door and he opened it. Right after he saw me, he sent matchmakers to talk to my father. You were all so shocked. That such a family would want me! You never dreamed of looking into the background of the distinguished bridegroom. Who was I, after all? The despised failure. My sister was already burning to fix me up with a fat, newly religious Jew, with hairy knuckles and a bald head….
FRUME : She was burning because you’d defiled your honor…
GITTE LEAH : With a soldier! What a disgrace!
ETA : [ scandalized .] Vus!? (what) She was defiled?
TOVAH : By a soldier!!!?
GITTE LEAH : A soldier she met with all her running around. [ to CHANA ] You swore to tell the truth, so tell it!
GITTE LEAH enters the circle and swivels CHANA around like a boxer in the ring.
CHANA : [ with sarcasm .] A soldier? Why not the whole platoon? The entire army? [ to everyone, bitterly. ] The truth was, a miracle happened. I was defiled by a letter.
Shocked, aggressive responses.
GITTE LEAH : [ to everyone, disgusted .] Aren’t you ashamed
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