The Berdichever goes Off-Broadway

The stage is askew and sounds of seagulls squawk at the off-Broadway Castillo Theatre, where Dan Friedman’s “The Learning Play of Rabbi Levi-Yitzhak, Son of Sara, of Berdichev,” takes the setting of a deck aboard a late 19th century steamer heading to America, with four Russian Jews representing the religious spectrum between socialism and Orthodoxy. In the play, the four characters act out stories related to the famed rabbi in resolving conflicts between the Jewish responsibility to other people and the commitment to religious observance.

In one such story, a teamster seeks advice from the rabbi on balancing work and religion. “My need to earn a living gets in the way of my service to G-d,” the teamster says, to which Rabbi Levi-Yitzhak replies, “You serve the Lord with your wagon just as good as you learning the Talmud.” At this point, the socialist, portrayed by Ben Prayz, triumphantly concludes that ritual is not the main point of serving G-d. Sean Singer, who depicts an Orthodox baker, rebuts the socialist’s conclusion, leading into another story play from the rabbi’s life where a drunk water carrier appears in the rabbi’s dream, receiving a greater blessing for his Passover observance than the great rabbi. Seeking to find out why, he summons the wasserman to his home for a conversation.