The Maccabeats Are Back!

[FaustianSlip]

Just ran across their new video on Facebook, this one in honor of the High Holy Days. Good stuff. You can get the MP3 for free on their website.

DRaQSbuTiBg

[clibbyjo]

Awww, I like them and I don't even know what half the things they say even mean. :) They just seem so nice and wholesome.

[FaustianSlip]

They're great. There version of "Lecha Dodi" (a traditional prayer you say on Friday nights to welcome Shabbat), sung to the tune of "Hallelujah" is one of my all-time favorite songs. The songs they did for Chanukah and Purim were awesome, too. Apparently they sang at the White House back in May; I didn't realize that until I saw a video on YouTube today.

Also, sort of unrelated, but I love the layout of that synagogue they show at the end. That's one of the single best implementations of the mechitza (separating wall between men and women in an Orthodox synagogue) that I've seen. Very cool.

[darkplumaged]

LOVE THEM. Their videos are so charming and, dare I say, inspirational.

And the guy in the suit, with the glasses? Defrauds me just by existing.

[clibbyjo]

They're great. There version of "Lecha Dodi" (a traditional prayer you say on Friday nights to welcome Shabbat), sung to the tune of "Hallelujah" is one of my all-time favorite songs. The songs they did for Chanukah and Purim were awesome, too. Apparently they sang at the White House back in May; I didn't realize that until I saw a video on YouTube today.

Also, sort of unrelated, but I love the layout of that synagogue they show at the end. That's one of the single best implementations of the mechitza (separating wall between men and women in an Orthodox synagogue) that I've seen. Very cool.

I love their version of Hallelujah and I saw the White House video before you lol. I read a few Orthodox Jewish Women blogs and one is a big fan of the Maccabeats which is the first I had heard of them.

:dance:

[PennySycamore]

I've loved The Maccabeats since I stumbled upon the Purim Song on youtube. One of the guys looks a lot like my nephew. too.

I'll have to send a link to this video to several of my Jewish friends. I think they'll love it!

[liltwinstar]

I *love* the Maccabeats and I'm not even remotely Jewish - I just think they're awesome :)

(and they're super cute too - all of them)

[atheistjd]

Wow. I always love their stuff but this was was just awesome. Definitely inspirational :D

[saraelise]

I discovered them yesterday and I couldn't stop playing their songs. This is the sort of Orthodox belief I can appreciate :)

[JesusFightClub]

Bizarre. This isn't the sort of music I normally like at all and I was loving these. There was just such a non fakey happy vibe about them (this one and Purim Song).

[clibbyjo]

I spent a while looking up different types/images of mechitza's after this post so thanks for continuing my religious education. :)

[FaustianSlip]

(and they're super cute too - all of them)

Oh, the Maccabeats are totally defrauding. That one who looks kind of like Matthew Broderick? :oops:

And I really don't get the impression that they're fake nice and happy; I know of a couple of people who've actually met them, and rumor has it that they're all just really nice, friendly guys. A credit to yiddishkeit. Heh.

[Kitchen Princess]

I love them, too, ever since they did the Hey Yo, spin the dreidl song and I sing that stupid song ALL.THE.TIME, instead of the original lyrics.

Question for the Jews among us: Is there any significance to the threads and decorations on the yarmulkes that the different guys are wearing?

I was on a tour bus in Manhattan in March and these two ladies were on the top deck with me. They were from way down South (so am I, so I was listening to their ignorant comments and being embarrassed on behalf of my region). There was a guy on the street that looked like he had a pinkish-red yarmulke on. We were looking down on the top of this guy's head and had extremely curly and abundant hair, so it was surrounding the yarmulke and, I too, was puzzled about what was that pink thing on his head? I was pretty sure it was a yarmulke, but the ladies thought he had a funny looking pate that was really sunburned (I could have concurred, but I knew what a yarmulke was and they didn't). They were discussing it loudly, so to save them further embarrassment I leaned over to them and said it was a yarmulke.

But ever since then I've wondered if there are rules about what yarmulkes can look like? Are they just personal preference? Do colors mean anything?

Thanks.

[FaustianSlip]

Yarmulke colors and materials can/do have religious and political significance. There's a small chart here on Wiki, though it's not hard and fast. There are some more detailed notes here at FrumSatire. At my (Conservative) shul, the vast majority of both men and women wear kippot (plural of kippah, which is Hebrew for yarmulke), and most of those are the knit kind. When I daven, I almost always wear a knit yarmulke, unless I wear a bukharian yarmulke, which I think are the prettiest and don't need clips to stay on my head. The only problem with those is that I can't wear them and put on tefillin at the same time, because the yarmulke is too big and prevents the head tefillin from sitting right (basically, the box and the strap have to be in physical contact with your head, which they won't be if your kippah covers your whole head).

There are no hard and fast rules, so far as I know, about how a kippah can look in terms of color, material, et cetera, but there may be customs that have become rules, depending on your community. If you're a member of a very Orthodox, Hasidic community, for instance, it would be looked upon as really weird if you started showing up to services with a Superman kippah on. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those satin kippot that they give out at weddings and bar mitzvahs (unless I get caught without one at synagogue, for some reason), because they look ridiculous to me and tend to be seen as a hallmark of the less-observant. Knit kippot can be construed in some circles as an indication of Zionist leanings. Hats also cover the same bases as a kippah, so lots of more modern guys will wear a baseball cap sometimes instead (not in synagogue, obviously). We had a kid do his bar mitzvah wearing a Yankees yarmulke, and I really want to get a white leather one and make a kippah with the X-Men logo on it. Heh.

[Beeks]

I love them ever since their Chanukah song. I'd never heard their version of Lecha Dodi though and it seriously brought me to tears. Awesome.

[Ralar]

Another great Jewish fundy video:

[Cannelle]

OMG, I LOVE them!

Confession time: I've given a LOT (like, years) of thought to converting to Reform Judaism. I would do it in a heartbeat if it were feasible right now, but unfortunately, other issues stand in the way- financial, child care, things like that. But every time I see one of the Maccabeats' videos, I sob like a baby. That's probably not a normal reaction, huh?

And a great big WORD to liltwinstar. Totally defrauding, all of 'em. :geek:

[pomology]

Another great Jewish fundy video:

I wouldn't call Yeshiva University (where the Maccabeats are from) fundie, particularly. Yes, there are definitely Jewish fundies, but I'd say that most Modern Orthodox Jews aren't fundie and Yeshiva is a Modern Orthodox institution.

Also, I love this song. I don't even get why. It's just really catchy.

[JesusFightClub]

Oh, the Maccabeats are totally defrauding. That one who looks kind of like Matthew Broderick? :oops:

And I really don't get the impression that they're fake nice and happy; I know of a couple of people who've actually met them, and rumor has it that they're all just really nice, friendly guys. A credit to yiddishkeit. Heh.

That's what I was saying...that they seem really NON fakey! A big contrast to a lot of groups who do that style of music :) And the lyrics were interesting too...

[FaustianSlip]

Right, I was agreeing with you (probably should have replaced "really" with "also" in that sentence).

[Ralar]

I wouldn't call Yeshiva University (where the Maccabeats are from) fundie, particularly. Yes, there are definitely Jewish fundies, but I'd say that most Modern Orthodox Jews aren't fundie and Yeshiva is a Modern Orthodox institution.

Also, I love this song. I don't even get why. It's just really catchy.

Point well taken. YU is not necessarily fundie. I almost went to their law school, and I'm certainly mot fundie!

[Ralar]

I wouldn't call Yeshiva University (where the Maccabeats are from) fundie, particularly. Yes, there are definitely Jewish fundies, but I'd say that most Modern Orthodox Jews aren't fundie and Yeshiva is a Modern Orthodox institution.

Also, I love this song. I don't even get why. It's just really catchy.

Point well taken. YU is not necessarily fundie. I almost went to their law school, and I'm certainly mot fundie!

[Guest Anonymous]

A dear child I mentored went to Cardozo, graduated suma. She was the child of conservative xtians, got disowned for being an uber lesbian activist. Her first week at school she calls me and asks what are those things on the doors that every body keeps touching?? (mezusah). She said there were more women than she expected, no frum Jewish women but mostly men.

Thanks for the link, I really enjoy these fellows.