Act I

This is the story of a dissident rabbi along with members of his synagogue who, in search of a fuller, more relevant Judaism, decide to immigrate to Israel via ship. Each member relates, in the manner of Chaucer's broadly diverse group of characters relating a series of personal tales in which the pilgrims argue, interrupt one another, or comment on the tales being told, as they travel to their common goal. One other rabbi, the ship's Jewish Chaplain, restless, hedonistic, desirous of something more, takes a cynical view of his righteous-minded colleague.

The story's dramatic effect occurs when the ship's billionaire and visionary passenger, himself a product of mixed (patrilineal) marriage, overhears the two rabbis conversing one night and persuades the emigrating rabbi to aid migration of thousands of American Jews to Israel. The plan goes awry. The renegade rabbi's true motive for immigration is revealed.Th e other migrating Jews, their motives for immigration disrupted, followed by second thoughts regarding aliyah (migration to Israel). The Jewish Chaplain is transformed and...

Rabbi Silverman, a graduate of UCLA, was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Religious Institute of Religion in 1971. He earned his Doctorate of Hebrew Letters from HUC-JIR in 1981. He pastored congregations in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Newport Beach, CA. From 1977-2000, Rabbi Silverman served as Jewish Prison Chaplain for the California Department of Corrections. He has authored various magazine articles, and co-authored for State Corrections both an Ethics Curriculum ("Where All Faiths Meet") and a Passover Haggadah ("The Prisoners Exodus Story"). Retired from prison chaplaincy and extensive world travel aboard ships, he retrospects full-time while residing with Roxie in Napa, and Palm Desert, CA where he teaches as a faculty member of Temple Har-El, Palm Springs, and also serves as a Hospice Chaplain.