A Yiddish troupe under Boris Tomashevsky (one of the giants
of Yiddish theatre) performed King Lear.
In the audience was the leading Shakespearean scholar from Columbia
University, Professor Mathers. So
impressed was he (even though he understood no Yiddish) that he asked Nicholas
Murray Butler - president of Columbia University – to host a command performance
of King Lear by the Yiddish Company for faculty.
He asked Tomashevsky. Tomashevsky found that the man who played the
fool was unavailable so he turned down the invitation. He understood how much the fool contributed
to the overall excellence of the play.
Moral: Often it is the small things that count the most.
-Rabbi Meyer Kramer
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