The article traces the production and reception of Love as Strong as Death, a dramatization of the Song of Songs that was performed in Mandatory Palestine in the years 1940–42 by a group of Yemenite Jewish actors. We argue that the tensions between the actors’ amateur status and their image as embodying a long-lost Biblical heritage were emblematic of the inherent contradictions within the hegemonic Ashkenazi Zionist discourse and the Orientalist perception of the role of Yemenite Jews in it. By exploring both Yemenite and Ashkenazi voices in and around the production, we analyse how the stage, the theatre hall and the written press all served as contested sites regarding the participation of non-European Jews in Hebrew theatre and culture. In the paper's conclusion, we demonstrate how Love as Strong as Death anticipated later debates in Israeli theatre about the place of Mizrahi Jews on stage and in the auditorium.

中文翻译：

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“为什么我们的也门兄弟受到侮辱？”：爱如死亡般强烈，作为米兹拉希在以色列剧院演出的前传

文章追溯了爱如死般坚强，一群也门犹太演员于 1940-42 年在托管巴勒斯坦地区演出的《雅歌》的戏剧作品。我们认为，演员的业余身份和他们体现失落已久的圣经遗产的形象之间的紧张关系，象征着霸权的德系犹太复国主义话语和东方主义者对也门犹太人在其中的角色的看法之间的内在矛盾。通过探索也门人和阿什肯纳兹人在制作过程中和周围的声音，我们分析了舞台、剧院大厅和书面媒体如何成为非欧洲犹太人参与希伯来戏剧和文化的争议场所。在论文的结论中，我们展示了如何爱如死亡般强烈预计后来以色列剧院将就米兹拉希犹太人在舞台和礼堂中的地位展开辩论。