Chap­ter 3: Twelve opens with Moshe reflect­ing on his recent per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al tri­umphs. His mar­riage to Chona has been a turn­ing point, pro­vid­ing him with a renewed sense of opti­mism. One day, while inter­act­ing with Nate, who is dis­man­tling the the­ater’s facade, they have a con­ver­sa­tion that reveals the deep-root­ed strug­gles with­in the com­mu­ni­ty. Moshe lis­tens intent­ly as Nate describes the lack of oppor­tu­ni­ties for Black patrons who seek enter­tain­ment but are often turned away due to seg­re­ga­tion. Inspired by Nate’s words, Moshe con­tem­plates the pos­si­bil­i­ty of open­ing the the­ater to Black per­form­ers. How­ev­er, he is appre­hen­sive about how this deci­sion will be received, espe­cial­ly by Chona, who shares con­cerns about the poten­tial fall­out from their pre­dom­i­nant­ly white audi­ence.

Chona, with her spir­it­ed Amer­i­can char­ac­ter, encour­ages Moshe to chal­lenge soci­etal norms. She dis­miss­es his wor­ries, empha­siz­ing that mon­ey is mon­ey, no mat­ter the col­or of the patrons, and every­one deserves a chance to expe­ri­ence the arts. Her opti­mism and refusal to accept lim­i­ta­tions inspire Moshe to move for­ward with his idea. Encour­aged by Chona’s unwa­ver­ing sup­port, Moshe orga­nizes a per­for­mance by Chick Webb, a pop­u­lar Black per­former. The event draws a live­ly and diverse crowd from Pottstown’s Black com­mu­ni­ty, sig­nal­ing a cul­tur­al shift with­in the town and a per­son­al suc­cess for Moshe. The con­cert becomes a sym­bol of social inclu­sion, as the pre­vi­ous­ly sub­dued audi­ence embraces the music with pas­sion, joy, and enthu­si­asm. Their exu­ber­ant response high­lights the seg­re­ga­tion and exclu­sion they had endured, now final­ly being acknowl­edged and cel­e­brat­ed in the very space that had pre­vi­ous­ly been closed off to them.

The suc­cess of the con­cert marks a turn­ing point for the the­ater, but it also brings new chal­lenges. As the the­ater flour­ish­es and Moshe’s busi­ness grows, rival the­ater own­ers begin to retal­i­ate. Their actions are laced with racist under­tones, accus­ing Moshe of under­min­ing their busi­ness­es and vio­lat­ing social norms. The back­lash comes in the form of fines and pub­lic accu­sa­tions, cre­at­ing an atmos­phere of ten­sion and hos­til­i­ty. How­ev­er, Moshe, ever resource­ful, nav­i­gates these chal­lenges with cun­ning. He uses bribery and strate­gic busi­ness deals to over­come the oppo­si­tion, ensur­ing the sur­vival and suc­cess of his the­ater. His abil­i­ty to think on his feet allows him to buy the the­ater out­right, solid­i­fy­ing his own­er­ship and expand­ing his busi­ness. With his new­found finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty, Moshe is able to improve his family’s stan­dard of liv­ing, mak­ing a sig­nif­i­cant impact on their future.

While Moshe’s busi­ness is thriv­ing, Chona remains deeply con­nect­ed to the com­mu­ni­ty. Her love for the neigh­bors in Chick­en Hill is evi­dent, as she con­tin­ues to run the gro­cery store, valu­ing the rela­tion­ships she has built over the years. How­ev­er, as the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty begins to shift out of Chick­en Hill, Moshe impul­sive­ly push­es for a relo­ca­tion to a more afflu­ent area, believ­ing that it would offer bet­ter finan­cial prospects. Chona, how­ev­er, stands firm, refus­ing to aban­don their roots. She draws on her emo­tion­al ties to the com­mu­ni­ty, valu­ing the con­nec­tions and his­to­ry they have estab­lished. Her deci­sion to remain in Chick­en Hill reflects her deep loy­al­ty to the peo­ple who have sup­port­ed her and her fam­i­ly through thick and thin. This deci­sion becomes a point of ten­sion between Moshe and Chona, as their dif­fer­ing views on finan­cial suc­cess and com­mu­ni­ty bonds begin to clash.

As Moshe nav­i­gates his per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al chal­lenges, he is also wrestling with deep­er inter­nal con­flicts. He is haunt­ed by visions of “Moses,” which rep­re­sent his strug­gles with super­sti­tions and the tra­di­tions he holds dear. These visions stir his inter­nal strug­gle between hold­ing onto his cul­tur­al her­itage and adapt­ing to the new Amer­i­can ideals that are shap­ing his life. Moshe is unsure whether his desire for finan­cial suc­cess is cloud­ing his abil­i­ty to see the val­ue in mean­ing­ful, last­ing con­nec­tions. Chona’s unex­pect­ed health decline brings Moshe’s fears to the sur­face, mak­ing him reflect on the choic­es they have made togeth­er. As Chona’s con­di­tion wors­ens, Moshe finds him­self ques­tion­ing the con­se­quences of their pur­suit of wealth and suc­cess, and whether they have lost sight of the impor­tance of fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty. This uncer­tain­ty marks a turn­ing point in Moshe’s jour­ney, forc­ing him to con­front his val­ues and the true mean­ing of suc­cess.

The chap­ter explores themes of com­mu­ni­ty, iden­ti­ty, and the com­plex­i­ties of per­son­al and soci­etal growth. Through Moshe’s strug­gles, read­ers are invit­ed to reflect on the ten­sion between finan­cial suc­cess and per­son­al con­nec­tions. The dynam­ic between Moshe and Chona exem­pli­fies how indi­vid­u­als must nav­i­gate their evolv­ing roles in both their fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties. The events also high­light the chal­lenges of main­tain­ing a bal­ance between tra­di­tion and moder­ni­ty, as well as the impor­tance of loy­al­ty in shap­ing per­son­al and busi­ness deci­sions. Moshe’s jour­ney reveals the com­plex­i­ty of these choic­es, offer­ing a nuanced explo­ration of how peo­ple adapt to the chang­ing world around them while grap­pling with the weight of their past and future aspi­ra­tions.