The Stolen Torah A Puppet Play written by Dalton Letorney, Chris Serafini, Kevin Nardone, and Adam Dzwonkowski

Characters: Abraham - Chris Serafini Deborah - Kevin Nardone God - Dalton Letorney Robber - No speaking part Israelites - Adam Dzwonkowski, Kevin Nardone and Dalton Letorney Setting: A village in the Fertile Crescent; Upper Nubia; Lower Egypt; 1000 B.C. Synopsis: The sacred Torah is stolen by a Canaanite. Because of this, Deborah encourages and starts a war against the Canaanites. Abraham searches for the Torah and finds it with God. In the end, God speaks to everyone that it was a test to see what would happen if something valuable was stolen from them. The Israelites learned a valuable lesson to not take revenge, but to get all the facts, and then forgive.

Beginning (Story begins with Abraham speaking to a crowd of Israelites) Abraham: Good morning, Israel! Israelites: (In unison) Good morning Abraham! Abraham: Today is the day that I read aloud to you a passage from the sacred Torah! (Abraham picks up Torah and begins reading) Abraham: From the book of Genesis, I will give you many descendants, and some of them will be kings (Before Abraham can even finish the first sentence of the passage, a robber in black with a mask swoops down from out of nowhere and steals the Torah) Abraham: No! Israelites: (Gasped) Abraham: Somebody stop him! No Its too late! That horrible person stole the Torah! (Crowd starts yelling and running around frantically, then a woman named Deborah walks up and firmly pushes Abraham aside) Deborah: Everybody, stop! Listen up! (Crowd quiets down and looks up at Deborah) Deborah: Alright. I think that the person who stole this sacred piece of our religious beliefs was a Canaanite! Whos with me? (Israelites raised their hands and started yelling in agreement) Deborah: Good, then. Lets get back at these Canaanites and start a war against them! Israelites: Yeah, yeah, woo hoo! (Abraham started to get a little unsure of what was going to happen)

Abraham: All right everybody, wait a minute. Do we really have to start a war when we dont even know for sure that a Canaanite has stolen our sacred Torah? Israelites: (In unison) Yep! Deborah: All right everybody! Ignore this smelly little leader. Lets go get revenge on the Canaanites! Israelites: (In unison) Yeah! (The Israelites confidently leave stage with Abraham remaining in middle of stage) Abraham: Oh my God, I hope my people dont really start a war. I could try to command them to cease, but I know for sure that Deborah would beat me up! What do I do? (He pauses for a second) Oh, I know! Ill find the Torah myself! But where to start? (Abraham leaves stage; and background changes to desert) (Abraham comes back onto the stage with a magnifying glass) Abraham: Ive looked for hours but have found nothing! Its gotta be somewhere around me! (Abraham starts searching crazily around the area that he is in, then God comes up from the ground) God: Abraham! Listen to me. I am God. Please search no further. The sacred Torah is safe with me, your amazing, gifted, genious of a God! I am testing your people to see if they will go to drastic measures to get something meaningful back to them. This is what I want you to do. Do not tell your people that I am in posession of your sacred Torah. Keep trying to convince them to refrain from starting a war. I will make sure that Deborah does not beat you up. Abraham: Okay, my Lord.

God: Very well then. Goodbye Abraham. (God flies into air and then drops behind stage, Abraham travels back to his village and sees his people and Deborah carrying weapons) Deborah: Hello Abraham. We are ready to start the war. Abraham: Please dont do this, my people! Deborah: We must. Killing all of the Canaanites is the best thing to do, according to me. Lets go everybody! Israelites: Yeah! Lets go! (Deborah and Israelites leave stage. Fighting sound effects are played. When effects are finished Deborah and Israelites return on stage with severe wounds) Deborah: Wow! We stink at fighting! Israelites: I know! Deborah: Well, how are we going to get our sacred Torah back? (God rises from the ground) God: I will answer that question. Deborah and Israelites: (Gasp) God: I God, am in posession of your sacred Torah. This was a test to see what you would do if something valuable to you was stolen. You have all failed, especially Deborah! Abraham, you have passed my test and are now my most trustworthy friend. (God pauses) I will now give you all your sacred Torah back. Good day everybody, and please be nice and not quick-tojudge. (God leaves, and Torah pops out of ground) Everyone: Wow, we learned a big lesson today!