Jacob Schmidt and Bryce A. Miller in Trayf. Photo by Jon Gitchoff.
Trayf tells the story of Zalmy (Jacob Schmidt) and Schmuel (Bryce A. Miller), two young men who belong to New York’s Hasidic Jewish community. These childhood best friends earnestly try to follow the strict rules of their ultra-orthodox sect; they shun secular music, refuse to operate machinery on the Sabbath, and dress daily in plain black suits and wide-brimmed hats. They enthusiastically drive around in the “Mitzvah Tank,” saving the souls of secular, assimilated Jews by performing acts of kindness. This leads to a chance encounter with Jonathan (Spencer Sickmann), a record store clerk who discovered his Jewish ancestry while sorting through his late father’s personal belongings. Jonathan leaps from lapsed Catholic to wannabe Hasid, which Zalmy enthusiastically supports (and Schmuel eyes with suspicion).
Serious, reserved Schmuel has been friends with lively Zalmy since childhood. In fact, this friendship may be the most important relationship in either man’s life. Hasidic Jews are encouraged to express their feelings deeply, intensely, and unreservedly. This could explain the depth of the connection between Schmuel and Zalmy. It also explains why Schmuel is initially threatened by Jonathan and even questions his Jewish identity. Later in the play, Jonathan’s girlfriend Leah (Annie Zigman), a secular Jew, tracks down the Mitzvah Tank and gives Schmuel a piece of her mind. She presents an entirely different perspective on Jewish identity, one that clashes strongly with ultra-conservative Schmuel’s worldview. This tension is never quite resolved, and perhaps it never will be. It’s too bad that Leah appears in only one scene; Ms. Zigman’s time on stage is brief, but memorable. Her impassioned monologue is one of the play’s highlights.
Male friendship is a prominent theme in Trayf, and the play makes interesting connections between secular male bonding and Hasidic rituals. In one scene, Zalmy teaches Jonathan how to attach tefillin—small boxes containing verses of the Torah and bound by leather straps. He jokes that they are “wrappers,” but the humor is lost on the fastidious Schmuel. The joke also reveals the importance of music to Zalmy and Jonathan, who secretly trade recordings of Hasidic sermons and prayers for mixtapes of David Bowie and A Tribe Called Quest. Schmuel, meanwhile, boasts that he has no idea who Elton John is (and has no intention of finding out). The play juxtaposes popular music with Jewish choral singing in its interludes—a fitting soundtrack for this clash of cultures.
The play’s minimalist set design evokes the back alleys of Crown Heights, Brooklyn—the “center of the Jewish world,” according to Zalmy and Schmuel. One key detail is the “Mitzvah Tank,” a metal frame on wheels that the actors push about the stage. In one scene, Zalmy and Jonathan stand above the audience on a mock fire escape, drinking wine and admiring New York’s night sky. Dialogue is interspersed with recorded music, spirited singalongs from Zalmy and Schmuel, and Hasidic prayer rituals.
New Jewish Theater provides a helpful glossary for most of the Yiddish words and phrases used in the play, but an attentive audience member can figure out their meaning through context. Likewise, you don’t need a deep knowledge of Jewish history and culture to understand the message and meaning of the play. Trayf is fundamentally a story about male friendship and cultural identity. As Jonathan discovers, reconnecting with your roots can be a joyful experience—but it can also be challenging and confusing. The Hasidic community give Zalmy’s life meaning and structure, but it also holds him back from new experiences and opportunities. Both men’s stories are part of the Jewish experience—worth telling and worth hearing.
Trayfs runs from now until Sunday Sept 29 at The J’s Wool Studio Theatre (2 Millstone Campus Dr., Creve Coeur). New Jewish Theatre offers a range of ticket prices from $25 for students to $54 for general admission. The show is 90 minutes long with no intermission. | Rob Von Nordheim
