Educational Media Reviews Online

"I'm the Ku Klux Klan's worst nightmare!" exclaims Jewish gospel singer Joshua Nelson at the beginning of this biographical documentary. As an African-American, he feels he came naturally to his love of gospel singing, a unique expression developed by American slaves. As part of a black Jewish congregation and under the tutelage of his mother, he developed his love for the Jewish faith. Joshua Nelson appears to be one of the few among us who is happily dedicating his life to the service of God, through his music. He loves bringing God's message to anyone he can help to hear it, regardless of who they are or what faith they follow.

At the start of the film, following a segment showing Mr. Nelson leading Christian gospel songs in a traditional African-American church, we see an older couple describing how proud they are of him. Later, we see him celebrating Passover and other Jewish events with his mother, who wears the opulent clothing and jewelry of Middle Eastern and North African Jews. The relationship of the older couple to Mr. Nelson and his mother was unclear to this reviewer as well as whether the couple had taught him Christianity. He mentions his mother teaching him Jewish traditions, so, if she was not originally a Jew, or did not start out raising him as a Jew, they may have accepted and learned it together while he was very young. The matter is not crucial to an appreciation of Mr. Nelson himself, his singing, or his message, but merely confusion created by the editors and directors.

Mr. Nelson is fluent in Hebrew and we see him chanting traditional prayers in both black and white congregations, being called to the Torah in a black congregation, reading prayers from the Passover service he is conducting at home, and teaching prayers to a class of white teenagers preparing for Bar and Bat Mitzva, the Jewish celebration of adulthood. We also see clips from a trip to Jerusalem, showing him praying at the Western Wall in the manner of Orthodox Jews, with the boxes of prayers called "tefillin" strapped to his arm and his forehead. Like the Orthodox, Mr. Nelson covers his head at all times, often wearing a crocheted yarmulke tilted at a rakish angle. When performing or praying, his head coverings are more formal and elaborate, appropriate to his attire.

There are many scenes of fervent Christian singing in churches large and small, black and white, as well as in a banquet hall and at a funeral chapel. One wonderful segment shows Mr. Nelson on the stage of a huge hall filled with solemn-faced whites who are puzzled at first as he shows them how to clap in rhythm to his song, then tentative in trying to keep up the beat of their applause, and, finally, rockin' and rollin' with him as smiles of pure joy play across their faces. His message comes from the heart.

Mr. Nelson sees no difficulty in combining his African-American ethnic self with his Jewish religious self, and being able to sing as sincerely among Christians as among Jews. He reminds us that Jesus was a good Jew and says connection with God supersedes culture or race. "You can be religious but be the meanest person in the world," he says, but his spirituals speak about doing good for others. He performs all kinds of liturgy—Christian and Jewish—in his own inimical gospel style—having been inspired as a child watching Mahalia Jackson perform on television.

The production, while not perfect, is more than acceptably well paced, varied, and attractive. Camerawork is good, but recorded conversation should be cleaner and clearer. Close-ups of profuse perspiration sometimes dominate. Collections serving studies of gospel music and religious music in general, and Jewish studies generally or black Jewish studies in particular will benefit from its contents.

Recommended.