NARRATOR: Max, alone now and back in the apartment he had shared with Jennie for almost four years: It fits that he opens the tape with a song. His voice, although somewhat shaky, was sure of the tune and faithful to the words.
MAX: (singing) Adon olom, asher molach, b'terem Kol, y'tseer niv'ro... (In the background, a friend of Max's sings a cantorial.)
Max explained:
MAX: Hello, hello, hello. I couldn't resist my amateur feelings to sing to you something new. As you know the synagogue has vacation. And before we went for vacation they introduced a new adonolom. I don't know how many there are, maybe six, or seven. Maybe a whole dozen different melodies.
This is the latest. And I liked it. So you'll have to listen to it, if you like it or not.
NARRATOR: Although my repertoire of Hebrew 40 songs is sorely lacking, the song that Max sang to Paul at the beginning of this tape gave me full-body shivers of recognition. It is a rousing tune, one of a dozen standards that are sung in Friday night services.
On the night of my bas-mitzvah, just one year after Jennie died, I led the congregation in this song. I recall: the melodic voices of Max and his sons, all good singers, rose above even the voice of the Cantor. They sang with their hearts then, as they still do during Passover celebrations.
Who was Max singing with? Max introduced his pal:
MAX: The second artist is a man that used to be a chazzan. Now he's Marlen Gardens resident. He is a lucky man that I told you about: his wife was sick like Mama. And her fortune, or misfortune, she was operated [on], and she's still around here. She didn't get better and she don't get worse. So, by the way the man is a rich man, and he has a maid steady for her, and he's what you call all right. So here you have the story of me and my pal.
NARRATOR: In some ways, music was as much a positive factor to Max's survival as his children's presence. It both energized and calmed him, made him at once somber and joyful. Although Max joked about his singing to Paul, it was as crucial for him to sing as it was to talk.