8 | OCTOBER 7 • 2021 

essay
A (Mostly) Jewish Soundtrack
I 

love music. From listen-
ing to music, to singing 
and writing songs, music 
has always been there to help 
me enjoy the good times and 
cope with the 
bad times. As 
I reflect on the 
soundtrack of 
my life, I realize 
that music with 
a Jewish influ-
ence has been a 
big part of the 
melodies that sustain me.
My first musical memory 
was when I was very young, 
sitting on a piano bench with 
my mom, listening, as she 
played and sang a song with 
some very strange funny words. 
“Oh, Jeffrey sits on the chairella 
and plays on the fortisch piano, 
and Sheila dance the dancella, 
Ay yai yai yai yai yai! Oy the 
Shayna maidele, kinderle klain, 
kinderle klain…
”
I had no idea what she was 
singing. But it was sweet and 
funny and usually ended with 
us laughing together. We would 
go on to more familiar songs 
and show tunes, often, I later 
found out, written by Jewish 
composers like Irving Berlin, 
Richard Rodgers or Sammy 
Cahn. By then, a sense of 
Jewishness had been embed- 
 

ded as a central element to the 
songs I began to sing and love. 
My mother had started to teach 
me how music could make you 
laugh and soothe your soul.
My wife recalls her mom 
singing Yiddish lullabies to her 
at bedtime. And many years 
later, when she sang “Oyfn 
Pripetchik” to our children and 
then our grandchildren before a 
much-needed nap, she recalled 
her mom’s sweet voice helping 
her to fall asleep. 
Jewish holidays often are 
filled with music (as well as with 

food!). For my mom’s family, 
the Eisenbergs, the family seder 
was the most significant Jewish 
event of the year. From very 
early on, each child would be 
asked if he or she was ready 
to ask the Fir Kasches (Four 
Questions). I remember how 
proud my parents were when 
each of their three children sang 
to the whole mishpachah, show-
ing off that we had been prac-
ticing our Hebrew. And when 
my own children 
reached the age 
when they felt 
ready to 
sing 

for their supper, I also would 
smile and kvell at their youthful 
attempts at the Ma Neshtanah.

MEETING THE GUITAR 
(AND MY BESHERT)
Fast forward to my teen years 
… to folk music and to AZA 
and BBG. While these groups 
had many purposes, AZA 
provided a way to meet Jewish 
girls, other than the girls from 
my school. Parties and Oneg 
Shabbats provided an opportu-
nity, but I quickly learned the 
truth: In order to meet girls, 

you had to talk to girls. Not so 
easy. About that same time, my 
friend Eddie suggested we take 
a group beginner’s guitar class 
at the JCC. Eddie lasted about 
two weeks; I’ve been learning 
guitar for about 60 years. 
I quickly learned that a guitar 
was a wonderful ally at parties. 
I could meet girls without hav-
ing to talk to girls. Singing folk 
songs with them was so much 
less painful. And this plan led to 
the January day in 1966, when I 
found myself strumming along 
with a younger girl named 
Leslie who also had brought 
her guitar to an Oneg Shabbat 
involving my chapter and 
hers. 

And, although she was less 
than happy with my “way too 
loud” guitar playing, she for-
gave me enough to agree to a 
date, which eventually led to 
our singing together (mostly in 
harmony) through our 50-plus 
year marriage. And songs like 
“Dona Dona,
” “Sunrise Sunset,
” 
“Homeward Bound,
” “You’ve 
Got a Friend” and “Happy 
Together” (all composed by 
Jews) have been a constant 
source of strength and support 
for our relationship, through all 
of life’s ups and downs.

RAISING A FAMILY
As our kids grew, we taught 
them our favorite songs and 
kvelled when they knew all 
the words. We joined Temple 
Emanu-El and then Temple 
Israel. We got involved at both 
temples, in the best way we 
knew how … through singing. 
I have always been adept at 
writing song parodies for birth-
days, holidays and anniversa-
ries. And my parodies found a 
(usually) welcome audience at 
both temples with such “hits” 
as “The People Are Always 
Friendly at Temple Emanu-
El” (to the tune of “Under the 
Sea”), “Super Challah Matzoh, 
Tzimmes, Liver and Charosis” 
and “The Totally Uplifting Yom 
Kippur Mind Shifting Parking 
at the Temple Blues” and 
brilliant silly lyrics like “You 
must remember this, a bris is 
just a bris, a chai is just a chai; 

Dr. Jeff 
London

PURELY COMMENTARY

“A SENSE OF JEWISHNESS HAD 
BEEN EMBEDDED AS A CENTRAL 
ELEMENT TO THE SONGS I BEGAN 
TO SING AND LOVE.”

