{"id":3026,"date":"2024-01-18T09:38:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T09:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/?p=3026"},"modified":"2026-06-14T09:48:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T09:48:37","slug":"barbra-paskins-letter-from-hollywood-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/?p=3026","title":{"rendered":"Barbra Paskin's Tribute to Pat Boone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"382\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Barbra-Paskin-11.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3027\" style=\"width:362px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">HOLLYWOOD, California--- A few weeks ago in the Torah we began reading the book of <em>Exodus. <\/em>So it seemed appropriate to focus this column on the man I\u2019ve had the pleasure of interviewing many times over the years in his memorabilia-filled office in Beverly Hills \u2013 the legendary Pat Boone. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In December 1960, the 26-year old pop idol wrote and recorded <em>The Exodus Song<\/em>&nbsp;(<em>This Land Is Mine<\/em>)<em>&nbsp;<\/em>to the stirring theme music of the newly-released film, <em>Exodus<\/em>. His record debuted a few weeks later in mid-January and remained on the music charts for six weeks. It was a deeply-poignant song which resonated for millions of Jews and Christians around the world and it\u2019s become regarded as Israel\u2019s second national anthem.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><\/strong>Pat wrote it after watching the Paul Newman-starrer based on the novel by Leon Uris about the founding of Israel. He had been riveted by the novel and mesmerised by the film. And was greatly&nbsp;moved by Ernest Gold\u2019s emotive and haunting score (a later Academy Award winner), which was already an international hit, but there was no theme song; director Otto Preminger and Ernest Gold felt there could never be lyrics that would capture the feeling, the vision and the soul of the film, and had turned down every request to approve a song. Until Christmas Eve 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A few days ago, I caught up with Pat as he reflected on the life-changing events that led to his writing the song that has held such an important place in Jewish history for 63 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018When I saw <em>Exodus, <\/em>about the return of the land that God promised Israel forever and the new modern state, I was thrilled! I\u2019m a Zionist and in my perspective a Zionist is a person who believes God created Israel for the Jewish people.<em>&nbsp;<\/em>And I wanted passionately to sing that melody from the film. So I tried to get an idea for a lyric to propose to a Jewish writer. I wasn\u2019t thinking of writing it myself then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018Well, it was Christmas Eve and my wife, Shirley, was begging me to quit playing that piano record of the <em>Exodus<\/em>&nbsp;music. She said \u201cplease help me get the presents under the tree so we can go to bed!\u201d And I said, \u201cokay, honey, just one more time\u201d. I'd already listened, like, 40 times in a row. So I put the needle back on the LP. \u201cBum bum, bum bum\u2026\u2026\u2026\u201d and then I heard the words \u201c<em>This land is mine\u201d c<\/em>ome out of me. They flashed into my mind and I thought, \u201cthat\u2019s it, that\u2019s the whole story of <em>Exodus<\/em>!\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"THE EXODUS SONG\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C1sSfNHghZc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>                                                                    Pat Boone sings the \"Exodus Song\"<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He grabbed the nearest blank paper and scribbled the line. And each time he put the needle back on the record to hear the next bars of music, the lyrics poured out of him. \u2018It was like taking dictation. Literally! Because in about 20 minutes, I had written the words to that song. Then I turned over the piece of white paper that I was writing it on... and it was a Christmas card!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Pat has always believed the words came through him directly from God. When he sang the song to Shirley, she told him instantly, \u201cPat, those are the words! I think God gave them to you.\u201d \u2018And, of course, that\u2019s my belief too. He did.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">The lyrics that flowed out of his heart that night were a testament to his faith and his profound &nbsp;love of Israel. He\u2019d had a religious upbringing in Tennessee, attending Christian high school and university. Studying the Bible since childhood, from a very early age he\u2019d felt a kinship with Judaism. \u2018Since I was a little boy, I was reading Bible stories and fell in love with Israel. The stories were real to me. My love for and identification with Israel and the Jews grew out of my boyhood, growing up in a Christian family but one that recognised that everything we believed as Christians and everything we hold sacred came directly out of the history of the Jews.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">For the last 47 years he has read the Bible every day from beginning to end.&nbsp;\u2018I read through it every year from start to finish in daily portions and every day without exception. There's always something that jumps out at me that I didn't see before, something I learn in ways I'm inspired.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">His belief in the Bible has led to his feeling intrinsically Jewish and for much of his life he has described himself as \u201can adopted Jew\u201d. \u2018Christians are still startled when they hear me say this, but I\u2019ve known it since I was a kid - that every word of the Bible, from Genesis to end of the Book of Revelation, every word was written by Jews, about Jews and for Jews, all concerning the little nation of Israel focused on God\u2019s chosen people.&nbsp;And as the New Testament says, we are adopted into the family of God\u2019s chosen people. So of course I feel Jewish. As you see, I wear my Chai and my Magen David and we have all kinds of Jewish symbols all over our house.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Since his first visit to Israel at Pesach in the mid \u201860s, during which he attended his first seder, Pat Boone has made 21 trips there. \u2018The first time I went to Israel was with my family,\u2019 he recalled, \u2018and we went over to do a TV special called <em>The Boone Family in the Holy Land<\/em>. We arrived in Ben Gurion airport not long after a terrible commando raid on the airport and the bullet holes were still very evident in the walls. So there was some nervousness. But everywhere we went there were Israeli soldiers with the Uzis or rifles or guns slung over their shoulders, standing guard, so that we always felt secure and safe, no matter where we went.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">At the request of the Israeli government, at the end of the Yom Kippur war in 1973 Pat visited the IDF troops below Mount Hermon in territory newly captured from Syria. With the soldiers urging him to sing the lyrics to <em>Exodus, <\/em>he stood among them in the bunker wearing a helmet and flak jacket with shells still flying overhead from Damascus and sang the evocative words: <em>This land is mine, God gave this land to me &nbsp;- <\/em>\u2018I had no accompaniment except the occasional shell. It was very moving to all of us.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">It was on one of Pat\u2019s early trips to Israel that he was approached by Shaya ben Yehuda, director of International Relations at Yad Vashem. \u2018He walked up to me, this big, burly man with tears in his eyes, and said, \u201cyou don't know what those words you wrote mean to us here at Yad Vashem\u201d. He really was emotional about it and it made me emotional because here I am, a kid from Tennessee, white bread, gentile guy, but so strongly identifying with everything truly Jewish.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp; He asked Pat if he would donate the lyrics to the museum. \u2018I said, \u201cyes, of course. But I need to let you know that I wrote those words on the back of a Christmas card, it was the first thing that was handy!\u201d And he said, \u201cGreat! We know that evangelical Christians are our strongest support. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be able to survive. So it's perfect that your lyric was written on the back of a Christmas card.\u201d Then, still with the tears in his eyes, he said, \u201cRight now we have a campaign underway to see that every Jewish child in Israel knows those words to that song you wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Pat paused, still greatly affected by the memory even all these years later. \u2018He wanted every school kid to be able to recite those words. It's hard for me to describe how moving that is to me.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In 2013, in a glittering dedication ceremony headed by his longtime friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pat Boone gave Israel the lyrics to <em>The Exodus Song<\/em>. The Xmas card on which he wrote it now hangs in Yad Vashem on the wall of the Righteous Gentiles, alongside tributes to other Christians, including Oskar Schindler and Corrie ten Boom, who made incredible personal sacrifices to the Jewish people during the Holocaust. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">For decades he has been associated with the Fellowship of Christians and Jews after becoming a close friend of its late founder and president in Jerusalem, Rabbi Eckstein, who said of Pat, \u201cThere\u2019s no greater friend of Israel\u201d. &nbsp;In 1992, he invited him to host a tv special and appeal to evangelical Christians to fund the freeing and transportation of Jews to Israel following the fall of the Iron Curtain. Pat\u2019s response was immediate - \u2018the idea of asking Christians to support the program of bringing aged Jews from behind the Iron Curtain to dwell in the Promised Land while they were still alive just really resonated with me\u2019 - and the massive donations and overwhelming pledges of support from the Christian community launched the organization onto the national stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Since then, Pat has remained proudly involved as the Fellowship has flourished, helping hundreds of thousands of Jews to escape poverty and antisemitism by returning to their biblical homeland, and funding humanitarian assistance that has touched the lives of millions of Jews in need in Israel and around the world, while providing life-saving aid to Israel\u2019s victims of war and terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Over the years, Pat Boone has hosted many tours to Israel on which he\u2019s escorted thousands of Christian tourists.&nbsp;Named the Christian Ambassador of Tourism by the Israel Ministry of Tourism, in 2016 he was awarded&nbsp;the Zionist Cultural Impact Award in Jerusalem for his contribution to Zionist cultural influence around the world. &nbsp;During his visit he met with IDF soldiers and told them: \u201cI'm wearing a Star of David as a token of my esteem for the people of Israel. I count myself as a Zionist and I want you all to know that I am a true friend of yours and that America will always stand by you. You are the true fruit of this land, the future generation of Israel.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">On Israel\u2019s 70<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;birthday in 2018, he hosted a glittering 70th anniversary gala in Jerusalem and &nbsp;performed with the Jerusalem Symphony. \u201cI\u2019m very excited to be here in&nbsp;the Holy Land,\u201d he enthused later to <em>The Times of Israel<\/em>. \u201cWith every visit I feel that Israel is becoming my second home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">A year ago, he received <em>The Algemeiner<\/em>&nbsp;newspaper\u2019s <em>Warrior for Truth<\/em>&nbsp;award at their annual gala, honoring the top 100 people who had positively influenced Jewish life that year. Accepting his award, Pat<em>&nbsp;<\/em>told the audience that he felt \u201clike family\u201d with the Jewish people. \u201cI call myself, as a Christian, an adopted Jew and I\u2019ve always considered myself part of God\u2019s chosen people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">So many trips to Israel over the years, always leaving him wanting more. \u2018Going to Israel is walking into the pages of the Bible,\u2019 he has described of his countless visitations. \u2018You just walk in. When David fought Goliath, I\u2019ve been on the very piece of ground where he slew Goliath. I\u2019ve been in the cave in Ein Gedi where he hid from Saul. When you come back home, everything you read then is in Technicolor. You say, \u201cOh wow, I\u2019ve been there!\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Yet, what was it, I asked, that motivated him to keep returning. \u2018It's our homeland,\u2019 he replied simply. \u2018I say \u201cour\u201d because if we are part of the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as we feel we certainly are, we call it our land. When I wrote the lyrics to Ernest Gold's great melody for <em>Exodus<\/em>&nbsp;I was so strongly identifying with it - \"<em>So take my hand and walk this land with me<\/em>.\" I was, of course, singing for every Israeli, but also for every man, woman or child who, like we do by the millions, identify totally with Israel, its past, its present, and its destiny, and are so supportive of Israel. Because we believe that America's future depends on our relationship with Israel.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Along with his relationship with Israel is the one he shares with Benjamin Netanyahu. They\u2019ve been friends since the mid-70s when Netanyahu was at college in America, studying at the Institute of Technology in Massachusetts. \u2018He calls me Speedy Gonzalez because of the record I made,\u2019 laughed Pat, \u2018and that was his favourite song while he was at MIT! He was a big fan of mine when he was in college there! And every time we're together, as we have been many times, he says, \"hello, Speedy, come on in!\u201d to his office in Jerusalem. He knows how devoted I am to Israel, and always have been, and that we Christians, evangelical Christians, as he says, are Israel\u2019s greatest allies in the world. &nbsp;Evangelical, Bible-believing Christians know Israel\u2019s place in God\u2019s scheme of things, His plans for Israel.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In the creative side of his life, Pat has enjoyed a remarkable career that has spanned more than 70 years. He\u2019s the #10 all-time top recording artist, and has sold 45 million records worldwide.&nbsp;Before there was Elvis (who opened for one of his shows in 1955) there was Pat Boone, already a top star. He was a teen idol, even while still attending college, rising to stardom in the \u201850s and \u201860s with major hits that included <em>Speedy Gonzalez, &nbsp;Love Letters in the Sand, Tutti Frutti, Ain\u2019t that a Sham<\/em>e and too many others to name. He was constantly mobbed by adoring female fans, even after his marriage at 19 to Shirley Foley, daughter of the great country music singer Red Foley. By 1956, he was one of the biggest and most popular recording stars in the US; and in 1957, now the father of four little girls, he was named America\u2019s 3rd most popular star. He was only 23 when that same year, a few months before graduating from university, he<em>&nbsp;<\/em>became the youngest person in history to have his own weekly variety show, <em>The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom<\/em>, which aired for 115 episodes (1957\u20131960). It frequently won the highest ratings and featured many artists like Sammy Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole making their first appearances on television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pat Boone Speedy Gonzales  (EDI\u00c7\u00c3O HB 2017)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g_o5paTxIoo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Pat may have topped the charts before Elvis, but the two of them soon became rivals (and friends), vying with each other for the top spots in music charts around the world. By the end of the \u201850s Pat was the second biggest charting artist behind Elvis. He\u2019s the most recorded artist of all time, with over 2600 songs and 86 albums to his name. He\u2019s racked up 41 hits (1 more than Elvis) and still holds the astonishing record for having had one or more singles in the US charts for 220 consecutive weeks, including <em>I\u2019ll Be Home <\/em>which reached No.1 in the UK where he was immensely popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He\u2019s written and sung a multitude of songs in several genres, from rock \u2018n roll to blues and Christian ballads and gospel to love songs and movies themes. The most successful \u201950s pop star turned movie star after Elvis, he\u2019s starred in 15 films, among them <em>April Love, State Fair, Journey to the Centre of the Earth <\/em>and <em>The Greatest Story Ever Told. <\/em><em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In 1999, Pat launched his record label, <em>The Gold Label<\/em>, designed for legendary older artists with million-selling gold records to their credit, including Andy Williams, Glen Campbell, Jack Jones, Roger Williams, Patti Page, Cleo Laine, Sha Na Na, (and Pat himself).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">He\u2019s written dozens of books, many devoted to religious themes. The first, <em>\u2018Twixt Twelve and Twenty <\/em>in 1958, offered advice to teenagers and was a number one best&nbsp;seller. A prolific writer and speaker, he holds a fierce opinion on a wide number of issues and for years has written articles and columns in newspapers across America. He commentates on a plethora of controversial political topics, even as new generations discover his unending appeal as a recording artist. In 2022, during the start of the Ukrainian war, he released a new version of <em>Exodus, <\/em>a moving duet which he sang with Judeo-Christian cantor Margo Joy (whom Andrea Bocelli describes as \u201ca melodic genius\u201d). And 61 years after co-starring with Ann-Margret in the musical<em>&nbsp;State Fair,<\/em>&nbsp;last year he reteamed with her in a duet on her album <em>Born to be Wild<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1304\" height=\"1587\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/PAT-BOONE-crop-CU-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3028\" style=\"width:488px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/PAT-BOONE-crop-CU-2.jpg 1304w, https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/PAT-BOONE-crop-CU-2-768x935.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/PAT-BOONE-crop-CU-2-1262x1536.jpg 1262w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1304px) 100vw, 1304px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">                                                                  Pat Boone  (c)  Photo by Barbra Paskin<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">At the tender age of 89, he\u2019s an avid golfer, swimmer and tennis player still active after two knee replacements. He\u2019s presently recovering from a broken hip which happened during a workout 2 months ago. But he\u2019s still riding on a creative high. Once he\u2019s fully healed he\u2019s looking forward to reinstating some concerts and personal appearances that had to be cancelled after the mishap - \u2018I know I can still sing so if I can walk I\u2019ll be fine!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Currently celebrating his 70th anniversary as an entertainer, there seems no slowing him down. For the last four years, he\u2019s been hosting <em>The Pat Boone Hour<\/em>&nbsp;on SiriusXM, <em>The Pat Boone Kaleidoscope Radio Hour <\/em>on the BNR Radio Network, and has an audience of more than 600,000 people who tune in to <em>Pat Boone\u2019s Kaleidoscope <\/em>on Spotify to listen to his early recordings. He recently published his 29th book, <em>If,<\/em>&nbsp;sharing his religious inspirations (he\u2019s already starting on his 30<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;book), and starred as an old golf pro in the movie <em>The Mull<\/em>igan. And just a few months ago he fulfilled his dream of making a country record. He released <em>Country Jubilee,<\/em>&nbsp;a double album that includes a duet with Crystal Gayle and where he sings classics that were megahits by earlier country legends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Also on the album is <em>Grits, <\/em>a country-western song he wrote which was released as a single and to his amazement flew straight into the Top 20. \u2018It\u2019s a huge hit,\u2019 Pat bubbled proudly, \u2018and it came to me in a dream! I was dreaming I had a big country hit record. And I even heard the first verse in my dream!<em>&nbsp;<\/em>It\u2019s now become a country hit all over the nation!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">So, less than six months shy of turning 90, what keeps Pat Boone constantly on the move? &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><\/strong><strong>\u2018<\/strong>I just have a creative mind, a creative soul. But also I\u2019m receptive to impulses which I believe are from God. And there are times when I feel like God's giving me something and I obey and I write. I think many of my songs were given to me, like <em>Exodus<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;\u2018I've written and sung more gospel songs than almost anybody in the gospel music field. And I've also recorded more songs than any artist in history. Frank Sinatra recorded 1500 songs and I think they're all classics because Sinatra was so wonderful. Bing Crosby was my role model and he recorded 2000 songs. But I've now recorded over 2600 songs\u2026and counting! I\u2019m still doing it! And I'm the only artist to record all of America's great patriotic songs on an album called <em>American Glory<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>American Glory <\/em>was a 2002 album that Pat recorded post-9\/11. It was just what the traumatised nation needed after witnessing the deadliest domestic terrorist attacks in its history, and it fast &nbsp;became the biggest-ever seller in the life of Pat\u2019s <em>Gold Label<\/em>, reaching number 135 on the <em>Billboard<\/em>&nbsp;charts. It was his first album to chart in 35 years. He wrote a new song for it, <em>Under God<\/em>, and, released as a single, it stirred people\u2019s hearts and shot into the Top 20.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1231\" height=\"979\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/PAT-SHIRLEY-BOONE-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3029\" style=\"width:551px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/PAT-SHIRLEY-BOONE-2.jpg 1231w, https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/PAT-SHIRLEY-BOONE-2-768x611.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1231px) 100vw, 1231px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">                                                              Pat and Shirley Boone   (c) Photo by Barbra Paskin<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">In 2019, a few weeks after celebrating their 64<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;wedding anniversary, Pat\u2019s beloved wife Shirley died. They\u2019d been together since they were 16, high school sweethearts. \"We lived a wonderful, blessed life together,\u201d Pat said at the time. \u201cI've parted with my better half for a little while\u2026but we don't die, we just move on to another Heavenly place, and today was moving day. She's changed her address, that\u2019s all, and moved to a different mansion that I expect to join her in one day.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">For 67 years, the couple had been devoted to each other and often took \u201csecond or third honeymoon\u201d voyages together. An achiever in her own right, Shirley had been a best-selling author, recording artist and, like her husband, a devoted humanitarian. In 1979, struck by the plight of the Cambodians, they set up a humanitarian hunger relief organization <em>Save the Refugees<\/em>&nbsp;which evolved into &nbsp;<em>Mercy Corps<\/em>. Today it\u2019s one of the largest hunger-relief charities in the world, operating in 40 countries alongside the Red Cross and other global agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Pat still lives in the Beverly Hills mansion that they bought in 1960 and where they raised their four daughters. He told me he feels Shirley\u2019s presence everywhere and talks to her every day, as he also does with God. Their fervent religious faith was a binding commitment that the whole family shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">As he looks back on an extraordinary lifetime of achievements, Pat Boone believes <em>The Exodus Song <\/em>changed his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018It\u2019s part of Jewish history now and it makes me feel so proud,\u2019 Pat told me softly. \u2018It seems odd that someone who\u2019s not Jewish could write that song, and it still stuns people, especially Jewish people, when I sing it. But I can't think of another song that means more to me than that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018If I were to pick one song out of the 2,600 songs I've recorded,\u2019 he considered, \u2019it would be <em>Exodus.<\/em>&nbsp;And I\u2019m so grateful that God let me write the words. For a Christian gentile guy from Nashville to have written those words, which have become virtually the second Jewish national anthem after <em>Hatikvah<\/em>, is the milestone in my life!\u2019 &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Till next time, Shavua tov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"April Love Movie Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VGkOLdzW-0E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HOLLYWOOD, California--- A few weeks ago in the Torah we began reading the book of Exodus. So it seemed appropriate to focus this column on the man I\u2019ve had the pleasure of interviewing many times over the years in his memorabilia-filled office in Beverly Hills \u2013 the legendary Pat Boone. &nbsp; In December 1960, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-from-hollywood"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3026"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5916,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3026\/revisions\/5916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}