Lehman Engel & Levi Yitzchak's Kaddish

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

Inspired by a mention on the list of an autobiography (THIS BRIGHT DAY) of 
Lehman Engel, whom I'd never previously heard of (of course, now I'm 
noticing his name as a conductor on numerous recordings),  I took the book 
out of the library.  I didn't read it--it seems, frankly, like a typical 
breezy, chatty memoir of not that much substance, though I don't mean it's 
anything bad--but I did glance through it, and in particular I checked the 
index quite thoroughly.  Observe what I found:

There are *no* entries for Jews/Judaism/Jewish music; none for Levi Yitchak 
of Berdichev under any possible spelling; none for his (or any) Kaddish; 
none for Paul Robeson--for whom, someone averred here, L.E. translated (and 
arranged?) Levi Yitchak's Kaddish.

Now, obviously, the lack of a mention of the L. Y. Kaddish, if indeed it 
isn't mentioned (and the index seemed otherwise thorough), doesn't actually 
prove anything--though it would seem odd, certainly given Robeson's fame, 
for Engel not to have mentioned such a collaboration. But I remain highly 
skeptical that Lehman Engel had anything to do w/ Levi Yitchak's Kaddish, or 
its English-language adaptation as sung by Robseon, at all--and I still 
welcome any evidence anyone has to that effect or otherwise.

--Robert Cohen
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