State of the Jews

Libretto by Ben Kaplan. Music by Alex Weiser.  

State of the Jews — an opera in two acts with music by composer Alex Weiser — ​ is a historical drama about Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), the charismatic and controversial Jewish Austro-Hungarian journalist whose writings ignited a mass political movement. In response to rising antisemitism, Herzl pursues the establishment of a Jewish state, but these political choices come at a great personal cost, wreaking havoc on the Herzl home. The opera interweaves the political turmoil of turn of the century Europe— the rise of nationalist movements, the threat of mass violence, and the struggle for political autonomy— with the true but relatively unknown story of Theodor’s relationship with his wife Julie, and the toll that his political work took on their marriage and lives. In her stark, contrasting response to the same historical circumstances, Julie exposes the complex and, in many ways, still unresolved challenges of that political moment in time.

State of the Jews​ has been performed in a series of semi-staged preview performances at the 14th Street Y in NYC, and will recieve its premiere at Temple Emanu-El on January 15th, 2025.

80’

 The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language

Libretto by Ben Kaplan. Music by Alex Weiser.

The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language — a chamber opera with music by composer Alex Weiser — is based on the true story of Yiddish linguist Yudel Mark, who in 1950s post-war New York City sets out to write the world’s first fully comprehensive Yiddish dictionary — an effort of linguistic preservation, and a memorial to the dead. In the opera, Mark clashes with Max Weinreich — the world’s leading Yiddish authority and the director of the YIVO institute under whose auspices Mark is working —over Mark’s hope to make the dictionary over a dozen volumes long and to include not just contemporary words and rare words of the past, but new words of Mark’s invention for an aspirational future. But Mark’s inspiration flows from a dark secret: he is haunted by the three Alefs—Komets, Pasekh, and Shtumer—three divine emanations of the Yiddish language who compel him to breathe new life into Yiddish.

The opera invites audiences to consider the extent to which a language and a culture can be saved, the nature of grief, and the power of language itself to transform and shape us into who we are.

50’