postage stamps issued jointly by Israel and Romania. Zionism Goldfaden had an on-again off-again relationship with Zionism. Some of his earliest poetry was Zionist avant la lettre and one of his last plays was written in Hebrew; several of his plays were implicitly or explicitly Zionist (Shulamith set in Jerusalem, Mashiach Tzeiten?! ending with its protagonists abandoning New York for Palestine); he served as a delegate from Paris to the World Zionist Congress in 1900. Still, he spent most of his life (and set slightly more than half of his plays) in the Pale of Settlement and in the adjoining Jewish areas in Romania, and when he left it was never to go to Palestine, but to cities such as New York, London or Paris. This might be understandable when the number of his potential Jewish spectators in Palestine in his time was very small. Works Plays Sources disagree about the dates (and even the names) of some of Goldfaden's plays. The titles here represent YIVO Yiddish>English transliteration, though other variants exist. Di Mumeh Soseh (Aunt Susie) wr. 1869 Di Tzvey Sheynes (The Two Neighbours) wr. 1869 (possibly the same as Di Sheynes 1877 Polyeh Shikor (Polyeh, the Drunkard) 1871 Anonimeh Komedyeh (Anonymous Comedy) 1876 Di Rekruten (The Recruits) 1876, 1877 Dos Bintl Holtz (The Bundle of Sticks) 1876 Fishl der balegole un zayn knecht Sider (Fishel the Carter and His Servant Sider) 1876 Di Velt a Gan-Edn (The World and Paradise) 1876 Der Farlibter Maskil un der Oifgeklerter Hosid (The Infatuated Philosopher and the Enlightened Hasid) 1876 Der Shver mitn eydem (Father-in-Law and Son-in-Law) 1876 Di Bobeh mit dem Eynikel (The Grandmother and the Granddaughter) 1876, 1879 The Desolate Isle, Yiddish translation of a play by August von Kotzebue, 1876 Di Intrigeh oder Dvosye di pliotkemahern (The Intrigue or Dvoisie Intrigued) 1876, 1877 A Gloz Vaser (A Glass of Water) 1877 Hotye-mir un Zaytye-mir (Leftovers) 1877 Shmendrik, oder Di komishe Chaseneh (Schmendrik or The Comical Wedding) 1877, 1879 Shuster un Shnayder (Shoemaker and Tailor) 1877 Di Kaprizneh Kaleh, oder Kaptsnzon un Hungerman (The Capricious Bride or Pauper-son and Hunger-man) 1877 presumably the same play as Di kaprizneh Kaleh-Moyd (The Capricious Bridemaid) 1887 Yontl Shnayder (Yontl the Tailor) 1877 Vos tut men? (What Did He Do?) 1877 Di Shtumeh Kaleh (The Mute Bride) 1877, 1887 Di Tsvey Toybe (The Two Deaf Men) 1877 Der Gekoyfter Shlof (The Purchased Sleep) 1877