Dinah Shtettin (a.k.a. Dina Stettin and Dinah Feinman; c. 1862—1946) was an

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-born

Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...

actress. She was the second wife of

Jacob Adler Jacob Pavlovich Adler (Yiddish: יעקבֿ פּאַװלאָװיטש אַדלער; born Yankev P. Adler; February 12, 1855 – April 1, 1926)IMDB biography was a Jewish actor and star of Yiddish theater, first in Odessa, and later in London and ...

, with whom she had a daughter, Celia in 1889; the couple divorced shortly thereafter. Despite acrimony between them, Shtettin went on to perform with Adler's troupe on the American Yiddish stage.Judith Laikin Elkin, "Celia Adler" in ''Encyclopedia'' on the Jewish Women's Archive website
Retrieved 10 March 2015.

Early life

The daughter of

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lo ...

, Shtettin had a strict

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

upbringing in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She began her theatrical career as a teenager in the chorus of Israel Grodner's London troupe in the mid-1880s, eventually winning small parts and joining the troupe when the Grodners went to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Jacob Adler, then a widower, quickly took a liking to her. At this time, he was already involved with Jenny ("Jennya") Kaiser, whom he had become romantically involved with while his first wife, Sonya, was still alive and with whom he shared a son, Charles.Jacob Pavlovich Adler, ''A Life on the Stage: A Memoir'', translated and with commentary by Lulla Rosenfeld, Knopf, New York, 1999, , pp. 261, 302, 303. Dinah Shtettin's

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

approved neither of theater nor of Adler, but did little to restrict his daughter's wishes. He stated, "Let it be a divorce tomorrow, but marriage it must be!" The couple married in 1887, after which Adler left with the troupe to travel to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. After a return to London for seven months, he once again journeyed to New York in 1889 and was shortly followed by Dinah. Their daughter Celia was born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

later that year. Shtettin divorced Adler when he ran off with Sara Heine two years later in 1891. Shtettin married actor Siegmund Feinman and together they raised Celia, who took her stepfather's surname along with her father's, eventually becoming a leading actress on the Yiddish stage. Shtettin and Feinman's daughter, Lillie Feinman married Yiddish actor

Ludwig Satz Ludwig Satz (18 February 1891 – 31 August 1944) was an actor in Yiddish theater and film, best known for his comic roles. A 1925 ''New York Times'' article singles him out as the greatest Yiddish comic actor of the time. He was born in L ...

Stage career

Dinah Shtettin's

debut was in the role of Fanya, the villain's daughter, in

Jacob Gordin Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (Yiddish: יעקב מיכאַילאָװיטש גאָרדין; May 1, 1853 – June 11, 1909) was a Russian-born American playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and ...

's ''

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

'' (1892). Commercially unsuccessful at the time, this first play of Gordin's is now considered a landmark in the evolution of Yiddish theater.

References

External links

Adler Family Papers.
P-890;

American Jewish Historical Society The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and ...

, Boston, MA and New York, NY. 1862 births 1946 deaths Year of birth unknown Actresses from London English Jews English people of Polish-Jewish descent English stage actresses Yiddish theatre performers {{Jewish-hist-stub