Millennium Approaches 1.1

Summary

The opening begins with Rabbi Isador Chemelwitz from the Bronx Home for Aged Hebrews speaking impressively at the funeral of Sarah Ironson. Sarah was a resident at the Home for Aged Hebrews. She is the grandmother of a large Jewish family and yet she is being buried in a wooden pine box.

Rabbi Chemelwitz states that he did not know Sarah Ironson well enough to explain her qualities precisely and that she was a quiet person, but yet he knows her type.

The Rabbi preaches how Sarah had immigrated to America from Eastern Europe to make a home for her family.He also preaches that America does not exist, that America belongs to the ones that cause trouble with the elderly and authority figures. He then praises Sarah for having presence on the cultural beliefs of her family and that they could never accomplish what she has. She was the last of her kind.

Notes

• Star of David (15) - a six-pointed star formed from two equilateral triangles; an emblem symbolizing Judaism. Also called Shield of David.

File:Prayer shawl.jpg

Prayer Shawl with Star of David emblem

• prayer shawl (15) - a shawl with a ritually knotted fringe at each corner; worn by Jews at morning prayer, also called a tallit, or talles.

• yarzheit candle (15) - Yarzheit is the Yiddish word given to the anniversary of a person's death.

• goyische (16) - Hebrew/Yiddish term for someone/thing which is not Jewish.

• Litvak (16) - the name given to Lithuanian Jews or to those who are associated with their religious beliefs.

• shtetl (16) - a small Jewish town or village formerly found throughout Eastern Europe.

• steppe (16) - A vast, semi-arid and grass-covered plain, as found in southeast Europe, Siberia, and central North America.

• Grand Concourse Avenue (16) - a street in the Bronx.

Study Questions

1. The beginning scene takes place at who's funeral?
2. She is the grandmother of which character?
3. During the rabbi's eulogy he tells the family that Sarah was the kind of person that brought the villiages with her to America. Where did these villages come from?
4. What Great Voyages no longer exist?

Works Cited

• Kushner, Tony. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1995.