No matter how many times Hershel outsmarts the goblins who keep blowing out Hanukkah candles, they just keep coming back year after year.
In 1989 the Yiddish Arts Ensemble joined up with the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band to put on a performance of “Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins,” and it has become an annual event.
In real life Hershel was a court jester in the Ukraine in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He is considered to be the first Jewish stand-up comic.
But back when Hershel was trying to get a laugh, he wasn’t paid regularly, so he tried to make ends meet by going out and about to tell stories. Eventually he became the protagonist in a number of tales.
Bernard Beck, who has played Hershel every year since 1989, says the role is a perfect fit. “He was one of my favorite characters when I was growing up because he was funny and clever and mischievous and had the same sort of skeptical attitude toward life and society that I tried to cultivate,” he explains.
Beck says that the story of Hershel’s battle to keep the lights of Hanukkah burning has a special significance for Jewish children. “I think the live performance spotlights, and makes real, Yiddish words and themes and Hanukkah, and validates whatever sense of identity the children may have.”
But youngsters don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate the story in which Hershel succeeds not because of his physical strength but because of his smarts.
“It says what the best of children’s theater always says,” explains Beck. “It shows that there are two sides to solving problems. People are both vulnerable and scared of being in danger, and at the same time they are competent.”
He adds, “It’s got the kind of fantasy element of fighting against the forces of evil that all kids like in a show.”
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“Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins,” 1 p.m. Sunday, Centre East, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 N. Skokie Blvd., Skokie, $10 adults, $8 children; 847-673-6300.
