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.”