From Australia’s Jewish Past
Jacob (Yankev) Waislitz – World-renowned Yiddish Actor and Director
Last week, the story was about Rachel Holzer and her partner in revolutionising Yiddish theatre Jacob Waislitz was mentioned. The following is Jacob’s story.
Jacob Waislitz
Jacob was born in Poland in 1892. He graduated from the Yiddish drama academy Hazomir in 1915 and was a Yiddish actor by twenty-one years of age. He joined the world-acclaimed, revolutionary Vilner Trupe in 1919 and remained with the ensemble until its final curtain call in 1935. Here, Jacob played in the original Vilner Trupe production of The Dybbuk, which, had its debut, in 1920. The play was a sensation. The production took the Vilner Trupe all over Europe playing to packed houses and prompted the German director, Max Reinhardt, to comment “This is not play-acting. This is a religious rite.” Jacob toured the world performing in Yiddish plays and solo concerts.
In 1921, Yiddish writer Peretz Hirschbein and his wife, the poet Esther Shumiakher, sailed into Sydney Harbour and wrote the following – we glimpsed “a radiant world, the scent of eucalyptus wafted across the harbour and forested islands rose from its waters’’. However, within days the couple discovered the most crucial ingredient, Yiddish, was very much missing in Sydney. They journeyed to Melbourne and were taken from the station to the Kadimah library and cultural centre, founded in 1911 and situated at the time in Drummond Street Carlton. The centre attracted many community members and was popular as it offered English lessons and lectures on Yiddish and Hebrew literature.
Peretz and his wife were quite astonished to be in an environment where one could hear Yiddish being spoken. The couple delivered public lectures and recited their works. They did not stay long and within five weeks, they resumed their wandering ways, but their impact had been profound. By 1925 the Kadimah Drama Circle was formed, becoming one of the first of many Yiddish theatre ensembles based in Melbourne and, it was known to be, serving a community of Yiddish speakers of barely two thousand. In 1933, the Kadimah moved to newly built premises in Lygon Street. With its arched windows and mock marble porch, the building resembled a secular synagogue. The hall boasted a modern stage, a prompters’ box and dressing rooms. The building was inaugurated with a performance of Peretz Hirschbein’s drama Green Fields.
On 26 January 1938, Jacob arrived in Melbourne as part of a world tour and, on arrival, was met by Yankev Ginter, another renowned Yiddish actor who had made Melbourne his home. After a series of one-man shows, Jacob galvanised the Yiddish-speaking community in Melbourne with the most-renowned Yiddish play, The Dybbuk, in the Princess Theatre.
Like Rachel, when war broke out Jacob stayed in Melbourne. His wife, Jochevet, and son, David, stranded in Vilna during the period of Soviet rule from 1939-1941, were able to escape to Moscow and then, via the Trans-Siberian railway, to Vladivostok. From there they journeyed to Kobe in Japan. Because Jacob had secured their entry visas for Australia, Jochevet and David managed to travel on the last boat bound for Australia and arrived in Melbourne in 1941. His daughter, the actress Mila Waislitz, who was by then married to fellow actor, Moishe Potashinski, was touring Belgium when war erupted and remained trapped in Europe.
Jacob transformed Yiddish theatre in Melbourne. In 1940, in collaboration with Rachel, he combined the Yiddishe Bine with the Kadimah Drama Circle and various other splinter groups into the David Herman Theatre, named in honour of his mentor and teacher. By 1943 they were producing up to eight plays annually. Over the ensuing years, Jacob directed and starred in numerous productions and oversaw the golden age of Yiddish theatre in Melbourne throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
He insisted on a standardised Yiddish dialect and a high degree of professionalism from his actors, abolishing the position of prompter and maintaining a strict regime of rehearsals. He initiated changes in the style and repertoire of Yiddish theatre and brought contemporary plays to the attention of Yiddish audiences. In addition to his life as an actor Jacob served as principal of the Sholem Aleichem Sunday School in Melbourne from 1951 to 1964.
Jacob passed away on 24 August 1966. A review of one of his performances wrote “The actor has a fine head, fine features, and fine hands endowed with a voice of natural power. Although Jacob gave all his dramatic readings in Yiddish, his delivery was so eloquent and even people unacquainted with that language could be impressed by it.
Isaac Bashevis Singer – a famous Polish-born Jewish-American novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator said “Why Yiddish?” The final answer is obvious. “Why not?” Of Yiddish, it can be said of free will: “Of course, I believe in free will. I have no choice.” ‘’Forget about why and wherefore. Abi men zet zikh’’. ‘’As long as we see each other, meet and argue, discuss and read, sing and breathe new life into mameloshn, the mother tongue, the rest will take care of itself’’.
The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:
A Celebration of Yiddish published by the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, Monash University – 16 October 2004; Obituary in The Australian Jewish News 26 August 1966; National Library of Australia – Trove.
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