יום חמישי, ג׳ תמוז תשפ״וThursday, June 18, 2026
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By Mendi Glik
When he sings at a chuppah and sees the chosson and kallah glowing, Faiden knows he is fulfilling his shlichus.
By Mendi Glik
At his parents’ home, everyone sang – not professionally, but they all loved to sing. He has bli ayin hara 11 siblings, so you can just imagine their Shabbat table when they were growing up. Not only did everyone sing, but every sibling wanted to be the lead singer.
By Mendi Glik
Over the years, Cohen was in close contact with his uncle. He used to send him songs and consult with him. Shloime taught him that to sing is to pray.
By Alan Zeitlin
The play presents Dahl as a man in physical pain, desperate to secure his marriage to his second wife, and increasingly cornered by public backlash.
By Mendi Glik
The album features rich orchestration, blending strings, brass, and piano with saxophone, clarinet, and electric guitar in the style of traditional chassidic music.
By Mendi Glik
For thousands of years, throughout the long years of exile, the Jewish people have never forgotten Jerusalem. And indeed, after two thousand years in the Diaspora, Hashem performed a huge miracle and returned Am Yisrael to the land of Israel, and to Jerusalem.
By Mendi Glik
The Zionist movement drew profound inspiration from Bar Kochba’s spirit of resistance. But it is deeply ironic that today, many self-proclaimed liberals continue to refer to our ancient homeland as Palestine with total disregard for the name’s origins.
By Mendi Glik
The field of wedding bands is crowded. There are many in the marketplace. But Shir Soul stands out because of the high standards Ross maintains for the band.
By Mendi Glik
I asked some Israelis in the community if they knew the song. And guess what? They also were not familiar with it. I realized that most of the readers here also might not be familiar with the song, so I decided to review it in this column.
By Mendi Glik
In the concentration camps and the gas chambers, Jews were murdered on the cursed soil of Europe. And while their brothers and sisters in the United States couldn’t do much for them, the little they could do was to shout.
By Mendi Glik
MBD produced his son’s first album, titled “Together.” When it came to the second album, his father stepped back and encouraged Werdyger to take the wheel, offering guidance as needed.
By Mendi Glik
Classic Israeli music has many songs to offer about spring and nature. And how could it not? Just walking outside in Israel immediately inspires you.
By Mendi Glik
As the soloist who helped popularize these songs for the original Pirchei choir, Sonnenblick reunites with his younger self on the new album, Yussi Sonnenblick: Then and Now, through harmonies and melodies, bringing those timeless pieces back to life in a way that only he can.
By Mendi Glik
Shabbat is the peak of the week, explains Meir. And for him, the peak of Shabbat was always singing zemirot.
By Mendi Glik
Perhaps one of the most famous and most beloved songs about Rabbi Elimelech is the well-known popular Yiddish folk song “Der Rebbe Elimelech,” or “Harabi Elimelech” in Hebrew.
By Mendi Glik
What I like about Simche Friedman’s Purim medley, which he released last year, is that it’s not too electronic. The beat is a freilach style, upbeat, and makes you jump.
By Mendi Glik
A good Purim party needs music – good music. When you build your playlist for your upcoming Purim party, don’t forget to check the two columns from last year – you’ll find some good suggestions. And now let’s look at some more.
By Mendi Glik
At age six, Harris started to play the violin. His parents sent him to music school because his uncle had given him a violin, and he joined the school orchestra, which he played in for five years.
By Mendi Glik
Katz has this unique feature that his music speaks to a wide range of people.
By Mendi Glik
Hisyatzvu features a clarinet solo in the middle, followed by a piano solo, which sounds jazzier. I can understand why it didn’t become a first or second dance song at weddings, because it is a little complex. But it’s a great song.
By Mendi Glik
Jews and Jazz takes the form of mini-biographies of the most important Jewish contributors to jazz since the 1920s. It focuses on 140 people – 136 of them Jewish, and four non-Jewish but with connections to the Jewish world – all of whom have had significant impact on jazz since its development in the past 100 years or so.
By Mendi Glik
Chasidic music is limited. That’s the nature of the music. Think about it, Bichler says – most of the Jews in Eastern Europe were hardworking people. Many of them were in survival mode. Life was not easy. And that was reflected in the music. It was simple.
By Mendi Glik
His style is different from the typical Klezmer players. He’s not only a Klezmer violinist; he’s also a jazz violinist – he mixes the two genres.
By Mendi Glik
Right after Yaakov concludes his beracha to Ephraim and Menashe, he blesses their father, his beloved son, Yosef. Va’ani natati lecha sh’chem echad al acheicha… – And I gave you sh’chem echad – sh’chem in Hebrew means shoulder. But in Yaakov’s beracha, it means that he gave Yosef more, something extra above his brother.
By Mendi Glik
I mentioned that many tracks on his album have a traditional chassidic feel, with brass, strings, piano, and classic rhythms. He told me that was absolutely intentional. To him, this is genuine heimishe music – music that comes from the neshama.
By Mendi Glik
Whether you read this column on Tuesday, Friday, or even Motzaei Shabbat, it’s still Chanukah – and Chanukah parties are still going on. So today I’d like to review some music for Chanukah.
By Mendi Glik
Where does their inspiration come from? They tell me they are inspired by world events as well as personal experiences.
By Mendi Glik
Ahavat Yisrael – loving and caring for another Jew as though he were you – is something which is identified with Rav Neria, zt”l. Over the years, his students have told many stories about how he loved them, how he cared about each of them, and how he loved Am Yisrael.
By Mendi Glik
Yativ has always understood that music is a key to the soul. His goal is to create music with messages of emunah and closeness to Hashem.
By Mendi Glik
While there are so many wedding songs out there in the Jewish music world (which I wouldn’t be able to cover in one column), I’d like to recommend one which might not be the most well-known wedding song but is really beautiful.
By Mendi Glik
Walking the streets of Hebron is a unique experience. You can see and feel the history from every street corner. Almost every place you walk has a story.
By Mendi Glik
One of my favorite singers is Yehuda Glanz, whose album Na’ale, which was released in 1993, has been one of my favorites since I was in high school.
By Mendi Glik
In general, Dedi did a lot of chesed. While he was considered a chasidic singer, some of his songs are very Zionist and patriotic and talk about our zechus (right) to be in Eretz Yisrael – something we find less among other classical chasidic singers.
By Alan Zeitlin
Jewish actor Saul Rubinek talks about his role as a rabbi in the 2022 film Shttl and starring in the new Off-Broadway play in Brooklyn called Playing Shylock.
By Mendi Glik
While many of the secular Israeli songs were influenced by the Bible and respected Jewish tradition, some of them were totally inappropriate and disrespectful, and made a mockery of our tradition.
By Mendi Glik
As we know, Hashem created the levana (moon) on the fourth day, and it’s also the subject of one of Avraham Fried’s songs. His album Bracha Vehatzlacha was released in 1995 and is one of my favorites.
By Mendi Glik
For those of you who are hearing about them for the first time, run to YouTube or Spotify right after Havdalah. Your Chol HaMoed travels are going to be a lot of fun – their music and rhythm are very upbeat.
By Mendi Glik
When preparing for a performance, it’s very important to know how to choose a piece. It’s not enough for the cantor just to like the music. It has to be a piece that matches his voice.
By Mendi Glik
Do not have any excuses. The Torah is not far away. You don’t have to reach the heavens or cross the ocean in order to learn Torah and do mitzvot.
By Mendi Glik
The navi Yishayahu compares the return of Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael as doves who return to their home. The navi continues and describes how the gates of Israel will be open day and night for Jews to return home.
By Mendi Glik
Moti used to listen to chazzanut for hours and try to analyze the pieces, to listen to the dynamics and understand their meaning.
By Mendi Glik
I’ll be very honest with you: This new trend of using different tunes for the High Holiday tefillot really ruins the davening for me.
By Mendi Glik
Yossi grew up in a musical house. His mother played accordion and used to sing with the kids every Shabbat. His grandfather on his father’s side was a ba’al tefillah. His grandfather’s brother was a cantor and knew the big cantors.
By Mendi Glik
You’ll be surprised to hear that Netanel was not pushed by his father to be chazzan – it was all his choice. But chazzanut was a big part of his childhood.
By Mendi Glik
The key to success is very simple: If you see someone you like, don’t be shy – approach her (or him), introduce yourself, be nice, and have a chat.
By Mendi Glik
Music can generate curiosity. Once young people start to listen to this music often, they might start to look for the “original.” And if it sounds almost the same anyway, why not start listening here and there to more goyish music?
By Mendi Glik
The reason, by the way, that I didn’t really pay attention to the words all those years is because the melody is just so beautiful that I didn’t really care that I didn’t understand the words.
By Mendi Glik
When Motty returned to Israel from the trip, he continued to sing and play music at events, and sometimes used to sing the Hashgacha Pratit song, but with his own words. Instead of “hashgacha pratit,” he used to sing machshavot tovot, diburim tovim (positive thinking, positive speech).
By Mendi Glik
One day, his brother brought him a cassette of Bob Marley. It was the first time he had listened to Bob Marley, and from that moment he got connected to reggae music and started to make his own reggae. It’s kind of as if reggae chose him.
By Mendi Glik
How many scary scenarios heard we heard in the last few years about the day Israel will have to attack Iran? It seemed to complicated, nearly impossible. But we must not forget that the main reason everything worked perfectly is just because of the hashgacha of Hashem.
By Mendi Glik
The yeshiva is all about authenticity and feeling, [being] real with yourself, Rabbi Wolf told me. When you have those thoughts, you think of real stuff, it generates inspiration, and the students share it with the world.
By Mendi Glik
A lot more songs during dance sets are rock or electronic style, Mordy says. It used to be more freilach, but recently the music has more of a rock, electronic, and trance vibe.
By Mendi Glik
As a teenager, we used to go on Yom Yerushalayim to the Rikud Degalim (March of Flags). The whole city filled with boys and girls dressed in blue and white holding flags of Israel in their hands, storming the streets with dancing, joy, and happiness, celebrating Yerushalayim.
By Mendi Glik
The beauty of klezmer music is that you don’t need to understand the language. Because there’s no language. It’s only music.
By Mendi Glik
The first time Mordy started to sing was in high school. First, however, he learned how to play a guitar. Just because it was cool.
By Mendi Glik
Despite the controversy and arguments between the different groups, we always need to remember that – left, right, secular, religious, haredi, Ashkenazi, Sefaradi – we are still one nation, Am Yisrael.
By Mendi Glik
For years there was a controversy in Israel about the date of Yom HaShoah. The suggestion was for it to be on the day that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising started.
By Mendi Glik
I have a feeling that you’re going to hear about these two a lot in the future. They both grew up in very musical homes and music has been part of their lives since they were born.
By Mendi Glik
As Avigdor puts it, from his father, he and his siblings got the military part, and from his mother the music part.
By Mendi Glik
The reason that I liked so much to go to the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue is because of the special nusach that they still daven there, a nusach that goes back hundreds of years. They still pray in the original style that they prayed in when the shul began.
By Mendi Glik
Many Jewish songs have been written and composed based on Rabbi Elimelech’s writings and tefillot that he composed. Rabbi Elimelech was also a composer and composed a few niggunim.
By Mendi Glik
This is one of the greatest holidays in the year for musicians, perhaps the busiest, and so there are many songs and performances of Purim songs.
By Mendi Glik
In our column we’re going to have some oldies together with some contemporary music. I’m not only going to suggest Purim songs, but also other upbeat songs that will cause you to hold hamantaschen in one hand, a good bottle of wine (or whiskey) in the other hand, and start dancing! Hora!
By Mendi Glik
I still make sure to sing mostly the tunes and melodies my father sings. But at the same time I also love and enjoy listening to the new versions, new tunes that the different singers perform on their albums. But the melodies from the albums stay in the car, or wherever I listen to music.
By Mendi Glik
The song is about a “shtar tena’im – an engagement contract between a chatan and kallah, a groom and a bride. And we’re going to talk about this song and explain it. What a beautiful song!
By Mendi Glik
I can imagine Rabbi Nachman standing in the middle of the cold forests of Ukraine, yearning for and dreaming of Eretz Yisrael. The kedusha, the holiness of the land.
By Mendi Glik
So this Sunday is the big game, and whether you’re hosting a Super Bowl party in your house and looking for the best playlist to dance with your guests during the break, or just watching with friends and family, I’ll have you covered.
By Mendi Glik
In order to listen to hi-res music, we need a special music player which can play these files. These players are relatively expensive, but they are worth the price.
By Mendi Glik
Interesting fact: Go on Google or Wikipedia and search for the famous picture of Sadat and Begin in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem when he came to visit Israel. Look closely at his tie and see the pattern. What symbol is repeating on his tie? (Hint: Swastika.)
By Mendi Glik
Music has power. Sometimes music is the power behind big movements. OK, saying it’s the power behind movements might be too exaggerated, but it definitely accompanies and empowers movements and social processes.
By Mendi Glik
You know how it is when a song gets stuck into your head and you keep humming it? This song just got into my head and I had to find it.
By Mendi Glik
I still love this music, but to some kids it was not appealing as it sounded kind of anachronistic. Not to mention that most (if not all) of the singers dress and look charedi; in other words, they didn’t look like rock stars.
By Mendi Glik
The narrator then prays to Hashem that he’ll lead him in the right way, so everyone will see that the tefillot are get accepted. He then asks Hashem to allow him to always smile, to be healthy, and sing.
While the themes of Terror, Faith, and Hope dominate the artworks and the wall texts that accompany each image, it is the hand and heart of each individual artist that opens a deeply human dimension to this exhibition.
Many of the artworks here naturally reference the Holocaust as the summation of antisemitism.
A new film about the fall of the Second Temple reminds us that our disputes must never be allowed to deteriorate into a rift resulting in destruction.
By Alan Zeitlin
The roles the actors play are all inherently difficult, as it is impossible to recreate what one would feel like during a massacre.
By Alan Zeitlin
As a woman in particular in a war room, [Golda Meir] had to take control of the situation and make them understand that her voice as going to be an important part of the whole thing and they should not sideline her, Mirren agreed.
By Roni
Dror started gathering songs to record an album and while that was getting underway, his brother-in-law introduced him to his now-wife. The album, entitled Yachid Bimlucha – You are a Star, started to take shape and reflected a multitude of emotions and musical styles.
By Roni
And the new-old album delivers. Why buy the new version? Because 40 years later, it finally sounds the way it was meant to sound. Perfected.
Lobell’s hilarious documentary brings humor to an otherwise poignant visit to a place where so much culture and history have been lost.
By Alan Zeitlin
The sad truth is that audiences now know that violence against Jews is no longer relegated to stories from years ago of the Russian czar kicking Jews out of Russia, but seen in Pittsburgh, New York, Los Angeles, and across the globe.
Mikva, the Musical, is produced under the non-profit aegis of Raise Your Spirits Theatre, an educational theater company dedicated to Torah values led by Klein Greenwald and Tamar Rubin along with a large cast of female performers and supporters.
By Baruch Lytle
My goal is to express myself in an authentic way and I think there are a lot of people this message will resonate with.
By Alan Zeitlin
There are still some who believe that, had Peres beaten Netanyahu, there would have been a peace deal.
By Roni
The first song he sang was “Racheim,” and when he opened his mouth, the band was in shock: they didn't know this kid could actually sing.
By Roni
Now, I have seen Avraham Fried perform live nearly a dozen times. But I never saw him like this.
I create emotional art, which will hopefully cause the observer to be moved by the experience.
By Sharon Katz
Never in the course of history had a nation escaped from within another nation, especially in a country as tyrannical as Egypt. That is…Never until 1.5 million Jews escaped the Soviet Union.
By Alan Zeitlin
Money from club-promoting life allowed him to stop dealing marijuana, but when he felt spiritually lost, he searched for spirituality.
Weinstein said one thing that sets Six13 apart is their ability to perform original songs using texts from the Torah or words from the siddur.
By Roni
Burstyn was so in demand that for 25 years booking agents placed him in the Catskills hotels and on the condo and venue circuit in South Florida.
By Roni
Lucky was recorded mostly during lockdowns and quarantine. It was hard for the duo and their musicians to gather in the recording studio.
By Alan Zeitlin
The Jewish Comedian Hits the Road – and Looks to Unite Jews
By Alan Zeitlin
Are we really trying to understand what made his brain feel it was acceptable to attempt to wipe out a people, or are we trying to figure out why in 2021 are there people who may want to do what he failed to do?
By Alan Zeitlin
An Affinity with the Character of Kive Motivated One Fan’s Latest Artistic Series
By Roni
The concept of a tribute to Rabbi Sacks came to Rabbi New shortly after his passing. He was very moved and influenced by his teachings and his life’s story.
By Roni
In the early 1990s, he was on staff at Camp Agudah. One of his responsibilities was arranging and overseeing the adult harmony group in the camp’s annual Cantata play. Then he started writing original songs for the cantatas.
