‘Birthright’ Examines Modern Jewish Identity, With Fearless, Powerful Force

Jonathan Spector couldn’t have known that his masterful new play, “Birthright,” would make its New York premiere less than a week after the local primaries in which anti-Zionist sentiment played a disproportionate role. Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic Socialist chosen to represent parts of Manhattan and the Bronx in Congress, cast AIPAC, a national lobbying and advocacy group, as one of the biggest demons threatening her community. One of the losers, Congressional incumbent Dan Goldman, a supporter of Israel, was condemned on social media by the owner of a Brooklyn coffee shop where he had taken his young daughter days before the election. “We don’t serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers or anyone in between,” read the post in part. “Too bad we didn’t recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away.”So how did we get here? The October 7 massacre and the war launched in response have something to do with it, of course. But any casual student of history knows the story goes back to Israel’s founding and further, to developments over millennia, but particularly in the 1930s and ‘40s, that convinced enough powerful people that a Jewish homeland might not be a bad idea.Post-Holocaust plays and movies, a number of them written by Jews, have grappled with the Middle East conflict through the decades. But I’d be hard-pressed to name a recent one that was as simultaneously fearless and fair-minded in tackling the subject as “Birthright,” or as witty and moving in its exploration of what it means to be a Jew today, however religious or secular.The play’s title refers to a program known as Taglit-Birthright Israel, the first word meaning discovery in Hebrew, that takes Jews in their late teens and twenties for trips to that country to learn more about their heritage. Performed in three acts with two intermissions, “Birthright,” which has opened off-Broadway at the MCC’s Newman Mills Theater, introduces us to a group of young men and women who have returned from such an outing, then follows them over 18 years, ending in 2024, as they’re entering their forties. The action unfolds in the nicely appointed suburban home of Chaya’s parents. Chaya’s mother, Deborah, pops up at the end of each act, a chatty baby-boomer eager to engage her millennial daughter and her peers. In Part One, entitled “Two Jews, Three Opinions,” a character named Izzy, who has known Chaya since childhood, muses that her longtime pal doesn’t have other Jewish friends, and Deborah later theorizes that this is because she was ostracized by “cliquish” girls at Hebrew school.Mr. Spector doesn’t avoid the matter of tribalism. “You have friends in your life, goyisha friends, and they come and they go,” notes Deborah, played perfectly to type by Liz Larsen, under Teddy Bergman’s meticulous direction. “But your Jewish friends, that’s your community.” Yet “Birthright” ultimately underlines how much further many younger Jews have gone than their parents and grandparents, who often learned to assimilate out of necessity or fear, to prioritize the concerns of others.That’s certainly the case for Izzy, who becomes a pro-Palestine advocate, adding further tension to her relationship with Chaya, which has become fraught by Part Two, and Alona — another member of the “Birthright Mishpucha,” as the posse nicknames itself early on — who by that point is marrying into a conservative family and moving to Israel.In Part Three, several characters are drawn together by tragedy. Chaya, who has been working for the Obama administration, winds up in a heated debate with Izzy, with both women Googling furiously, and hilariously, to back up their arguments. David Bengali’s projection design also follows the “BirthLeft,” as they call themselves later, on social media to chart their individual progress between reunions.The book-smart Izzy, whose frustration and empathy are nicely conveyed in Molly Bernard’s performance, insists that the “apartheid version” of Israel “is the one that actually exists in reality.” Chaya, who is more glamorous and more pragmatic, both qualities captured by Zoë Winters, counters, “Zionism has always meant a million different things. It’s not only…this Messianic authoritarian horror show…For most American Jews it still means Liberal Zionism, two states, equal rights for everyone, and maybe that’s a pipe dream at this point.”However, “Birthright” isn’t defined solely by disagreements of this nature. What makes the play most powerful is the variety of fascinating characters Mr. Spector has crafted, and how their journeys and the interaction between them are shaped by cultural dynamics within and outside their shared ethnic group. Alona feels the most immediate connection to Israel, and Molly Ranson relays her growing conviction.Noah, who becomes a successful journalist, strives to understand every side of an issue while lashing out at what he sees as hypocrisy; Eli Gelb manages to make his screeds as enjoyable as his wisecracks. Lev is similarly thoughtful, though his searching is more spiritual than purely intellectual, and Hale Appleman gives him a disarming gentleness. Emerson, a struggling rock musician played by a wry Nate Mann, seems the least interested in matters of the soul, until a late twist that’s at once funny and deeply poignant.Eli Gelb and Zoë Winters in ‘Birthright.’ Emilio MadridMr. Spector won the Tony Award for best revival of a play last year, for “Eureka Day,” a splendid satire focused on a progressive private school that had premiered off-Broadway six years before that. With any luck, “Birthright” will also make it to Broadway, and more quickly, because it’s an even better play and, at this juncture, a more important one.

‘Birthright’ Examines Modern Jewish Identity, With Fearless, Powerful Force

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