“Steal a Pencil for Me”

The New Recording of an Important Opera Composed by an Assistant Professor in the H. L. Miller Cantorial School

The recording of Steal a Pencil for Me, an opera by composer Gerald Cohen (Assistant Professor, H. L. Miller Cantorial School) and librettist Deborah Brevoort, has just been released on Sono Luminus Recordings.

Steal a Pencil for Me is about one of the Holocaust’s most unusual love stories—between Jaap Polak, a Dutch accountant, and Ina  Soep, the daughter of a wealthy diamond manufacturer—who fell in love while imprisoned in the Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.  Based on their love letters, which were published in a book of the same title, Steal a Pencil for Me  is about the indestructibility of the life spirit and the power of humankind to survive adversity. The opera dramatizes intimate concerns and private dramas alongside the epic horrors of the Holocaust.   

Jaap and Ina survived the war, moved to the United States, and were married for more than 65 years. Gerald Cohen knew them as beloved members of Shaarei Tikvah in Scarsdale, NY, where he serves as cantor. He was inspired to write the opera after hearing their story and reading their letters.

Cantor Cohen writes, “While writing the libretto, Deborah and I met with Jaap and Ina many times. It is a rare privilege to work with the characters of one’s opera as it is being created.”

In 2013, JTS hosted one of the first workshop performances of the complete work, given in celebration of Jaap’s 100th and Ina’s 90th birthdays. Jaap and Ina were both present, and it was a deeply emotional experience both for them and for the performers.

After the performance, Ina said to Deborah, “I don’t know how you did this. You captured my life even though it didn’t happen exactly that way. How did you do that?”

“We listened to you,” Deborah replied.

“Well, that’s my life,” Ina said. “You got it. You captured it.” 

In 2018, the opera had its fully staged premiere production by Opera Colorado in Denver. The new recording features many of the performers from that premiere production.

Cantor Cohen writes: “Deborah and I, and so many others, had the great privilege of knowing Jaap, Ina, and other survivors of the Holocaust, but the generation of survivors is growing old, and soon it will be up to subsequent generations to continue to share and remember. With its tale of everyday survival in the course of the horror of war and imprisonment and its special origins from a deep personal connection with its main characters, we hope that our opera will help to continue to pass on the lessons of that time, the humanity of those who suffered through it, and the memory of those who lost their lives.” 

The opera recording is available for streaming and downloading, and as a CD. More information is available here.