Last Jews standing: Comedy and conviction in Kabul

Vaudeville meets Torah in New Jewish Theatre’s latest play

GERRY KOWARSKY, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT

Published July 28, 2025

The last word of the title is surprising in “Two Jews Walk Into a War…” The opening words suggest the last one will be “bar” and that a joke will follow. Playwright Seth Rozin thwarts only the first of these expectations. “War” is not the word we anticipate, but many jokes do follow.

The play is delightful and thought-provoking in the excellent production by the New Jewish Theatre.

A unique setting: Kabul’s dwindling Jewish community

The action takes place in the recent past in a nearly abandoned synagogue in Kabul, Afghanistan. Gunfire is so common in the war-torn city that it gets no response from Ishaq and Zeblyan, the last surviving Jews in the country.

They have come together to mourn the death of their friend, Yakob. In his brief will, he bequeaths them the responsibility of maintaining the synagogue and continuing their traditions. “The future of Afghan Jewry itself depends on you,” Yakob tells them. The problem with this bequest is that Ishaq and Zeblyan hate each other. Quarreling is much easier for them than cooperating.

The play is based on a true story. Playwright Rozin read a 2002 article in the New York Times about the last two Jews in Afghanistan. Like their counterparts in the play, they were embroiled in a feud. Rozin borrowed this situation but did not try to portray the real people in his play.

Conflict and comedy: The power of vaudeville humor

On the first page of the text, the play is called “a vaudeville.” Ishaq and Zeblyan are descendants of the great vaudeville comedy teams. Their squabbling is a hoot in their repeated efforts to top each other with escalating abuse.

The play is very funny, but it is not frivolous. Ideas worth pondering come out of the characters’ struggle to think of a way to rebuild their Jewish community. They arrive at a plan that requires them to go through the Torah in its entirety. This deep dive into Jewish law leads to spirited conversations on the meaning of passages in the Torah (including ones about sex) and God’s expectations of the Jewish people. These provocative discussions are adroitly integrated with the comedy.

Strong performances bring characters to life

Gary Glasgow as Ishaq and Chuck Winning as Zeblyan are splendid individually and as a team. They give their characters distinct personalities. Winning’s Zeblyan is assertive and worldly; Glasgow’s Ishaq is sensitive and scholarly.

The actors are highly responsive to each other both emotionally and physically. At first, their movement reflects the impatience of rivals who throw everything they have into their competition. Their behavior evolves as they work together on their plan.

Lily Tomasic’s scenic design positions the synagogue in one corner of the black box theater. The set and the props supervised by Katie Orr offer a variety of places for the action. Co-directors Rebekah Skallet and Aaron Sparks use this flexibility to add visual interest to the conversational play.

Michele Friedman Siler’s costumes are exactly right for the characters and their circumstances. Kareem Deanes’s sound design includes appropriate music between scenes as well as the sound effects needed within scenes. The sound and Michael Sullivan’s lighting provide the requisite surprise when explosions rock the synagogue. The fight coordinator is John Wilson.

The characters’ dream of reviving their Jewish community is quixotic at best, but their joint undertaking reaches a moving conclusion that finds an apt parallel between the end of their journey and the end of the Torah.