"Ikh khulem fun a vaysn nitl, nor aza nitl ikh farshtey."
When Mandy Patinkin read these words for the first time one year ago into
New York recording studio, he did not have the breath of a notion, how
well it would go over. It was the first two lines of the song "White Christmas".
But in Yiddish.
The background of this strange meeting is long and complicated, but
also quite simple. Growing up as the child of Polish Jews in the Southside
of Chicago, for decades this language was foreign to Patinkin.
His grandparents, who were called "Patinka" upon their arrival at
Ellis Island, used a few Yiddish idioms here and there when the Grandchildren
misunderstood them. When Patinkin was a child, his father sang him a
Yiddish lullaby. However, Mandy should finally be an American. Yiddish
was in the past -- the old, not always good world.
The small boy who at the end of the 50s regularly visited the Synagogue
and learned his Hebrew well, starred in Broadway theater productions
and musicals for which he earned many Tony Awards, and became internationally
well known through motion pictures like "Yentl" and as the whimsical
Dr. Geiger in the TV Series "Chicago Hope".
Patinkin whose life as a star has taken it's usual run, is married
and in between has had two sons.
Eight years earlier, his producer asked him to sing a Yiddish song
for a benefit concert and the peace was gone. "I realized that this
was my most important function as an artist. Only that. I had to get
involved with this music."
From this resolution came an entire album with the title, "Mamaloshen
- Mother Tongue". On the cover photo by Richard Avedon is pictured the
American flag - before it stands Patinkin with a sumptuous Rabbi beard
that he had grown himself. A strong and politically provoking picture.
On the CD are 16 songs by Jewish composers that were written in English,
but whose words were translated now into Yiddish: "Maria" from Leonard
Bernstein, "American Tune" by Paul Simon, "God Bless America" and even
the world known "White Christmas" from Irving Berlin whose first language
was Yiddish. Additionally there are traditional songs that tell small
everyday life stories in a Schtetl voice and time - dear touching songs
in the Vaudeville style, some with the typical portion of Jewish humor.
Memories of the past that hadn't been. Sentimental echoes of his ancestry
that are nevertheless alive. A completely different type of blues. In
any case, all of the music sounded Jewish to Patinkin and always gave
him the feeling of being at home.
"Don't ask me why this music touches me so much. I don't know why.
Clearly I could explain that is a psychological need for connection
and identity and so on. However, the feeling was simply there and would
not go away. On the other hand, it continued to get stronger, because
the internal wounds of the Emigration healed very slowly especially
when one doesn't acknowledge it for so long."
Patinkin is only a representative of this condition-as one of many
Americans who must be reminded of their respective non-American ancestry.
"Oyfn Pripetshik", the last song describes how a Rabbi teaches the
Jewish alphabet to small children. The last child's voice in the choir
belongs to Patinkin's son Gideon who was eleven at the time. "I absolutely
want to pass this legacy on to him. Someday he will hopefully understand
that." Before the undertaking, Gideon was not too inspired about it.
His mood decidedly improved with the prospect of $20 extra pocket money.
"We could have encouraged him also with some duct tape, but that would
have been too simple and much too obvious."
Many of the songs are arranged in the best "Tin-Pan-Alley" tradition
with stage-ripe emotion sometimes, but above all with a lot of nostalgic
charm. Also, "White Christmas" is no quiet slay ride, rather much more
a rapid departure on the bob sled. At the end of the recording sessions,
Patinkin noticed he had hit a particularly sensitive nerve with these
half dozen songs.
The colorful and calculating studio musicians who had already played
on many of my earlier records came to me and said, "We have no idea
why, but nothing is as dear to us as this job."
As surprising as "Mamaloshen" was, there was no reaction from the
entertainment industry in America. "This is already my 6th album. With
the predecessors there was always the usual interviews, criticisms,
invitations to large television shows, talkshows, the whole assortment.
For me it has never been so much fun, and so were the rules of the game.
And now - Nothing!..... One small mention in USA today, but nothing
more."
The silence cried to him - and the only word he could understand it
by is "Anti-Semitic". The fact that many industry colleagues privately
congratulated him for the album makes a difference to him, if not overall,
at least on the edge. It goes with the senseless, distorted view of
it all.
Silence in America: A bitter realization
Patinkin is drawing conclusions from this bitter realization. In the
past he has given concerts in the USA and in London, but now considered
going on tour next year with the "Mamaloshen" program in Germany as
compensation to his own feelings of self worth. After a few minutes
he admits that after being shunted in his homeland, he actually has
no desire to travel for interviews in Europe.
But now as he sits on the sofa in his hotel room wearing his T-shirt
and jeans, without shoes, he forgets the Jetlag and is enthusiastic
and hurt at the same time. "It is really hard to believe in the USA
that there are no reactions to this album, not even from the Jewish
community. But here in Germany I am given much interest, friendliness,
and warmth. I have almost the feeling that to my fellow Yiddish-speakers
I can't be Jewish enough. The only thing that is missing is for someone
to ask me to bake bagels." Then he laughs out loud and grins to himself
over so much Chuzpah. Here on this day, an American Jew in a German
hotel room, is not for him a small gathering for shameless PR, but a
very personal need, for which he is very grateful. And when the last
interview is over, Patinkin will undoubtedly go to a matinee at the
movies to see "Comedian Harmonists". The film is in German, and he will
probably not understand the words that are spoken. But, the thirst for
knowledge continues.
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