Cantor's Corner by Eric Schulmiller

As I faithfully tuned in at one minute to midnight to Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve™, I looked back over a very good year for “Jews who Rock.” From Simon and Garfunkel’s reunion, to the first new Beastie Boys single in three years (an anti-war protest song). From the resurgence in popularity of Neil Diamond among 20/30-something’s (“Gen-X/Y”), to the phenomenal premiere of the Jewish songs of Woody Guthrie by the Klezmatics, 2003 was certainly a year to remember.

So what can we look forward to in 2004? Well, I’m not one for New Year’s predictions, so I’ll hedge my bets and focus on a few anniversaries – (January 8^th and February 1^st), both surrounding The King. No, not MLK, I wrote about him last month. I mean the nice Jewish boy from Memphis, Mr. Presley. OK, so Elvis wasn’t exactly Jewish. But he had both the bloodlines and yiddishkeit-exposure to at least qualify as an honorary member of the tribe. January 8^th, which was the day before I wrote this article, is Elvis’ birthday. I hope you all had a fried peanut-butter and banana sandwich in honor of this monumental moment in the history of rock-and-roll. And in February, 1956, nearly fifty years ago this month, Elvis recorded his first #1 hit single, Heartbreak Hotel (Not to be confused with the poignant Jewish rock-ballad, Heartbreak Kotel).

So, first, about Elvis’ Jewish heritage. According to my sources (A Wall-Street Journal article from 1998, the memoirs of Jeannette Fruchter, and www.schmelvis.com – a site devoted to exploring Elvis’ Jewish roots), Elvis’ great-great grandmother was Nancy J. Burdine, a Jewish woman born in Saltillo, Mississippi around 1825. As confirmed by a curator at Graceland, Elvis was indeed aware of his Jewish heritage, as attested to by the large gold chai he often wore during his later performances, and the Jewish star he had placed at the foot of his mother’s tombstone.

But perhaps more important were Elvis’s Jewish-by-association roots. From a young age, Elvis and his family shared a duplex apartment with an orthodox rabbi and his wife. Rabbi Alfred and Jeannette Fruchter became close family friends with Vernon and Gladys and their son Elvis, and often assisted the Presleys when they were struggling financially, paying their water bill or making sure they had enough grocieries. They even leant them a record player when Elvis came home with his first recorded song! Jeannette and Gladys in particular became very close, having tea together daily and talking about their children. The Presleys came over for Shabbat dinner once a month (Elvis was especially fond of the matzah ball soup and tzimmes), and eventually Elvis became the orthodox couple’s “shabbos goy,” (although they never referred to him as such), assisting them with things that they could not do on the Sabbath. Elvis enjoyed listening to Rabbi Alfred’s collection of cantorial music, and even received a scholarship to a Jewish day camp! Later in life, Elvis would return the favor, giving $150,000 to the Memphis Jewish Welfare Fund and donating a room at the Memphis JCC.

So, even if Elvis doesn’t qualify as Jewish, we can at least claim him as a distant cousin, or a close friend. Here’s to 2004 – may it be a rockin’ year!