Leonard Bernstein fell in love with the idea of Israel even before the state was established. The 27-year-old musical prodigy made his first trip to British Palestine in April of 1947, accompanied by his father, Samuel, and his sister Shirley. He had been invited by the Palestine Symphony Orchestra to program a series of concerts, and found himself smitten by the land and people of the state in making. In letters from Tel Aviv to his mentor, Boston Philharmonic conductor Serge Koussevitzky, Bernstein expressed great enthusiasm for Zionism and for the musicians of the Palestine Orchestra. Maestro Koussevitzky must have been surprised and somewhat shaken by Bernstein’s passion for Zionism; after all, Koussevitzky, born into a Jewish family in Russia, had converted to the Russian Orthodox Church as a teenager. That was the only way that he could advance his musical career, as Jews were not permitted in the Moscow Orchestra training program he sought to enter. In 1942, when Bernstein first emerged as a gifted and popular figure in the classical music world, Koussevitzky urged his protégé to change his name from Bernstein to Burns. “Your name is too Jewish, and too ordinary,” he said.
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