As a Jew, The Meaning of “America First”
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Songwriter and math professor Tom Lehrer lampooned false pieties in with his comic music.
For years, the singer-songwriter - and math professor - Tom Lehrer kept a “dead” file on his desk, in which he placed all the newspaper clippings which erroneously described him as “the late Tom Lehrer.” It was an understandable mistake: Lehrer first came to prominence in the early 1950s with his zany, irreverent songs, and added to his absurdist repertoire for decades. When he passed away on July 27, 2025, he was 97.
His absurd, often ridiculous, songs have thrilled and entertained people for decades.
Lehrer grew up in a warm Jewish family on the Upper East Side of New York. He took piano lessons as a child and remembered being drawn to pop music. Always a prodigy, Lehrer graduated from high school at the age of 15 and earned an honors degree from Harvard in Mathematics in 1946 when he was just 18.
He embarked on a Ph.D. but found a new outlet for his talents when he and a group of friends entered a music contest at Harvard Law School. They were the only entry, so the event’s organizers revoked the prize they’d promised to the winning act.
Lehrer wrote absurd lyrics making fun of everyday life. His songs proved so popular that he gave up graduate school to become a full-time entertainer, singing his own songs in New York City. Then, in 1960, at the height of his fame - he’d sold over 1.5 million records by then - Lehrer quit performing to finish his Ph.D. (and endeavor he later abandoned). For the next several decades, he taught math at Harvard, MIT, and the University of California, Santa Cruz, and also wrote uproarious songs.
“I don’t like people to get the idea that I have to do this for a living,” he once mock-confided at a concert. “I mean, it isn’t as though I had to do this. I could be making, oh, $3,000 a year just teaching.” The audience roared with laughter, as they always did when listening to Lehrer. His biting, irreverent way of looking at the world appealed to audiences seeking a riposte to hypocrisy and cynicism.
Although he seldom shared details about his private life, he reflected on his family’s connection to Judaism in the liner notes of a compilation album released in 2000:
“More to do with the delicatessen than the synagogue. My brother and I went to Sunday School, but we had Christmas trees, and ‘God’ was primarily an expletive, usually preceded by ‘oh’ or ‘my’ or both.”
Some of Lehrer’s funniest songs were written about the Jewish community he knew so well, skewering topics like antisemitism and the lack of interest in Jewish culture.
In the 1990s, Lehrer lamented the fact that there were no well-known American Chanukah songs. All the famous Jewish songwriters were busy composing Christmas music, Lehrer noted, with only a hint of sarcasm, instead of writing music about Jewish holidays. So Lehrer wrote Hanukkah in Santa Monica which was his answer to White Christmas (written by Jewish composer Irving Berlin).
I’m spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica / Wearing sandals / Lighting candles / By the sea…. Amid the California flora I’ll be lighting my menorah / Like a baby in his cradle I’ll be playing with my dreidel / Here’s to Judas Maccabeus / Boy, if only he could see us / Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica / By the sea.
The song includes other Jewish holidays too (Shavuos in East St. Louis), which are seldom mentioned in mainstream American songs.
Sometimes Lehrer’s embrace of Jewish themes is darker. In National Brotherhood Week, he enumerates all the different ethnic groups which traditionally have disliked each other.
Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics, And the Catholics hate the Protestants, And the Hindus hate the Moslems, And everybody hates the Jews.
In 1945, the US Army quietly brought SS Officer Wernher von Braun, a senior Nazi engineer, to the United States. Von Braun’s recruitment was part of Operation Paperclip, a top-secret plan to transfer hundreds of Nazi scientists to the US, erasing their Nazi pasts and allowing them to escape punishment. In Germany, von Braun used slave laborers to build the Nazis’ fearsome V2 rocket program which devastated London; in the US he was feted and given the opportunity to run some of the Army’ most important missile programs. Despite his many accolades (after his death, Pres. Carter eulogized von Braun as a great American patriot), Lehrer wasn’t impressed, and wrote a harshly comic song lampooning this supposed American hero:
Gather ‘round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun / A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience. / Call him a Nazi, he won’t even frown. / “Nazi, Shmazi!” says Wernher von Braun. / Don’t say that he’s hypocritical / Say rather that he’s apolitical / “Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?” / “That’s not my department!” says Wernher von Braun. / Some have harsh words for this man of renown / But some think our attitude / Should be one of gratitude / Like the widows and cripples in old London town / Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun….
Lehrer’s Political Action Song, written in the early 1950s, could have been written today about anti-Israel protests being fashionable on campuses: Now when it comes to anything political / We’re int’rested, we’re militant, we’re critical / Though it’s not quite evident / Who it is we represent, / We take stands and issue statements by the score.
Whether comically absurd or bitingly political, Tom Lehrer’s unique songs changed the way his listeners understood the world, and gave them confidence to mock the false pieties of the age. We need his darkly funny songs and the confidence they gave us today more than ever.
Uniquely witty
I don't think I ever heard of Tom Lehrer songs, I only knew another person that parodies song Weird Al
In the movie " The Wizard of Oz " the song in movie " Somewhere Over The Rainbow " is a song about the land of Israel and zionism, written by 2 Jewish guys I think from a Russian Jewish background
As a reluctant teacher of chemistry, mainly to the less academic students, I was grateful for the chance to enliven the lessons occasionally by playing Lehrer’s The Elements.
Please refer to Tom Lehrer's parody song, "Trees". Look it up - it has more religious content than any of the others mentioned.
Very creative article and individual
Lehrer enabled me to survive university in the mid-60s - and, I performed some of his songs at celebrations - forever grateful for his shared thinking and humor - Emeritus Prof Stuart B Hill
Lehrer was on the left and would have been more likely to support the anti-Israel protests then condemn them. There is no reason to assume he was pro-Zionist.
How can you connect "the left" with "anti-Israel" when Israel's founders and its governments for its first 3 decades were "leftist".
It is true that many "leftist" Jews who supported Israel strongly decades ago have trouble defending the far-right politics of Israel today, but please don't project that back as "anti-Zionism".
BDE...I started following Tom Lehrer when he was a writer for the TV show, "That Was The Week That Was" aka TW3. While others were thrilling to Rock n Roll I memorized almost every one of his songs and owned most of his albums! I still listen to him on YouTube and never tire of his incredible wit! We both speak fluent Sarcasm! I know Judaism was never his place of reverence; was there one? But in my book, he was the most talented and in his memory, maybe I'm not too old to try to memorize "The Element Song" !!!! That'll keep the grey matter from atrophying!
A good article about that killer von braun, the united states brought hundreds of these nazi killers into the country, but no one ever said a word about that in congress.....or for that mayter in the media.
I hope that SOB is in hell now....he deserves nothing better, him and Jimmy Carter can meet again.
I would like to read an unvarnished article about the Nazi scientists. In 1945, everyone knew that the USSR and the USA were locked in an ideological conflict that threatened to become another war. The US believed it needed those scientists to face down the USSR; certainly the scientists did not want to end up in the USSR. History is not simple.
I think the Nazis ( may their name be erased) hid the facts about being murdering lots of people, most of them escaped justice not only in the U. S. but also Germany, and in South and Central America like for instance Adolf Eichmann ( may his name be erased) in Argentina until somehow Massad captured him( may his name be erased) and got justice done in Israel, most Nazis( may their name be erased) should of gotten justice done like Eichmann ( may his name be erased) did, also there was the Nuremberg Trials too
Maybe, after the Beatles, the greatest musical influence of my childhood. Now in my kids' (soon grandkids') domain, we regularly reprise the Irish Ballad and The Hunting Song. Fight Fiercely Harvard's been, ahem, reborn in our age. May Tom Lehrer's acerbic neshama have an aliyah!
As I recall, Lehrer was known to have expressed reservations regarding the legitimacy of Israel.
If what you say is true, then I suspect it was b/c he was raised in a VERY Secular Jewish household.
Maybe more than secular Jews, didn't deeply Orthodox households in the 1920s -- the decade of Lehrer's birth -- also oppose Zionism?
How can religious Jews be anti Zionism? It doesn't make sense to me after the Holocaust Jews need their own homeland, some regular religious Jews believe there should be a state of Israel, if you are a believing Jew then zionism is part of Judaism in my view and according to the Jewish bible
This is nonsense. You must be too young to know the history of Israel.
The foundation of Israel was strongly supported by secular Jews. For decades, the governments of Israel were strongly secular and liberal in their outlook. Over time, Israel has transformed itself so that it's politics is now dominated by orthodox Jews. Secular Jews never envisaged a theocracy in Israel; we eschew the comparison to Islamic states.
It sounds to me that orthodox Israelis don't value and seek the support of secular Jews worldwide. That's really, really bad for Israel!
Once there was a woman Prime Minister called Golda Meir was Russian and came to America and then became a prime minister of Israel, in Israel most Sephardic Jews are traditional nether secular or religious and Askenzi Jews are either secular, Hardei( ultra Orthodox) but there are Jews that are Religious Zionists, Mizarchi type( Modern Orthodox), plus in Israel there is much more then 2 political parties, the Israeli government might be based on the English Parliament system , Israel used to be England's territory before May 14, 1948
So I will not be revealing my age, but I will admit that I am nit ye t an expert on the history of Israel. I still have a lot to learn. This sentiment is 100% serious! Thank you for sharing your statement.
No problem, Nancy. It is complicated. The word "Zionism" means different things to different people and it is necessary to understand it in context. Somewhat ironically, I started reading at this website after a Muslim pointed this site out to me to show me that the word was being used in ways that were different from how I understood the word. What he opposed was the annexation of the West Bank by Israel and that was what he was calling "Zionism". Since my experience with Zionism preceded the occupation in 1967, this was not part of my understanding of the word.
Without knowing what Lehrer actually said and what the context was, we shouldn't jump to any conclusions.
Unless you can document that accusation, you probably should not make it.