Arlo Guthrie's Bubbe

Arlo Guthrie in 1979
Public Domain

Way before Alice's Restaurant, there was Bubbe's kitchen.  Bubbe was Arlo Guthrie's Jewish grandmother, and he warmly remembers Shabbat dinners at her home, saying: Nobody ever came close to her blintzes.  

Her name was Aliza Greenblatt, and she was the mother of Woody Guthrie's second wife, Marjorie Mazia (a Martha Graham dancer at the time).  Although from very different backgrounds, Aliza and Woody shared much in common.  They were both antifascists who were immersed in music and poetry: she an "Orthodox Jewish songwriter," and he an "Oklahoma Christian troubadour."

Bubbe's husband was not as enamored as she was with Woody.  In order to better fit in with the family, Woody embarked upon an intense study of Judaism.  Bubbe was one of his primary mentors.  

Although Woody had previously written songs based upon biblical stories (including those from the Hebrew Bible), he now wrote a number of songs about Jewish historical struggles.  Arlo's sister, Nora Guthrie, recalled that "Woody loved spirituality...[and] felt all religions sprang from the same well."  Arlo himself  has shown a special fondness for performing Bubbe's Yiddish songs and Woody's Jewish ones, all the while upholding ancestral traditions of social justice.

Resources

https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/10614/