Towards the reading stage of the text, as part of the preparations for the new play in which he stars in the "Happy Hearts" theater, Yinon Davidian begins to shine.
Orr spreads across his face as he takes over the pages handed to him by the director, Izo Leibowitz, and integrates in the reading with the other actors who came to the rehearsals tonight, in a rented apartment in a residential building in Elad.
He waits patiently for his passages, then raises his hands theatrically and repeats professionally the text, which he has memorized carefully in recent months.
Smiling and happy, he recites the words, conveying to those present in the room his feelings as an actor.
Clearly this is his day, in one production with professional actors, full set and special costumes.
• • •
All his life, Yinon (16), an ultra-Orthodox boy with Down Syndrome from Rosh HaAyin, dreamed of standing on a theater stage.
Recently, especially for him, in collaboration with the ultra-Orthodox actor Ofer Halevi, the play "Bar Mitzvah Time", which has run in recent months in schools, organized holidays and cultural events for the religious sector, in which he plays a leading role.
And he's excited, just blooming.
His parents, Dan and Anat, initially feared what was expected of their son when the initiative reached the stage of action, but tonight they are happy to be deceived.
Inon joins rehearsals as a veteran actor.
Familiar with his role, gives space to other players, and even happy to improvise, when needed.
"I dream a lot at night about all sorts of nice things," he smiles.
"Recently, for example, I dreamed that I was in the Temple. I also dreamed that I was with the righteous like the 'Son of a Living Man.' Night and day - and lo and behold, I was able to fulfill it.
"I like to sing at weddings, to make the bride and groom happy, but also at bar mitzvahs and everywhere. I like to have fun, to make people happy. When we have an event at a yeshiva, Beit Shai in Bnei Brak, everyone jumps on me to sing. I compose verses from Psalms, and sometimes I I play and sing with my own blessings, which I compose. "
Ofer Halevi: "He is a star, you can't miss it."
When he was born, Yinon's parents realized that raising a child with Down Syndrome would present them with a great challenge in life.
"At first, Anat was in complete shock, like all mothers who receive such a line," says the father, Dan.
"We did not know in advance. We did do tests, which said he had something, but they did not show for sure what and did not tell us that it was, so the surprise was complete. It took Anat almost a year to recover. I responded more practically, I directed it more to the question of what to do. "Now, we went to Rabbi David Batzri, to ask him if he should continue to bring children, because Anat was very worried. The rabbi said that he should definitely continue, not stop, and that, from heaven, every other child who came would improve Yinon's condition. And that is exactly what happened."
Anat: "After Yinon, we gave birth to two more children, and indeed his condition has only improved since then. You see a child who functions, speaks and sings - and now even plays in a play."
"When Shinon was born we were told to treat him like a completely normal child, like the rest of our children."
With parents Dan and Anat Davidian, Photo: The late Miri Tzachi
Dan and Anat have been repentant for 29 years.
He is an engineer and reserve officer in the Navy, and she is a municipal employee.
The two are parents to Shiva, Yinon is their fifth child.
"When Shinon was born," says Dan, "we were told to treat him like a completely normal child, like the rest of our children. We accepted it in a complementary way. When you take into account that everything is created, we know that everything is good and that everything comes from love."
With Yinon they went to the greatest rabbis, including the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the late Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Kadouri.
Dan: "We did a 'tour' with him at all the rabbis, and everyone congratulated him, told us that with God's help there will be great salvations with him. The truth is that we see it in an amazing way on Yinon."
Anat: "Yinon functions at a very high level, studying in a yeshiva."
Yinon: "I study in a large yeshiva. A lot of Gemara is studied there, and also Halachot and Rashi, a lot of things.
Every day there are other actions.
We make works, play songs, build things and also draw a lot. "
Every evening, Yinon returns from the yeshiva in Bnei Brak to Rosh HaAyin, and during the trip he weaves his dreams - about which he tells his parents at home.
"I think a lot, and I have a lot of ideas. I saw the actor Ofer and the other friends in the movies and plays, and I really wanted to join them. Play myself in the play alongside them. They are cannons."
Ofer Halevi is a veteran ultra-Orthodox actor, also a convert, who heads the "Simchai Lev" theater, an ultra-Orthodox theater that runs invested plays in ultra-Orthodox cities.
Halevi knew Yinon when he volunteered with his actors at the school where he studied in Bnei Brak.
"I saw in front of me a cute boy who wanted to go on stage and participate, and indeed we shared him in a few plays. I did not think anything beyond that happened, until one day I got a call from his father, Dan, who told me: 'Lennon has a dream to play as an actor To him. What do you think? '
"At first I treated the offer with skepticism. I met with the director and playwright Izo Leibowitz, we thought together to do a small piece with Inon, no more, and we built him a role. But when we invited him to see how he handles the role, we found him very talented Then we decided to build something new for him, with a whole story that would also be related to it, and convey a statement in the play: How can a person succeed against all odds.
"The message of the show is that if you believe in yourself, you can do anything. How did Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach say? 'All a child needs is one adult to believe in him.' "
"He's a star. You can't miss it."
Yinon and the ultra-Orthodox actor Ofer Halevi, Photo: The late Miri Tzachi
• • •
Director Leibowitz, a convert himself who became a Breslav follower, is a graduate of the Nissan Nativ acting school.
In the past, he directed many plays (including the successful comedy "I'm here because of my wife"), and founded the "Awakening Theater," in which he wrote and directed dozens of plays for schools and teens.
Leibowitz says that the idea of putting on a show with an actor with Down Syndrome sprouted in him a long time ago.
"About three years ago I started meeting with a child with Down Syndrome from Beit Shemesh, regardless of Lennon, to develop a play on the subject, but with that child it did not work out. God has given him the high level he is at, to communicate, and he remembers texts - and even corrects us. Talent and seriousness. "
Director Izo Leibowitz,
Halevi: "He read the Torah at his bar mitzvah. A child like him who reads the Torah is rare. And as mentioned, what still lit us up in his story was the possibility of passing a value statement on stage through him."
Dan: "For us, the show revolves around the theme of willpower, and our goal is to encourage other parents to invest all they can in these children, and of course in ordinary children. Other than that, it's of course a show that conveys a message of joy. , And all the children of his kind, are always happy and make the whole house happy.
"And another thing, the play is actually a bridge. Plays in general are the best means of connecting the public in the country, religious and secular. There is a story here with a common denominator, which is found in all publics, and it connects everyone."
Anat: "Of course, Yinon was disappointed that the show, which was supposed to run a year and a half ago, got stuck for so long because of the corona. He kept asking me, when can we come up with the show? But during this time, alone with himself, he would play and compose "He also filmed a video that went up on the Hidbraut website, in which he calls on viewers to be happy despite the situation."
Inon, how did you go through the corona period?
"I continued to go to the yeshiva, and I also composed a lot of songs, a number of psalms. I play a lot in the organ, and compose songs in the process. I also filmed a message to the people of Israel during this period, to make happy those who could not leave home, let them be sad.
The plot of "Bar Mitzvah Time," tailor-made for Yinon, tells the story of a pair of actors who are tasked with preparing a play about a child with Down Syndrome - but one of them decides to leave just two weeks before the premiere.
Yinon plays a boy who wants to help his friend, who lacks money, to make a bar mitzvah film, and turns to Ofer Halevi - who is actually the actor who gets stuck without a partner in the show.
"When Shinon comes to him, Ofer actually tells him: 'You don't need me, I need you,'" director Leibowitz explains.
"On another level in the play, one of the characters, of Dad in my role, a son is born with Down Syndrome, and he sinks into a terrible depression. Yinon sits with him and strengthens him, reveals a different face to him in the children of the syndrome, "For the Bar Mitzvah film, everything starring Yinon - that's what the audience sees in front of him on stage. We came up with something exciting and fascinating."
The cast, which also includes actors Yitzhak Kaplan and Eliezer Lipa Shimon, met with Yinon several times for rehearsals, even before the Corona.
Halevy: "We already had some invitations and dates, but the Corona stuck everything. After the closures we started performing with the show, and we already have new dates for the shows in the coming weeks in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva, Holon and more. Our intention is to make people look at my children "Down Syndrome Boys in a Normal Eye. There are a lot of passages in the play where Yinon says, 'I'm normal, I'm like you.'"
Leibowitz: "Usually, in shows of this kind you see ordinary children harassing special children. Here it is the opposite: an actor with Down Syndrome plays here, who plays the role of Down Syndrome, and the one who manages to make the show from start to finish - and the audience sees it - this The uniqueness of the show. "
The group sits down again to read.
Yinon reads his text slowly and in accentuation, highlights the quotes of the questions, and reads firmly sentences that indicate exclamation marks.
Leibowitz emphasizes that he was careful not to write short or lighter texts due to his condition.
"I completely rewrote the show in a completely normal way, to see how Inon would meet the challenge. When I saw that he met all the requirements, I left the pieces as they are, without changing anything."
Inon, did you have a hard time learning the role?
"Not at all. Everything was easy for me. At first they gave me the script and I learned it by heart, and after that there were changes, and I was able to learn them too."
Leibowitz: "In the end, we must not forget that there are professional actors around Yinon, and they will direct him in case he forgets a sentence or gets confused on stage, which can happen to older and more experienced actors. We constantly direct him."
Yitzhak Kaplan plays Yinon's friend.
"In the plot of the play, I am constantly upset, and Winon comes to make me happy and encouraged," he says.
"And precisely from the place I most expected, from his place, he manages to encourage me. In the play I play a kind of his mentor, so to speak, and in the end he is the one who helps me."
Halevy: "This play expresses the character of our theater, through which one of the main messages we convey is acceptance of the different. We have another play, 'One against All', in which I say: 'All the wars in the world take place because we do not know how to respect the other's choice. Our motto is to accept differences of opinion, and the play with Yinon arrives just in time, as another lever to convey this message. The person as he looks. "
• • •
The Simchi Lev Theater has been operating in the ultra-Orthodox sector for two decades, under the direction of Ofer Halevi.
The theater travels between cultural halls and schools, according to invitations from around the country.
Rehearsals take place in a modest apartment in Elad, which was rented for the benefit of the staff.
The costumes are also stored there.
The cast of "Simchai Lev", which employs about 20 people who work for pay, runs several plays that are staged in the ultra-Orthodox "hyderim" and in halls in the ultra-Orthodox areas, on Hanukkah or on the week of Passover and Sukkot, and also during the summer holidays.
Halevi, married and a father of nine, lives in Elad, and in addition to the theater he runs, he also serves as a synagogue rabbi in his locality.
As a secularist, before repenting, he studied at Beit Zvi, and upon graduation, he staged the play "Here Across the Road," based on his personal story, at the Teatronto Festival.
On television he starred in the telenovela "Gold of Fools" and in the series "Line 300" and "Florentine".
"We started producing the plays at the time as part of the organization's in return 'Teshuvah' Values', with a group called 'Hoppe Hula', when the plays were intended for a secular battle with religion," says Halevi.
"None of us believed that 20 years later, there would be a theater in the ultra-Orthodox sector. It was a bit assigned, and at first they would tear up our ads because they did not know how to eat us. ".
There have always been performances in the ultra-Orthodox sector, no?
"There were things, but never anything professional. There were no professionals and graduates of acting schools. We, who would have repented and already played in the previous world, brought something new to the sector."
When did you start performing for a truly ultra-Orthodox audience?
"At first the plays were aimed at non-religious audiences, but suddenly we noticed that the halls, intended for secular audiences, were blown up to the brim with ultra-Orthodox people.
"I felt I had an opportunity here to convey messages that I believe in through my acting. I went to Rabbi David Abuhatzira from Nahariya, who told me: 'Continue what you started, and even increase what you do today.' "Sound and scenery, everything included in it. Over the years we have grown, and we now have at least ten shows that we run with, and I estimate that a total of a quarter of a million people have watched them over the years."
Who are your actors in the theater? After all, there is no ultra-Orthodox school for acting.
Halevy: "True, and we really have the majority with an answer. There are very few players who are really ultra-Orthodox, by birth. I have only one such person, David Godik, an ultra-Orthodox from Beit Shemesh, a teacher in the city, who decided one day to fulfill his dream as an actor. Very good, because he had natural acting skills, and has since participated as an actor in our shows.
"I can tell you that there is a certain demand among the ultra-Orthodox public for learning to play. We are soon establishing an ultra-Orthodox acting school in Elad, which will be intended for teenagers, a completely professional school. It will appeal to both men and women in complete separation .
"The ultra-Orthodox public today is very open to accepting such things. They understood that art is part of Jewish culture, and that through art it is possible to make a statement in a way that is no less good than a lecture - if not better."
Halevy says that even rabbis come to watch plays at the Simchi Lev Theater.
"There are quite a few rabbis who come and tell me: 'I also deserve a few hours to take a breath, laugh and disconnect.'"
Halevy and the rest of the team are fighting to get recognition and budgets from the Ministry of Culture.
"At the moment we are not receiving any budgets, just a little from the Lottery, but we are in serious negotiations with the Ministry of Culture, which will recognize us as a theater. I hope we will soon be able to receive budgets that will allow us to act. Does not currently refer to religious theaters as another theater.
"When we come to perform at the Heichal Hatarbut in Petah Tikva, we are asked, 'When are you finishing?' "For performances in the periphery, and I hope that all those involved will be able to get funding for this theater."
Dan: "Before Ofer and his theater arrived, there was a drought in performances for the sector. They brought with them a big leap in level. Their performances are amazing, with plays written superbly. We do not want them to fall, we need them. And not just on holidays, but throughout the year. We appeal to the Ministry of Culture and the various municipalities, who will give them budgets so that they can present them to the ultra-Orthodox public. "
Halevy: "What you see today in our plays, is without anyone's budget. I personally take out loans of NIS 200,000 each time, to take the best professionals to the plays. Working with us, for example, Asi Tal, who does the festivals "And the plays of the confused Yuval, and also the talented director Tidhar Issachar, and these are things that cost a lot. I definitely expect them to help us."
Who is your audience today?
"We appeal to all audiences, and are very adaptable. Of course we perform mainly to an ultra-Orthodox audience, but we also perform in front of a national-religious and even secular audience."
Eliezer Lipa Shimon: "The novelty of our theater is that for the first time in the sector these are professional plays, with acting school graduates. The ultra-Orthodox audience was not exposed to such a level. The films and plays have been made by amateurs to this day. We work here as in any professional theater, and the audience gets something of quality. "
Halevi: "On Hanukkah, we 'shell' even more, at the level of the set and the actors, because for us it is a strong response to the religious public in front of all the festivals. I try to convey to the public that Jewish culture does not fall short of everything that happens outside."
What about the audience of ultra-Orthodox women?
"At the same time, we also have a women's theater, which runs plays with only a cast. I also run it, with the artistic director being Nitai Simcha. We have, for example, a women's show called 'Don't Exaggerate,' which Nitai wrote and directed. And I hope we have the budgets to do that. "
The day after rehearsals in Elad, the entire team met again in the hall in Rosh HaAyin, this time back "on wet" - a general rehearsal just before the show ran.
Everyone puts on the costumes and starts back.
A few minutes pass, and Winon takes the stage.
His role begins.
"Look at him," Mother Anat whispers to me.
"He's in the clouds. Look how he blooms."
"Ask me for forgiveness," Yinon says, in his role, to the actor next to him, "but sorry from the heart, from within."
He wears a lavish robe, wears a royal crown and speaks with confidence, just as is expected of him in his role at the moment.
When his part ends, he greets the imaginary audience in front of him: "May you always be happy, may you always smile. I do it all the time. Give a smile, all for the best."
He comes down from the stage, straight to his mother, smiles and tells us, "I can not believe it's happening. I have been waiting so long to fulfill my dream. Do you believe, mother?"
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