Dos Azoy-gerufene Yona Shpil

– an Old Yiddish reworking of a 1582 German play by Simon Rothen and Balthasar Klein, found in the Wallich Yiddish song collection, created in Worms around 1600. One of the earliest known Yiddish plays, Yona Shpil may have been adapted based on its performance rather than on its written text. In the part performed here for Roni Cohen and Ossnat Sharon-Pinto’s presentation at the TextDiveGlobal workshop in Kraków, Jonah explains his reluctance to prophesy Nineveh’s impending destruction differently than its Christian source does: Rather than being discouraged by his past experiences with obstinate Israelite audiences, Jonah expresses fear for his life, and a confidence that God will be forgiving – possibly echoing Midrashic Jonah’s bitterness over being called a liar when the peoples’ repentance resulted in a “lack” of divine punishment following his past prophecies. The Jewish translator exploits the scene‘s comic potential, as is demonstrated by actor Itamar Sharon, who also edited this video.