"The National Authority of Yiddish Culture" "The New Israeli Foundation for Cinema  Television" "The Keshet Foundation" "The Yehoshua Rabinovitz Tel Aviv Foundation" "The Lerner Foundation For Yiddish" "Good morning, This is Lillian Lux speaking to you." "Today I have an extraordinary program for you." "As I'm speaking to you now, my program is turning into an Israeli documentary film about the Burstein family." "We'll open with the head of the family, Pesachk'e Burstein." "He was born on Pesach (Passover), he was named Pesach and he left us on Pesach 1986." "I remember it as if it were yesterday." "How I ran away from home with a theatrical troupe and left my mother in order to play in a Yiddish theater." ""Come here, come to us."" " Feldines' Summer Theater - "Come in, come in..."" "Shloimel'e, come back home right now!" "Who is this woman?" "You're gonna get it from your father!" "Joined the actors, have you?" "Shame on us!" "Is your father an actor?" "Is your grandfather an actor?" "What's with you and actors?" "But they can't perform without me!" "An actor?" "Take off your pants." "Take off your pants!" "When he was 15 he ran away from home with a Jewish theatrical troupe." "A Jewish actor by the name of Podlubna taught him three songs." "One of those songs remained with him throughout his life." ""I'm leaving my Daddy" ""I'm leaving my Mommy" ""I'm leaving my dear bride" ""Alone I'll roam The big wide world..."" ""I'm a komedianchik" ""Known to all" ""Barefoot and tattered" ""Despised and ridiculed" ""They call me a bum" ""And my heart weeps" ""I'm so ashamed of their shouts" ""Which make my heart bleed..." "World War One found him wandering from town to town." "The Russians chased away the Poles, the Germans chased away the Lithuanians." "He wandered with different troupes, suffering from hunger, and cold, and storms, but he brought joy to the beaten Jews everywhere." "Hey, guys!" " Hey!" "We got it!" "What?" "A telegram." "From America!" "We're going to America!" "In 1923, the famous New York producer Bores Thomashefsky heard about Pesachk'e Burstein and brought him to America, to the Nora Bays theater in Broadway." ""I sneaked in, I'm holding up" ""Got tangled up, How do I get out?" ""I stole away into America" ""And took away my father's lover"" "I haven't seen you in ages..." " May you live long." "They use to get dressed and put fancy hats." "She said: "This is my seat, go away."" "He said: "No, I want to sit here."" "So one of the audience said:" ""Go to hell."" ""Soon there'll be a new fad," ""Girls are going to have fun too." ""Listen to me and don't be amazed" ""Men will bear children yet..."" "When Pesachk'e signed up with "Columbia Records" for 20 years he recorded "Sonny Boy" the same day AI Jolson recorded it." "Jolson came out, and Pesachk'e went in and sang that same song in Yiddish:" ""Zindele Meines"." ""If a girlfriend leaves me, Let her leave" ""As long as you're with me, Sonny boy..."" ""If a girlfriend leaves me Let her leave"" ""Odessa Mama"." ""A Polish Wedding"." ""A Jewish wedding Is so lively..."" ""Fitza Dritza"." "Thieves!" "Tuesday, April 7th 1934." "The whole Yiddish theater family convenes for the auditions of the new comers, following the tradition of its founding fathers." "The bell rings twice." "The auditions begin." "The president announces the candidates." "The first applicant is Vera Rozanka." "The vote is about to begin." "The fate of the young actors is in their hands." "Zina Gorstein is happy." "She'll probably put in a "yes"." "The procedure is finished." "They're counting the votes." ""Good-bye, New York" ""I'm going home" ""I don't feel like staying Here any longer..."" "Pesachk'e went on a world tour." "Paris, London, Belgium, all over Poland." "And in 1937 he came back to New York and that's when it happened!" ""I'll remember you forever You've invaded my heart..."" "He was what you'd say "a man of the world"" "But it was a match made in heaven." ""I beg you to forgive me" ""I'll say it again" ""Please do not forget me..."" "In Buenos Aires I've become Pesachk'e Burstein's partner and I, too, have become a star." ""There's a wedding in town and all the Hassidim rejoice" ""All together, Beggars and rich men alike..." ""In honour of the bride and Groom they dance, thrilled." ""Supervisors and attendants Holding hands together"" "Mazel tov!" "Congratulations!" ""All my life, mother," ""I've been touring the world" ""Then I came to Brazil..."" "Mazel tov, Jews!" ""Oh, dear father" ""Exalted, full of life..."" ""Oh, dear father, Ya-ba-bam..."" "It's a story about the son of a Rabbi who is tempted to perform on stage with Jewish actors and the Rabbi and his family find out about it and the Rabbi banishes him from home." ""Farewell, my dear father" ""Farewell, my dear mother" ""Farewell, my dear bride..." -it was his." "It was written for him." "It was his property." "If I'm not mistaken, he was going to put it on stage in Lemberg." "At the end of his tour of a certain area he was supposed to go somewhere else in Poland and then rumors reached him that the play is already on." "At the Yiddish theater, actors never got the full scripts." "My father didn't want them to have the full script." "He was afraid someone might steal it." "It's different today." "Everyone gets the whole script." "Back then, you never knew what your partner was going to say." "As Pesach was playing "A Village Wedding" in Warsaw," "He changed its name." "He called it "Yossele's Wedding"." "I'd been known among theatrical circles in Bialistok." "I was 12 years old." "They knew that there was that amazing kid who was always backstage at the "Palace" theater." "That kid could watch a play just once and the next day he already knew it by heart, from A to Z." "Two men came to me and said:" ""Israel," ""Ben-Zion Vitler is now in Riga" ""and he would like to have the text" ""of that box-office hit, 'A Village Wedding'." ""Could you put it down on paper for him?" ""We'll give you 500 zloti for it."" "It was a fortune!" "Friday night I went to the theater to see the first performance of "A Village Wedding"." "The next day I knew the whole play by heart!" "I wrote it all down, I gave it to them, they paid me and I forgot all about it." "Dad had that life-long wish:" "to find out who was the bastard that stole his play from him." ""Oh, dear father..."" ""Mr Burstein, what are you doing here?"" "On July 1st, 1945," "Motel 'e and Zissel 'e two angels, had entered our life." "Rumania, Rumania..." ""In Rumania it's so fine Not one worry on the mind" ""Everywhere the wine would ﬂow With a piece of cheese to go" ""It's so good and, in one word, Nothing better in the world" ""What a life, so good and fine Nothing like Rumanian wine..."" ""When are we going to play too?"" "I said to her: "Little children don't go on stage."" ""You and Dad are old actors." ""The audience wants 'fresh blood'!" ""Mike and I, we're the young!"" ""Is that so?" "Then you should sit at home!"" " The Wonderkids " ""Haval'e, Haval'e, Give me a bite" ""This apple from the tree" ""Is just a delight..."" ""Come, Susie, be my wife" ""Sitting there quietly Like a dove..."" ""36 candles"" ""Come, Susie, be my wife" ""Sitting there quietly like a dove..."" ""But my love shall talk Despite of what our parents say..."" ""I'm a komedianchik" ""Known to all" ""Barefoot and tattered Despised and ridiculed..."" ""Folks everywhere Like to have fun" ""As long as your heart Is young sing, brother, sing" ""The world hates a sour face Think, but not too much" ""A pinch, a pat Then smile and sing away..."" ""Let's sing, Jews" ""Let's sing, brothers" ""Let's all dance together..." ""Let's sing, Jews" ""Let's sing, brothers" ""Let's all dance together..."" "After the State of Israel was proclaimed 300,000 Jews have arrived here from the D.P. camps and from Russia and they were all hungry for theater." ""Forget all your troubles" ""It's so good to be a Jew" ""Forget all your troubles" ""Sing and dance the night away..."" "We were playing "A Village Wedding"" ""Oh, dear father, Exalted, full of life..."" ""Oh, dear father..." "Yossele ," ""Come back to your Father and mother" ""Come back to your bride, Feigel'e" ""I'm longing to see you..."" ""Saturday after the kugel..."" ""Saturday after the kugel" ""The Jew is happy now" ""Saturday after the kugel" ""He's sitting like a king..."" ""The Jew is happy now" ""Saturday after the kugel..."" "It's books, folks!" " Hold on!" "In Herzl 's "Altneuland"" "there's a little chapter about language and religion." "It says there that when the Jewish state comes to be, you'd be able to speak any language there except jargon, meaning Yiddish." "Ladies and gentlemen." "Here, everybody learns Hebrew." "We all have books." "Is there anybody among you who isn't learning Hebrew?" "I'm making very good progress in Hebrew." "So Am I." "Yiddish was part of the whole package of foreign languages." "Foreign language theaters had to pay an extra tax." "In addition to what all the other theaters paid there was a penalty tax for putting on shows in a foreign language." "Yiddish was part of that "package"." "The main aim of Zaionism was to abolish everything that had been created in the Diaspora." "That's how this disaster came about." "The catastrophe!" "And the funny thing was, that those who fought against the Yiddish were the same people who grew up in Yiddish-speaking homes." "What is it, Mrs. Mandel?" "Show me the bottle, please." "Why the spoon?" "We want to give him three spoonfuls." "Not spoonfuls, drops!" "What?" "Drops." "Don't you know Hebrew?" "How should I know any Hebrew?" "That's new!" "Hurry!" "In the middle of our show they came and smashed the windows." ""When I became a Bar Mitzva I had to read from the Torah" ""The Iector told me to say the blessings" ""But all I could do was whistle..."" ""I'd like to sing you a song:" "Husha Shusha..."" ""Oi gevald I'm going gaga Eating cheese and mamaliga" ""Dancing and frolicking and my mouth I'm stuffing"" ""It's so good and, in one word Nothing better in the world" ""What a life, so good and fine Nothing like Rumanian wine..." ""Give yourself to me, baby" ""Give yourself to me, baby" ""Why?" "Cause your Mom did it before you..."" "In 1962 we arrived in Israel for the second time." "We started working and in three years we put on 12 shows." "In Yiddish." "We had a tremendous success." ""Yossel'e and Feigel'e" ""As much in love as Shlomo and Shulamit..."" ""Yossel'e and Feigel'e" ""As much in love As Shlomo and Shulamit..." ""Yossel'e and Feigel'e" ""Are a blessing to Mom and Dad"" "Yossel'e, why are you thinking of Feigel'e when I'm here?" "I'll lull you to sleep With a sweet lullaby" "Just like I used to" "Remember, Yossel'e?" "Remember?" ""Be silent, Jews, and listen"" ""Purim show is on now!"" "The Jewish man and woman" ""What's this?" "Burstein's clipping on a nose?"" " Geva News   the Hamam Theater " "The poet/auther Itzik Manger had arrived in Israel and had attended his play "The Megilla"." "The special show for the honoured guest was attended by artists and leading public figures." "I had finished my performance in "Ha'Bimah" theater." "We were doing Goethe's "Faust"." "I was Mefisto." "And where do you go after the show?" "Hatzk'I lsh-Cassit came to me and said:" ""Becker, do you know who's here tonight?"" ""Who?" -"Pesachk'e Burstein!" ""Come, let me introduce you to him."" "Pesachk'e Burstien." "I approached him with a big smile all over my face and I said:" ""Pesachk'e Burstein!" "I've known you for years!" ""I was the one who stole 'A Village Wedding' from you" ""and sold it to Vitler for 500 zlotes"." "I thought he was going to have a fit." "His eyes almost popped out, and he looked at me with tremendous anger and said:" ""Aren't you ashamed to tell me that?" ""My whole life I've been..."" "Then and there I realized that I'd done an unforgivable thing." "At a press conference in the little Jewish town which was built in Givataiym the filming of "2 Kuni Lemles" has begun, in cinemascope and in color." "The producer is Mordechai Navon and the director is Israel Becker." "How do you ask for forgiveness?" "How do you ask someone to pardon you for such a thing?" "The opportunity presented itself to me." "I wanted Mike Burstein for the double role of "2 Kuni Lemles"." "But who's to play Shiel'e, the coachman?" "Then I had a 'brain-wave'." "Pesachk'e Burstein would be perfect for it!" "This is where it started." "He arrives from the airport in the car and dances in, carrying the stew pot." "Remember?" "And they bring him in, dancing all together." "Those were the days..." " Mike burstein " "The film "Two Kuni Lemles" had three gala nights:" "one in Jerusalem, one in Givatayim and the third one in Tel Aviv." "Afterwards, the creators and the actors of the film met with the prime-minister." ""What?" "The son's not in the show?" ""No Mike?"" ""My Jewish mother" ""You're the best in the whole wide world..."" ""They say that I am not who I am" ""Then I'm getting appalled" ""Because if I am not who I am" ""Then who am I at all?"" "In 1985, a year before he died," "Pesachk'e got the Goldfaden's Award from the Yiddish Culture Society." "In front of an amazed audience he sang and he whistled just as he did when he was young." ""No need to bring your son, He's here, with you." ""No need to bring him, he's here with you." ""Come in, Yossel'e! "" "Keep in pace, guys, it's the end of the play!" "This is the final moment, so don't drag it!" "If my Dad had been alive today, he'd be a 100 years old." "The Israeli producer who worked with my father for many years suggested we put on stage his most famous show:" ""A Village Wedding"." ""Oh, dear father..."" "These are the actual notes from "A Village Wedding"." "I'm marrying my mother..." "I'm marrying my Mom!" "It's been done in the exact same way for 60 years now." "We've tried to change a few things but it never worked." ""I'm a komedianchik" ""Known to all" ""Barefoot and tattered" ""Despised and ridiculed" ""They call me a bum" ""And my heart weeps" ""I'm so ashamed of their shouts" ""Which make my heart bleed..."" "English:" "Nurith Yehudai" "Subtitles production:" "N.L.S. Studios" "The Yehoshua Rabinovitz Tel Aviv Foundation" "The Keshet Foundation" "The New Israeli Foundation for Cinema  Television" "The National Authority of Yiddish Culture"