(The following was composed and performed by long-time and honored Minyan member Dan Howard, during Bernie Freedman’s birthday celebration.)
Oh let me tell you the story of a man named Bernie
On that joyous and fateful day
He put on his best Kippah, Tallis and Tefillin
Rode his horse down to Berk-klee-eye-yay [Yee-haw!]
He was born in October, 1929
The year that the market crashed
It was Yom Kippur day, and after he arrived
Bernie’s mother continued her fast! [What a woman!]
Chorus:
He’s our dragon slayer, and he lives his life in prayer
With a passion for Yiddishkeit he burns
A hero to us all, with great faith he’s standing tall
He’s the mensch who always returns!
He was just graduating University of Delaware
When he got that call from Uncle Sam
“You’re needed overseas,” Uncle Sam says to Bernie
You’ll eat K-rations of Kosher ham.”
Bernie answered the call and packed up his duffel
Getting ready for that trip to France
He studied up his Berlitz so he could woo those French girls
A GI must be ready for romance!
Chorus:
He’s our dragon slayer, and he lives his life in prayer...
He enjoyed a fine career as a research chemist
While searching for the means
To create a new fuel that was better than gasoline
Bernie made that gas from beans [Soybeans, that is.]
He retired at 60 and moved back to Berkeley
With a yen for the Orthodox
So he served as president of Beth Israel
Just to eat that herring and lox.
Chorus:
He’s our dragon slayer, and he lives his life in prayer...
Bernie’s heart went out to the lovely Miriam Chaya
And believed that it was his fate
When he saw her dancing in the Harriet Fields
He knew he had found his soul mate.
Bernie loves to stay fit, plays a mean game of tennis
On the courts he is sizzling hot
Now he’s taking Ballroom lessons, and burning up that dance floor
You’re gonna love his sexy Fox Trot.
Chorus:
He’s our dragon slayer, and he lives his life in prayer...
Bernie is our hero, our Invincible Prince
You’ll never see him wear a frown
Through his trials and tribulations he keeps praying and smiling
You can’t keep a good man down!
Final Chorus:
He’s our dragon slayer, and he lives his life in prayer
With a passion for Yiddishkeit he burns
A hero to us all, with great faith he’s standing tall
He’s the mensch who always returns!