December 24 1942 – 16 Tevet 5703
Boxing champion Barney Ross (Dov-Ber Rosofsky) and his friend, Father Frederic Gehring, put on a festive concert for the troops on the American base on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal on Christmas Eve, just before the Marines were due to go into battle. Ross was the only soldier capable of playing a temperamental organ on the tropical island, so Gehring requested that he perform “Silent Night” and other Christmas carols for the homesick troops. After Ross obliged, Gehring implored him to play a Jewish song. Ross performed the melancholy “My Yiddishe Mama,” about a child’s love for his self-sacrificing mother. Many of the Marines knew the melody, because Ross had it played whenever he entered the boxing-ring.
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