Kreditor finds Jewish stories in the music

By Sharon Wisch-Ray

If there is a classic television theme song from the 1960s, ’70s or ’80s that wasn’t written by a Jew, Mark Kreditor hasn’t found it yet.

Kreditor started digging into the music of the television shows he grew up watching — from “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Brady Bunch” to “MAS*H” and “Cheers” — and, as often happens when he starts researching Jews and American popular culture, one discovery led to another.

“I go down these rabbit holes about Jewish artists, and it’s always been just amazing to me that as soon as I’ve uncovered one rock and put it back down, thinking I know about the rock, whether it be comedians or actors or directors or filmmakers, then a book comes out, or I hear of something else,” Kreditor said.

What he found behind those familiar television themes surprised even him. The composers weren’t simply writers of catchy jingles. Many were classically trained musicians whose careers included Broadway, film and symphonic music; some were Holocaust survivors or came from families that escaped Europe.

“There was just this whole new area that centered around some of the most enjoyable sing-along songs that I could present, which is kind of my shtick,” Kreditor said. “I like people to sing.”

Kreditor will bring his latest musical find to Congregation Shearith Israel at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 19, for a free community program exploring Jews and television theme songs.

The program is one piece of what will be a busy fall for Kreditor, 67, a retired real estate entrepreneur, musician, teacher and longtime Dallas Jewish community leader. He has served as board chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas and on numerous community boards and founded and chairs the Aaron Family JCC’s Bagel Run.

Of all the things Kreditor is good at, retirement isn’t one of them. 

“I’m trying so hard to cut back and just do the things that I like,” he said.

Music and teaching have made the cut.

“I love learning,” Kreditor said. “I do like to teach.”

Over the years, he taught numerous Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning classes centered on Jews and music. Now, he regularly brings musical and educational programs to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences around Dallas.

Other programs have explored the stories of Jewish musicians and composers affected by the Holocaust, including Billy Joel’s family, and their contributions to American popular culture.

This fall, he will again join Shearith Israel Senior Rabbi Adam Roffman for a course combining two of Kreditor’s favorite subjects: Broadway and Torah.

The two collaborated last year on a course examining Rodgers and Hammerstein through a Jewish lens. Kreditor would spend the first portion of each class setting the historical and musical context, followed by Roffman connecting a particular song and its lyrics to Torah.

Beginning in October, they will turn their attention to Broadway musicals of the 1960s, with plans to explore works including “West Side Story,” “Cabaret” and “Fiddler on the Roof” against the backdrop of a decade of social and cultural change.

Kreditor’s connection to music and Jewish life began long before he started teaching about either.

He started playing trumpet in fourth grade and, around the time of his bar mitzvah, began blowing shofar at the Hicksville Jewish Center on Long Island. More than 50 years later, he remains a baal tekiah, or shofar blower.

Kreditor has also seen the power of music in a very different setting.

His mother lives in memory care at The Legacy Midtown Park, where Kreditor performs every other week, playing piano for residents and hosting sing-alongs.

He has watched people who are often nonverbal begin to sing.

“They remember lyrics. They don’t know their name,” he said. “It’s the most beautiful thing.”

His mother may respond when he mentions her father’s name, the Bronx or something else from the 1930s or ’40s. Other residents respond to the songs they knew when they were young.

“I cry most times because I see such joy,” Kreditor said. “Even when their eyes are closed, they move their lips.”

It is, he said, “just discovering new ways to reach people.”

To RSVP for Kreditor’s free Aug. 19 program at Shearith Israel, visit tinyurl.com/Kreditor-TV.