Thank God! for Diversity

Tu B’shvat, the birthday of the trees, is usually pretty snowy in the Northeastern United States. It was a cold January morning, about 6:00 AM. I was waiting for a train at 30th St. Station in Philadelphia, on my way to even colder Albany, NY to play music with little kids up there. As you may know, at 6:00 AM it is difficult to get a song out of your head, and I had an awful, dumb, annoying, kids train song stuck in mine.

Desperately trying to fix this situation I started singing Pete Seeger, Bob Marley, Woody Guthrie, Talib Kweli and Shlomo Carlebach, spinning quality tunes through my head in rapid succession. It wasn’t working. It still wasn’t working. I started singing “Zion Train” and “Oh What a Beautiful City” out loud, but to no avail. So I started writing my own song.

"Thank God for Diversity" is one of my first Jewish kids songs. Imagine if there was only one type of tree? Walks in the woods would be so boring. Imagine if there was only one type of Jew? Or one type of person? Life itself would be boring. I wrote this cute, but pretty deep kids tune for Tu B'Shvat. It’s an all year song though. It’s inspired by Torah and Jewish tradition, but it’s for everybody to sing.

With this song I’ve had the pleasure of introducing kids to the word “diversity” and teaching them what it means. When they’re three or four years old, it’s easier than when they’re adults. I play the song often in Rittenhouse Square, where I met these holy folks Jared and Mira. As a Jew of both Irish and Jewish descent, I immediately felt an affinity for their work. Something about a yarmulked head and Irish name makes people look at me twice. While I like attention (what performer doesn’t), I get bored of the same questions and attitudes. I love knowing I’m not alone in that.

The more I sing this song, the more I realize that I wrote it specifically for Jews of all colors, shades, philosophies, physical and mental abilities, personal and family backgrounds. If the Jewish nation can get it together, maybe the whole world will realize it’s possible for all of us to get together.

Thank God For Diversity is on my EP “Songs From Rittenhouse Square” available for a “choose your own donation” at jimmy-costello.com.