L ifestyle /C ulture
Conversation Explores Parallels Between Jews, Blues
M USIC
ELEANOR LINAFELT |
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
LIKE JUDAISM, the musical
form of the blues is steeped in
tradition. That was just one of the many
connections that the rabbi,
activist and musician Sandra
Lawson and blues musician
and historian Jerron “Blind
Boy” Paxton made between
the blues and Judaism in their
virtual discussion, “The Torah
of Blues.”
“The biggest things that blues
teaches me are what, for Jewish
culture, are already there, like
love and respect and tradition,”
Paxton said.

The event was hosted by The
National Museum of American
Jewish History on May 26 as
part of its Jewish American
Heritage Month programming.

In an organic, expansive and
laughter-filled conversation,
Paxton and Lawson connected
over their shared Black and
Jewish identities and their
individual relationships to blues
music and the Torah.

Dan Samuels, the public
programs manager at NMAJH,
was inspired to organize the
program after coming across
Lawson’s blog, also called The
Torah of Blues. She picks blues
songs to learn and analyzes
the way that the Torah
appears in them.

“I know I am not the first
Jewish person to make a
connection between Jews and
the blues, but I do bring a
unique perspective as a black
rabbi with Southern roots,”
Lawson wrote in her first blog
post. “I see blues music as a
window to my heritage, my
culture and I see it as a legacy
that was left for me by my
ancestors to discover.”
Lawson, the inaugural
director of racial diver-
sity, equity and inclusion at
Reconstructing Judaism, the
central organization of the
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM From left: Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton and Rabbi Sandra Lawton
Reconstructionist movement,
told Paxton that one of the
many ways she personally
connects to Judaism is through
the Torah that appears in Black
spiritual music, the musical
predecessor to the blues.

“Our ancestors who were
brought here and enslaved, even
though they weren’t allowed to
read, found a way to connect
through music,” she said. “They
found hope in the stories from
the Hebrew Bible, which then
gets turned into spirituals
and blues.”
The program included
prerecorded musical perfor-
mances from
Pa xton
interspersed throughout the
conversation. The multi-in-
strumentalist, who draws from
1920s and ’30s music, has toured
internationally and opened for
blues legends including Buddy
Guy and Robert Cray.

He sang and played solo
banjo for the first two songs.

For the final song, an upbeat
instrumental, he was accom-
panied by two other musicians
playing washboard and piano.

The first song Paxton
performed was called “How Did
Screenshot by Eleanor Linafelt
You Feel When You Come Out
of the Wilderness.” He described
it as a song that helped enslaved
people get through their strug-
gles in American cotton fields,
but that it could also connect to
the Jewish experience.

He noted the parallels
between the history of Jewish
and Black people.

“Jewish people and Black
people have perseverance,” Paxton
said. “If it wasn’t for perseverance,
we wouldn’t be here.”
Paxton described the second
song he performed as having a
“Mizrahi-type mood to it,” but
performed in the picking style
of players of the akonting, a
West African instrument that
predated the banjo.

Paxton and
Lawson discussed the way that both
spirituals and the chanting of
the Torah has helped preserve
knowledge throughout history.

“In the Jewish tradition
when Jews were not literate,
someone in the public square
would open the Torah scroll
and loudly read the Torah,”
Lawson said, to which Paxton
responded, “That’s why we sing
so much Torah. That solidifies
things in your memory.”
The two also talked about
the role of music in prayer.

“Certain things are hard to
articulate, but when you sing
you do not have to articu-
late,” Paxton said. “That’s the
beautiful thing about prayer,
chanting and meditation.”
Lawson said that she never
used to sing, but prayer has
offered her an avenue to do so.

“Prayer opens up my heart to
sing,” she said. “I see blues often
as a prayer.”
“The Torah of Blues” was
co-sponsored by Jews in ALL
Hues, an organization that
supports Jews of color, and
Reconstructing Judaism. l
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