A Husband for Rachel

A Husband for Rachel is a one-act play by Bertha Goudvis. A lightly satirical play that deals with the Jewish custom of the shadchan or matchmaker. Rachel is introduced to Joseph who eventually wins her hand, but when his shop burns down (in which he loses everything) the assumption is that he did it one purpose, so as to collect the payout for insurance.

The original text
First published in the collection The Way the Money Goes and Other Plays (Sterling Printing Company, 1925). Also published in Players: A Collection of One-Act Plays (eds Temple Hauptfleisch and Ted Townsend, pub. Academica Publishers, 1987).

Performance history in South Africa
First performed 1917 by the Jewish Guild, and a standard of amateur companies over the years.

Broadcast as TV play by the SABC in the 1970s.

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