Welcoming Shabbat with Lecha Dodi Sung to Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah in Roswell, Georgia

Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah has been used as the musical basis for many liturgical poems that are sung throughout the Jewish year. We've posted the song many times in many venues around the world.

Today we have another version of Lecha Dodi, one of the key musical poems in the Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday night sung to the same tune. This version was performed by Student Cantor Kyra Goldman at Temple Kehillat Chaim, a diverse Reform congregation in Roswell, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

Welcoming Shabbat with Adon Olam by Trio Mandili, Georgian Folk Group

Tonight we welcome Shabbat with Adon Olam, as sung by Georgia (the country, not the state) folk group Trio Mandili. The trio have been very supportive of Israel during this difficult year.

As reported by The Times of Israel,

A few weeks after the October 7 Hamas rampage into southern Israel, Trio Mandili, a folkloric music group sometimes called “Georgia’s ambassadors to the world,” released a video covering a traditional Jewish prayer, in quite good Hebrew, while wearing blue and white.

“We could not stand aside after the tragic events in Israel on October 7. After what happened, we recorded a video for the song ‘Adon Olam’ and posted it on our pages on social networks. Many users wrote us very offensive things and even unfollowed us,” the group wrote in an email exchange with The Times of Israel.

Trio Mandili, three women who sing in the traditional polyphonic Georgian style and language, became international and social media stars several years ago after some of their early videos went viral, garnering many millions of views on YouTube.

After a tour through several European countries, the trio performed five concerts around Israel in June. 

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Hava Nagila Performance in Georgia

Georgia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and West Asia. It is part of the Caucasus region, bounded by the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north and northeast, Turkey to the southwest, Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast. 

Georgia covers an area of 26,900 square miles. It has a population of 3.7 million, of which over a third live in the capital and largest city, Tbilisi. Georgians, who are indigenous to the region, constitute a majority.

We wouldn't expect to see a performance of Hava Nagila in Georgia, but since just about every country in the world has adopted one of Israel's most famous songs, we weren't surprised to find another version on the internet.

Here a group called Melomoney (მელოMoney) sings Hava Nagila on a Georgian TV show. It's the 122nd version that we've posted since starting Jewish Humor Central in 2009.

Enjoy!

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Welcoming Shabbat with Shalom Aleichem by Georgian Folk Group

Geo Folk Tour is a music and touristic project which hosts musical tours around Georgia,

accompanied by Georgian Polyphony. How they came to sing Shalom Aleichem is anybody's guess, but we accept it as another example of Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places.

They posted it on YouTube to mark recognition of Georgians' and Jews' relationship

as a subject of intangible cultural heritage with wishes to Israel for a Happy Independence Day.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

 

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Welcoming Shabbat with a Beatles Version of Lecha Dodi in Marietta, GA

Temple Kol Emeth, a Southern Reform congregation in suburban Atlanta, Georgia has been conducting Shabbat services with popular musical themes.

Last December they had a Beatles Shabbat, with most of the familiar Shabbat prayers sung to famous Beatles songs. In this video, they sing Lecha Dodi to the melody of Let It Be.

The performers are Cantorial Soloist Blake and the Ahavat Torah Band with Ira Wajsman, Burt Kann, Wayne Melnick, and John Warner.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

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Hava Nagila Around the World: A Version by the Georgian Erisioni Ensemble

No, not the Georgia in the southern United States. Georgia, the country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. 

In the late 18th century, the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti forged an alliance with the Russian Empire, which directly annexed the kingdom in 1801 and conquered the western Kingdom of Imereti in 1810. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various peace treaties with Iran and the Ottomans and the remaining Georgian territories were absorbed by the Russian Empire in a piecemeal fashion in the course of the 19th century. 

Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Georgia obtained its short-lived independence and established a republic led by the Social Democrats in 1918, only to be invaded by Soviet Russia in 1921 and subsequently absorbed into the Soviet Union as the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

In recent years, Georgians have shown an affinity for the most often played Israeli/Jewish song, Hava Nagila. Today we're sharing yet another example of world-wide interest in this popular melody to join the more than 50 other versions that we have posted over the years.

It was performed in Israel last month by the Georgian Ensemble Erisioni.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Shalom Aleichem in Tbilisi, Georgia

This week we welcome Shabbat with a version of Shalom Aleichem from Georgia. No, not the home of Jimmy Carter or the Atlanta Falcons. 

We're talking about the country that was formerly part of the Soviet Union and is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. 

Georgia and Israel have had diplomatic, commercial and cultural ties for 25 years. Georgia has an embassy in Tel Aviv and Israel has an embassy in Tbilisi. There are 120,000 Georgian Jews living in Israel, as well as 13,000 in Georgia.

Cultural exchanges are coordinated through the Israel-Georgia Chamber of Business. Last month a concert at Israeli House in Tbilisi included Georgian singer Kristi Japaridze singing Shalom Aleichem. 

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.