Kol Nidre

Joseph Goldstein wants to be a rabbi when he grows up. His classmate, Jack Grossman, whose father is rich, hates all the other kids and thinks they hate him. The two boys almost come to blows over Jenny Dorfman, the daughter of a poor, but devout man. However, Jenny gets them to shake hands, and they all make a vow to remain loyal to each other. Ten years later, Jack and Jenny, in love with each other, have just finished college, while Joseph has just graduated from Yeshiva College and is about to become the rabbi of Jenny's father's synagogue. When Jenny's father Moishe sees Jenny with Jack, he rebukes her for running around with a loafer and mentions Joseph as a real match for her. She replies that American children today do what they want; that she does not want to be a rabbi's wife; that she likes Jack because he is rich and has a nice car; and that the sooner Jews assimilate, the better it will be for them. When Jenny tells Jack about the argument with her father, he suggests that they elope and get married. She accedes to his wishes and afterward has to hide the marriage from her family. After some urging, Jenny's mother persuades her to join them to hear Joseph speak at the synagogue. His lecture relates incidents in Jewish history to the problem of the current younger generation of Jews who deny their heritage. After the talk, Joseph speaks with Jenny and expresses his love for her, but she stops him. Later, when Moishe admonishes Jenny for meeting Jack in the park, Jenny, who now suspects that Jack is seeing other women, admits that they are married and that she is pregnant. Moishe rages at her and, after sending her out of their house and saying that she is dead to them, has a stroke. Two years later, while Jack cavorts for two days with another woman, Jenny faces dispossession for failure to pay rent and cannot buy milk for her baby. When Jack returns, they argue and separate. Meanwhile, the doctor has told Joseph that if Moishe, who repeatedly calls out deliriously for a wedding, sees Jenny, perhaps his health will be restored. On the eve of Yom Kippur , the Day of Atonement, Jenny hears the choir at the synagogue sing the traditional Kol Nidre prayer and asks forgiveness for the sin she is about to commit. She is then saved from killing herself and her baby by a policeman, after which a social worker, Miss Brown, is assigned to help her. After Jack, in a drunken state, kills himself and his lover in a car accident, Miss Brown tells Joseph about Jenny, and Joseph takes over her treatment. Jenny recovers and accepts Joseph's proposal, then goes to visit her father. Jenny asks for forgiveness, and Moishe, recovering, gives it.