Paper short abstract:

Sammy Gronemann is a key figure among German-Jewish Immigrants to Palestine (Yekkes). His lasting contributions to the Hebrew theater also mark him as one of the most successful contributors to Israeli culture. Gronemann's drama serves a vessel to continue a broken German humanist tradition in Palestine.

Paper long abstract:

Biblical death penalty becomes practically inapplicable through talmudic legislation, though it is supported by the authority of the Torah. Consequently, death penalty remains a potential means of punishment, at least theoret- ically so, constituting a motif in the dramatic texts of the German-Jewish Zionist, lawyer and writer Sammy Gronemann (1875-1952). Following his immigration to Tel Aviv in 1936, difficulties in the application of this topos and of »Talion« in general become apparent in his dramatic works, particularly with regard to Germany. In face of the emerging horrors of the Shoah, Gronemann struggled to preserve the humanist-talmudic moment of the suspension of death penalty. He did so despite Zionist attempts to return to the biblical origins of Judaism, with its implied denial of cultural achievement in the Diaspora.