I Wonder Why

Shabbat Thanksgiving 2014: On this happy day, known in America as Black Friday, Abq Jew is very happy to present to you, his dear readers, this video of Dion and the Belmonts singing their first hit, I Wonder Why.

And if you, too, wonder why, Abq Jew will explain:

No particular reason. It's just a happy video.

Who are Dion and the Belmonts? Wikipedia tells us:

Dion and the Belmonts were a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. All members were from the Bronx, New York City. 

The group formed when Dion DiMucci, lead singer (born July 18, 1939), joined The Belmonts – Carlo Mastrangelo, bass-baritone (born October 5, 1938), Fred Milano, second tenor (August 22, 1939 – January 1, 2012), and Angelo D'Aleo, first tenor (born February 3, 1940), in late 1957. 

The name The Belmonts was derived from the fact that two of the four singers lived on Belmont Avenue in the Bronx, and the other two lived near Belmont Avenue.

About Dion, Wikipedia tells us:

Dion was born to an Italian-American family in the Bronx, New York. 

As a child, he accompanied his father, Pasquale DiMucci, a vaudeville entertainer, on tour, and developed a love of country music – particularly the work of Hank Williams. 

He also developed a fondness for the blues and doo-wop musicians he heard performing in local bars and on the radio. 

His singing was honed on the street corners and local clubs of the Bronx, where he and other neighborhood singers created a cappella riffs.

Dion's career - and life - had its ups and downs. And then ...

In 1968, as a solo performer, Dion recorded Abraham, Martin and John, written by Dick Holler. 

It is a tribute to social change icons, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr, John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy. It was written as a response to the assassination of King and the younger Kennedy in April and June 1968. 

When producer Phil Gernhard initially presented the song to DiMucci, the latter didn't care for it. With the persistence of Gernhard, and Dion's wife Susan, he flew to New York that summer. He recorded the song in just one take. 

Laurie Records released the single in September of that year and it quickly raced up the charts, peaking at number four in December. DiMucci, now a star again, was invited to sing this comeback hit on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, as well as many other top shows.

And as for I Wonder Why, Wikipedia tells us:

I Wonder Why is a doo-wop song, written by Maxwell Anderson (lyrics) and Ricardo Weeks, and first recorded by Dion and the Belmonts (released as Laurie Records' first single, number 3013), becoming the group's first national pop chart hit, in 1958. 

It is sung from the point of view of a man telling his girlfriend that he loves her but does not know why. The song is noted for Carlo Mastrangelo singing the bass part in rhythm.

Dion was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. The Belmonts, for reasons that Abq Jew cannot even begin to understand, were not.

Nevertheless, Dion said of the Belmonts:

I'd give 'em sounds. I'd give 'em parts and stuff. 

That's what 'I Wonder Why' was about. 

We kind of invented this percussive rhythmic sound. If you listen to that song, everybody was doing something different. 

There's four guys, one guy was doing bass, I was singing lead, one guy's going 'ooh wah ooh', and another guy's doing tenor. 

It was totally amazing. When I listen to it today, often times I think, 

"Man, those kids are talented."

Shabbat Shalom, Albuquerque!

Good Shabbos, New Mexico!

Lights in the Forest

Rabbi Paul Citrin, Editor: A cross-section of rabbis respond to questions under one of three categories: 1) On God; 2) On Our Humanity; 3) On the Jewish People.

Their responses include thoughtful, personal essays about God, ethics, humanity, suffering, evil, the soul, after-life, interfaith dialogue, and more.

Rabbi Paul Citrin, editor of this important work, will be speaking at Bookworks on Rio Grande on Tuesday December 2 at 7:00 pm.

Rabbi Citrin will also be offering a course on the book at Congregation Albert and at Congregation Nahalat Shalom in February-March 2015 (not as far off as it may seem!).

Lights in the Forest

Rabbis Respond

to Twelve

Essential Jewish Questions

Rabbi Paul Citrin, Editor

Bookworks

4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW

Tuesday December 2

7:00 pm

Download the Study Guide and prepare for Rabbi Citrin's course at Congregations Albert and Nahalat Shalom in February-March 2015.

The intention of the contributors of this volume is to expand the knowledge and understanding of the readers in Jewish life, practice, and identity.

They strive to encourage further study and ongoing questioning. Judaism's intellectual and spiritual tools are presented as a means for leading a life of purpose and commitment.

In an interview for RavBlog, Rabbi Citrin stated

A volume that made a large impact on me was something published by the American Jewish Committee in the mid-60s called The Condition of Jewish Belief. 

It was a symposium compiled by editors of Commentary magazine where 38 rabbis from all of the streams of Judaism responded to five theological concerns. I found it to be tremendously interesting and helpful as an undergraduate student in Los Angeles. 

It recently dawned on me that there was nothing like that on the market today. I looked at 12 different publishers that produce Jewish books and there was nothing that came close to it, by which I mean a collection of essays by various contributors not targeted for either children or graduate students in philosophy. 

The questions in the book are stimulated by real questions that congregants ask their rabbis. I find that there is a core of Reform and Conservative Jews who want to be well-grounded in Jewish tradition. 

Their Jewish knowledge and identity is a central part of who they are, even if they don’t have all of the formal education they may desire. This volume will help strengthen that serious commitment.

Want to learn more? You can purchase Amazon's Kindle edition here, or purchase the paperback edition from CCAR Press here.

And don't miss the opportunity to hear Rabbi Paul Citrin speak in person!

Onomatopoeia and The Jews Again

Say That Again?  First posted on November 14, 2011, Onomatopoeia and The Jews has become an Abq Jew Thanksgiving classic for everyone who remembers it.

For those of you dear readers who don't, and for those of you who were inexplicably or even explicably not yet following Abq Jew - here it is again! You're welcome!

An onomatopoeia (or onomatopœia, from the Greek ὀνοματοποιία), is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes.

Common occurrences of onomatopoeias include animal noises, such as "oink" or "meow" or "roar".

Animal names - especially bird names - are often onomatopoeic. For example: Winnie the Pooh got his name from the sound he made when trying to blow a bee off of his nose.

The turkey's name, however, is not onomatopoeic - although he onomatopoeically says"gobble, gobble".  At least in English.  There are several opinions as to what a turkey says in Turkey.

But speaking of turkey - it's time to get ready for Thanksgiving!  For some of us this means lining up a kosher bird from Trader Joe's, which goes great with kosher pareve stuffing from Natural Grocers.  But that's only for those of us who eat meat.

Now, there are several good, Jewish reasons not to eat meat.  Humans were, before all, intended to be vegetarians.  It was only after Noah and the Flood that God allowed us to eat meat.  And even kosher animal slaughter is still - well, the slaughter of animals.

On the other hand, how's this for onomatopoeia:  m-m-m-m-m-m-meat!

But what to do if there are vegetarians in your family who will be at your Thanksgiving table?   Or worse - vegans?  (Abq Jew apologizes for claiming that vegans are from a planet orbiting the star of that name.  That was wrong, and ... insensitive.)

But how's this for onomatopoeia:  TO-FU!

Oops!  Insensitive again!  And speaking of insensitive - here is the famous (well, Abq Jew remembers it) Tofu Turkey Thanksgiving scene from Everybody Loves Raymond.

The Tofu TurkeyHappy Thanksgiving! Feast on 3 hours of Everybody Loves Raymond tomorrow at 9/8c!
Posted by Everybody Loves Raymond on Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving, New Mexico!

An Evening with Kinky Friedman

One Texas Jewboy: Abq Jew is really, really happy to announce (if you haven't seen it before on the Abq Jew Go Do! Page or the Weekly Abq Jew Blog Update) that

Kinky Friedman is Coming to Albuquerque!

An Evening with Kinky Friedman

Albuquerque JCC

Saturday December 6 ~ 7:30 pm

Legendary humorist, writer, and musician Kinky Freidman will deliver an evening of song, social commentary, and irreverence at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque on Saturday December 6, 2014 at 7:30 pm.  

All proceeds from this event will benefit the JCC's Jewish Arts and Culture program and the Jewish Federation's 2015 Annual Campaign.

Described as a cross between Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, and Johnny Cash, in the early 1970's Friedman achieved international notoriety with his band, Kinky Friedman & the Texas Jewboys, which resulted in an invitation to the Grand Ole Opry.

Meanwhile, his songs  "Ride 'em Jewboy"; "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore"; "Shield Of Abraham"; and "Something's Wrong With The Beaver" and his now-classic albums - Sold American, Lasso from El Paso, and Old Testaments & New Revelations - mixed biting satire with knowing empathy on such issues as the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and the other side of the American dream. In 1999, Willie Nelson, Tom Waits, and Lyle Lovett covered his music for  the tribute album Pearls in the Snow: The Songs of Kinky Friedman.

As an author, Friedman has written for Rolling Stone and Texas Monthly magazines and, most famously, has become a writer of unique and outrageous mystery novels such as Greenwich Killing Time, A Case of Lone Star, and The Mile High Club, which feature a Jewish country singer turned private eye named Kinky Friedman.

This event will also include a live auction of Kinky Friedman memorabilia. For more information call (505) 821-3214.

Based on the above bio, one might think that The Kinkster is all hat and no cattle. But that would be selling Kinky short. Let's start with a little yichus, or, as the goyim say, genealogy. From Wikipedia, of course.

Richard Samet "Kinky" Friedman (born November 1, 1944) is an American Texas Country singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician and former columnist for Texas Monthly who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain. 

He was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 election for the office of Governor of Texas. Receiving 12.6% of the vote, Friedman placed fourth in the six-person race. 

Friedman was born in Chicago to Jewish parents, Dr. S. Thomas Friedman and his wife Minnie (Samet) Friedman. The family moved to a ranch in central Texas a few years later. 

Friedman had an early interest in both music and chess, and was chosen at age 7 as one of 50 local players to challenge U.S. grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky to simultaneous games in Houston. Reshevsky won all 50 games, but Friedman was, by far, the youngest competitor. 

Friedman graduated from Austin High School in Austin, Texas in 1962 and earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 1966, majoring in Psychology. 

He took part in the Plan II Honors program and was a member of the Tau Delta Phi fraternity. During his freshman year, Chinga Chavin gave Friedman the nickname "Kinky" because of his curly hair. 

Friedman served two years in the United States Peace Corps, teaching in Borneo in Indonesia with John Gross. During his service in the Peace Corps, he met future road manager Dylan Ferrero, with whom he still works today. 

Friedman lives at Echo Hill Ranch, his family's summer camp near Kerrville, Texas. He founded Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, also located near Kerrville, whose mission is to care for stray, abused and aging animals; more than 1,000 dogs have been saved from animal euthanasia. 

Here is a animated video that Michael Fallik made for one of Kinky's most famous songs, "They Ain't Making Jews like Jesus Anymore."

Abq Jew must warn you that the language and animated action are coarse. But neither is directed at the audience; and both accurately reflect the verisimilitude of the times.

Which brings Abq Jew (and you, if you're still with him) to author Hyam Maccoby; and to the topic "Jews Like Jesus."

For those who are unfamiliar with Hyam Maccoby's work, Wikipedia tells us:

Hyam Maccoby (1924–2004) was a British Jewish scholar and dramatist specialising in the study of the Jewish and Christian religious tradition.

Maccoby was librarian of Leo Baeck College in London. In retirement he moved to Leeds, where he held an academic position at the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Leeds. Maccoby was known for his theories of the historical Jesus and the historical origins of Christianity. 

Maccoby also wrote extensively on the phenomenon of ancient and modern Anti-Semitism. He considered the Gospel traditions blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus and especially the legend of Judas Iscariot (which he believed to be a product of the Gentile Pauline Church) as the roots of Christian antisemitism. Other topics of Maccoby's scholarship include the Talmudic tradition and the history of the Jewish religion.

One of Kinky's lines in "They Ain't Making" is

We don't turn the other cheek, the way we done before.

Aside from the poor diction, Hyam Maccoby would take strong issue with the theology that underlies the verse: that Jesus, a Jew, had adopted acquiescence as the proper response to evil.

Maccoby instead makes the case that Jesus, a Pharisaic Jew and a rebel against the Roman occupation of Judaea, would have resisted Roman evil at every turn and with all means available.

So where did the doctrine of "the other cheek" come from?

From the writers of the New Testament, Maccoby claims, who lived many years after the death of Jesus, in a world (and with a worldview) that was dominated by Rome; and who wrote what they wrote for the Gentiles, and with little knowledge of or regard for Jews and their homeland.

There will be more about Hyam Maccoby and Revolution in Judaea: Jesus and The Jewish Resistance (and Billy Nader) later. In the meantime ----

And even though it's only Thursday ...

Shabbat Shalom, Albuquerque!
Good Shabbos, New Mexico!