Shmuel Rodensky

Shmuel Rodensky was born in Smorgon, Russian Empire,^[b] in 1902.^[2][6] During World War I he fled to Ukraine, but was expelled from the country during the Russian Revolution.^[1] He then traveled to Poland, entered Hamburg, Germany, on a forged Polish passport, and finally immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1924.^[1][2]

In his early years in Mandatory Palestine, Rodensky was employed in draining swamps, field work, and construction.^[1][2] He studied at the studio of drama at the Eretz Israel Theatre in Tel Aviv and performed with a number of theatre companies between 1928 and 1948, including the Eretz Israel Theatre, Hakumkum (The Kettle), and Hamatate (The Broom).^[2] In 1949 he responded to a newspaper advertisement seeking new performers at the Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv and became one of that theatre's principal players.^[1][6] He was known as "the Israeli Laurence Olivier".^[7]

At Habima, Rodensky performed a wide variety of dramatic roles,^[2] including Iago in Othello and the cardinal in The Deputy.^[1] He also performed satire, as in Ephraim Kishon's 1953 play Yiddishpiel.^[8]

Rodensky formed several artistic partnerships. He and another Habima actor named Shmuel, Shmuel Segal, created a Yiddish-speaking comedic team called The Shmuliks;^[9] they were later joined by a third Habima actor, Shmuel Atzmon. The Three Shmuliks performed in Israel and abroad.^[10][11] In 1985, The Three Shmuliks were part of the Israeli delegation of actors, writers, and public figures invited by the Polish government to the 35th-anniversary celebration of the Yiddish State Theater in Warsaw.^[10][12] With Segal and another Habima actor named Goldenberg, Rodensky was also a member of Die Kleine Mentshalach ("The Little People"), a Yiddish-language trio that performed dramatic readings of works by Sholem Aleichem.^[11][13] Rodensky formed a third, satirical trio with Jacob Timen and Esther Gamlielit of Hamatate (The Broom Theater).^[14]

Rodensky first appeared on screen in the 1935 Israeli film Zot Hi Ha'aretz (This is the Land).^[6] He was cast as Reb Pinchas in the Israeli film Shnei Kuni Lemel (The Flying Matchmaker), which was the Israeli entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1966.^[22] Other notable roles included Tevye in the 1968 Israeli film Tevye and His Seven Daughters,^[6] Simon Wiesenthal in the 1974 Anglo-German film The Odessa File, and Jethro in the BBC television miniseries Moses the Lawgiver. Rodensky appeared in other film and television roles in West Germany and Switzerland.^[6][23][24]

Rodensky received numerous honors and awards in Israel and West Germany.^[2] In 1983 he received the Federal Service Cross from the Federal Republic of Germany,^[25] and the Rudolf Küstermeier Prize in Tel Aviv, the latter recognizing his contribution to "the interpretation of Israeli culture in West Germany".^[26]

Rodensky was named a Worthy Citizen of Tel Aviv in 1982. He received the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement in 1983 and the Meyer Margalit Prize in 1984.^[2]

President of Germany Gustav Heinemann praised Rodensky as "Israel's greatest ambassador of reconciliation".^[27]

Rodensky met his wife, stage actress Raya Nura Shein, when both were studying at the Eretz Israel Theatre. They married in 1928.^[2]

Rodensky died of a heart attack in Tel Aviv on 18 July 1989. Notwithstanding his fame, he died impoverished.^[27]

In 2001–2002 the Tel Aviv Municipality affixed a memorial plaque to Rodensky's home at 1 Rachel Street as part of its effort to honor artists and intellectuals who had resided in the city.^[28]

Sources:^[29][30][31]

Rodensky's recordings include:^[32]