Jonathan Chait is an American pundit and writer for New York magazine. He was previously a senior editor at The New Republic and an assistant editor of The American Prospect. He writes a periodic column in the Los Angeles Times.
Kumzits (קומזיץ) is used to describe a musical gathering that Jews partake in. Everyone sits together, be it on the floor or on chairs, and sings spiritually moving songs. To establish a certain ambiance the lighting is often low and candles are primarily used, or if taking place outdoors it is usually around a campfire.
Avraham Shabsi Hakohen Friedman better known by his stage name, Avraham Fried, is a popular musical entertainer in the Orthodox Jewish community.
Baruch "Burry" Chait is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, musician and composer. He is rosh yeshiva of the Israeli high school Maarava Machon Rubin in Matityahu.
For the purposes of this article, “contemporary” refers to the period from 1967 to the present day, “Jewish” refers to the various streams and traits of Judaism practiced. Many Orthodox Jews use the term “religious” to refer to a strict adherence to Jewish law. For the purposes of this article, “religious” refers to the content and context of the music itself: liturgical or implicit references to the divine.
The Miami Boys Choir (MBC) is a boys' choir specializing in Orthodox pop since 1977.
Abie Rotenberg is a prolific Orthodox Jewish musician, composer and entertainer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has been producing music since the mid-1970s with a style which has been described as "soft and sweet" with a strong folk influence.
The history of the Jews of Thessaloniki reaches back two thousand years. The city of Thessaloniki housed a major Jewish community, mostly Eastern Sephardim, until the middle of the Second World War. Sephardic Jews immigrated to the city following the expulsion of Jews from Spain by Catholic rulers under the Alhambra Decree of 1492. It is the only known example of a city of this size in the Jewish diaspora that retained a Jewish majority for centuries. This community influenced the Sephardic world both culturally and economically, and the city was nicknamed la madre de Israel.
Yechiel Eckstein was an Israeli American rabbi who founded International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1983 and led it for many years. The objectives of the organisation were to support Jews in need of financial help, to promote emigration of Jews to Israel, and to support poor soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. In 2003, it was listed as the second-largest charitable foundation in Israel by Ha'aretz.
Moshe Aaron Yess was an Orthodox Jewish musician, composer and entertainer from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A member of the Chabad community in Montreal, Yess was a regular performer at Chabad House events and shows, together with general music festivals and the annual A Time for Music concert.
The Rabbis' Sons is a Jewish music group that released most of its albums between 1967 and 1974. It consisted of Rabbis Baruch Chait, Label Sharfman (vocals), Itzy Weinberger (vocals) and Michael Zheutlin, with David Nulman on steel guitar and Mickey Lane on bass fiddle. The group got its name because Chait, Sharfman and Weinberger were all sons of rabbis.
Hal'lu is the first Rabbis' Sons album. It contained one of the only two songs they ever released with Yiddish lyrics. "Mi Ho-ish", "Rabos Machshovos" and "Hal'lu" were among the group's most popular songs.
The second Rabbis' Sons album contained one of the only two songs they ever released with Yiddish lyrics. Tov Lehodos was one of the group's most popular songs. The liner notes to the album indicate that Baruch Chait had left the group to concentrate on his Talmudic studies at this point. However, he contributed three new songs, played guitar and co-arranged the music.
Menachem Leib "Manny" Waks is an Australian activist. He was previously part of the Orthodox Jewish community in Australia and later became known for his activism against child sexual abuse in the Jewish community worldwide. He founded Tzedek, an organisation to fight child sexual abuse in Jewish communities. Waks assisted the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in investigating Melbourne Yeshivah centre of the Orthodox Chabad movement of Judaism on their handling of child sexual abuse cases. After publicising child sexual abuse in the Jewish community in Australia, Waks moved to France.
Oded David "Dedi" Graucher, known professionally as Dedi, was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish singer.
Benzion Hakohen "Benny" Friedman is an American Hasidic Jewish singer and a non-pulpit rabbi. Professionally trained in voice, he rose to prominence on the Orthodox pop scene with his first album in 2009. Singing mainly in Hebrew, Friedman tours extensively and also appears in music videos. He views his music as a shlichus (outreach) tool, with the goal of drawing Jews closer to Judaism.
The Diaspora Yeshiva Band was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish rock band founded at the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, by baal teshuva students from the United States. In existence from 1975 to 1983, the band infused rock and bluegrass music with Jewish lyrics, creating a style of music it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern". The band was very popular on college campuses in the early to mid-1980s, and was well known in Jerusalem for its Saturday-night concerts at David's Tomb. It had a considerable influence on contemporary Jewish religious music, inspiring later bands such as Blue Fringe, 8th Day, Reva L'Sheva, Soulfarm, the Moshav Band, and Shlock Rock. Fifteen years after it disbanded, band leader Avraham Rosenblum revived the band under the name Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora and produced several more albums.
"Kol Ha'Olam Kulo" is a Hebrew language song by Orthodox Jewish rabbi Baruch Chait adapted from the epigram attributed to the Hasidic rabbi Nachman of Breslov, "The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge and the main thing is to have no fear at all". Israeli singer Ofra Haza also performs a popular version of the song. The lyric is based on an excerpt from Likutei Moharan II #48.
Yisrael Baruch Mordechai "Motty" Steinmetz is a prominent Hasidic singer.
Ishay Ribo is an Israeli singer-songwriter. A Sephardic Orthodox Jew, he has gained popularity in Israel among Haredi, national-religious, and secular Jewish audiences. He has released four studio albums, two of which have been certified gold and one which went platinum.
