The Yiddish King Lear

[1] It begins at the Purim feast given by David Moishele, a wealthy Russian Jewish merchant – a personification of what Adler referred to as the "Grand Jew", surrounded by family, friends, servants: in effect, a monarch in his court.

As he divides his empire, the story of Shakespeare's Lear is recounted to him as a warning by the virtuous daughter who denied his authority by becoming a student in St.

The husbands of the daughters among whom David Moishele divides his "kingdom" are, respectively a Hasid, an Orthodox Jewish businessman, and an apikoyres, or secular Jew.

Theater Magazine wrote of Adler's performance in a 1901 revival of The Yiddish King Lear, "No finer acting has ever been seen in New York than Adler's gradual transition from the high estate of the Hebrew father distributing his bounty in the opening scenes to the quavering blind beggar of later developments."

[4] The play was made into a 1934 Yiddish-language film with a new score by veteran Yiddish theatre composer Joseph Brody.