My Father's Jewish World
One of a crop of contemporary songs relevant to the Israeli conflict, this number was written around 2002 as a commission for the Wren Trust, a non-profit arts organisation from Devon. Leon's brief was to compose a song about what being Jewish in England meant to him, a conundrum which he solved by using his father as a focus. A Jewish man who renounced religion and became a communist, the example of Leon's father defined Jewishness not as a creed but as a spirit - one which is identified with the fire of the rebel, of the revolutionary and of the one who fights injustice. As for the situation in Israel/Palestine, Leon is clear: "the state they say is Jewish, carved from broken land, brings only shame / by torturing and killing in our name".
A live version was recorded in 2011, with Robb Johnson contributing some guitar detailing from his seat, as featured on the DVD, No Gods No Masters.
A live version was recorded in 2011, with Robb Johnson contributing some guitar detailing from his seat, as featured on the DVD, No Gods No Masters.
"I was asked by the Wren Trust, a community music group based in Devon, to write a song on what it means, living in England, to be Jewish. Something of a challenge for a Jew who is neither religious nor Zionist." - LR (sleevenotes to The Last Chance (CD EP), 2002)
"For someone who is neither a Zionist nor religious, what does it mean to be Jewish? In 'My Father's Jewish World', I try to answer this question by exploring my father's history and the possibility that there is something in the Jewish tradition and experience that would account for the disproportionately large numbers of Jews who were rebels, free thinkers, anarchists, socialists, communists, revolutionaries. The song was commissioned by the Wren Trust in Devon for performance at their multi-cultural concert on the last night of the Sidmouth Folk Festival 2002." - (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p75)
“A quotation from Sara Roy, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, proved more fruitful. For her mother and father she writes, ‘Judaism meant bearing witness, raging against injustice and foregoing silence. It meant compassion, tolerance and rescue... These were the ultimate Jewish values.’ That’s an interpretation of Jewishness I could identify with. I was always brought up to believe, in my Communist Party household, that Jews should be on the side of the oppressed... The only way I could make the song work was by basing it on the life and beliefs of my father and my relationship with him.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p64)
"For someone who is neither a Zionist nor religious, what does it mean to be Jewish? In 'My Father's Jewish World', I try to answer this question by exploring my father's history and the possibility that there is something in the Jewish tradition and experience that would account for the disproportionately large numbers of Jews who were rebels, free thinkers, anarchists, socialists, communists, revolutionaries. The song was commissioned by the Wren Trust in Devon for performance at their multi-cultural concert on the last night of the Sidmouth Folk Festival 2002." - (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p75)
“A quotation from Sara Roy, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, proved more fruitful. For her mother and father she writes, ‘Judaism meant bearing witness, raging against injustice and foregoing silence. It meant compassion, tolerance and rescue... These were the ultimate Jewish values.’ That’s an interpretation of Jewishness I could identify with. I was always brought up to believe, in my Communist Party household, that Jews should be on the side of the oppressed... The only way I could make the song work was by basing it on the life and beliefs of my father and my relationship with him.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p64)
Recordings
Version 1 (2002)
Version 2 (2011) Live performance, released in 2014
- The Last Chance (EP)
- Turning Silence Into Song
- The Last Chance (Extended EP)
- The World Turned Upside Down
Version 2 (2011) Live performance, released in 2014