Re: FW: [2ND-GEN:7773] Re: Perry Como

[elkahn <elkahn...>]

Great art transcends all religious and ethnic boundaries. I hear the
fervent prayers to the same God in Bach's B minor Mass and St. Matthew
Passion as in Jossele Rosenblatt's Sh'ma Koleynu. 

I've conducted choirs in both synagogues and churches and have to say
people pray to the same God -- the One that will give them healthy
children and a modicum of dignity and security in their own lives.

As Jacob said: Surely God is in this place and I did not know it.

Happy Hannukah to all,

Eliott Kahn


On Mon, 14 Dec 1998, Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky wrote:

> 
> 
> This letter was posted on a mailing list of children of Holocaust 
> survivors.   I thought it would be interesting for this mailing list.
> I have removed all identifying markers of personal names so that we 
> can respond only to the content therein.  Just to orient people: the 
> person writing the letter beginning with "a propos Perry Como" is 
> an Orthodox Dutch Jew married to an American and now living in Israel.
> I thought you would enjoy the incongruity of these scenes.   
> 
> As for me I have had for the last five years or so made sure not 
> to miss Luciano Pavarotti's annually telecast PBS Christmas show 
> (including the annual multiple re-telecasting on every PBS cable 
> channel) because I love how he sings every single Christmas song, 
> including "Silent Night".  I have never been able to bear hearing 
> this song from anyone else [I went to the frumest girls Yeshiva 
> girl in Brooklyn and I basically deaden myself to the December 
> theme], but the die-hard Luciano fan that I am, listening to 
> Luciano sing it, sing actually just about anything, raises me 
> several feet off the ground every year.  It plays in my ears for 
> months after the December season which brings ethereal joy to my 
> heart, but it of course has nothing to do the meaning or symbol of 
> any of the songs.   I guess this Montreal concert had to have been 
> extraordinary since they repeat the show every year for so many years.   
> The fact that he sings the Latin version of "Silent Night" whose 
> words are opaque to me I guess helps me block out all content in the
> song.   Didn't see it this year though but I have been too busy to 
> watch any TV.   Anyone else feel this way about any rendition of 
> Christmas or Christian music?   Or is this something that only 
> opera lovers can feel?   I don't think that the fact that my husband, 
> Josh Waletzky, directed a film with Luciano in the late 1980's for 
> PBS (called "Luciano Pavarotti and the Tradition of the Italian 
> Tenor"), is a factor in any of this (I was already a die-hard fan 
> by then), but have others here had the same reaction to this singer 
> or that Christmas show?
> 
> BTW, the thread below started with the discussion of Jewish 
> superstitious beliefs, such as licking a child's eyelids of kids
> who awoke from a nightmare.  
> 
> Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------FORWARD---------------------------
> > 
> > And speaking of Perry Como...
> > 
> > In my house growing up, somehow my mother never saw anything
> incongruous in
> > the fact that she could lick our eyelids when we kids had terrible
> nightmares
> > (see previous post on this subject) and chant a Yiddish ditty that
> all our bad
> > thoughts and ills should be transferred to the "goyem's kep" AND
> the fact that
> > we never, ever missed a Perry Como Christmas or Easter special. 
> Come to think
> > of it, year after year we religiously (pardon the pun) watched Bob
> Hope's
> > Christmas specials, Bing Crosby's Christmas specials (who one year
> had David
> > Bowie as a special guest and they dueted on "Little Drummer Boy" --
> imagine
> > that!),  and Andy Williams' Xmas specials.  In fact, my mother
> would make it a
> > point to finish up the dinner dishes and be done with general
> household duties
> > so she could free up her evening for viewing these holiday specials
> -- my dad,
> > too.  When I look back at it now, it does seem bizarre, given their
> staunch
> > stances against assimilation.
> > 
> > But Perry Como was a particular favorite in our house --him and
> Dean Martin --
> > OY, did my mother love their singing!  To this day she maintains
> she has yet
> > to hear anyone, Jewish or Gentile, sing a more soulful rendition of
> "Kol
> > Nidre" than Perry Como.  Since I never heard this, EVER, I have
> always been
> > more than a bit incredulous about this -- could it be true?  But my
> mother
> > remained adamant -- yes, it was true and she could still "hear" his
> voice in
> > her ears!  Well, to tell you the truth I stopped making an issue
> over it.  And
> > then just this past summer, I ran into an acquaintance (parents
> also
> > survivors) who swore that yes, it was indeed true!  His mother
> practically
> > wore out an album on which Perry Como sang "Kol Nidre," so he could
> verify
> > this for me.  Alas, he has no idea whatever became of the album and
> we both
> > had no doubt it must be long out of print.  I would love to get my
> hands on a
> > copy of this, if only to hear it once for myself.....and then to
> give to my
> > mother.
> > 
> > Anyone else out there familiar with Perry Como singing Jewish
> songs, and
> > (bonus question) whether any recordings of this still exist?
> > 
> > [name]
> 
> 
> ===================================================== 
> 
> ---------------------------
> 
> 
> a propos Perry Como 
> when people in Holland asked my husband's name, i would say- you know
> Perry- like in Perry Como and then everyone knew.
> A propos songs. We are an observant family. When our first child got
> married he asked whether we wanted any special songs played during
> the reception. Perry - not Como- [very Jewish sounding last name]- 
> gave him his favorite Bing Crosby golden oldies tape. And there we were 
> in our new finery on the reception line saying thank you thank you- me 
> showing off a new wig and Perry in a new suit and all and suddenly- the 
> dulcet tones of old Bingo "I am dreaming of a white Xmas"
> I am not sure that we have lived this down yet.
> He has been married almost 10 years.
> Happy Hanuka
> [name]
> Haifa
> 
> 
>