Welcoming Shabbat with Ein K'Eloheinu Sung by Cantor Azi Schwartz to the Banana Boat Song

Last week the Internet was full of tributes to folksinger Harry Belafonte, who died on April 25. We joined with a memory of him singing Hinei Ma Tov in London way back in 1995 with the Israel Army choir.

Last Shabbat Cantor Azi Schwartz of New York's Park Avenue Synagogue took it one step further by singing Ein K'Eloheinu to one of Belafonte's most popular songs, the Banana Boat Song.

Enjoy, and Shabbat shalom!

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Remembering Harry Belafonte - Singing Hinei Ma Tov with the Israeli Army Choir

Singer Harry Belafonte, who died on April 25 at the age of 96, had many Jewish connections.

As Lisa Keys wrote for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA),

A New York City native, Belafonte, an acolyte of singers Paul Robeson and Josh White, was the one of the first Black artists to achieve widespread commercial success in the United States. While he was raised a Catholic, his life frequently dovetailed with Jewish causes, values and individuals.

Among Belafonte’s many Jewish connections — which included brokering a meeting between Nelson Mandela and Jewish leaders in 1989 — was his marriage to his Jewish second wife, dancer Julie Robinson. The couple, who were married from 1958 to 2004, raised two children, Gina and David.

In 2011, Belafonte revealed in his autobiography, “My Song: A Memoir,” that his paternal grandfather was Jewish. Belafonte’s parents were both Jamaican immigrants: his mother, Melvine, was the child of a white mother from Scotland and a Black father, and his father, Harold George Bellanfanti, who later changed the family surname, was the son of a Black mother and white Dutch-Jewish father.

In England in 1995, Belafonte sang Hinei Ma Tov with the Israeli Army Choir.

Enjoy!

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Musical Nostalgia: Danny Kaye and Harry Belafonte Sing Hava Nagila

Our collection of renditions of Hava Nagila keeps growing and growing. Since we started Jewish Humor Central in October 2009, we've posted 63 different versions from around the world.

Even today the song continues to appear in countries without a Jewish presence. But let's get a little nostalgic and revisit one of the segments from the four seasons of The Danny Kaye Show

In this episode, Harry Belafonte and Danny sang Hava Nagila on September 15, 1965. The full episode is available on The Best of the Danny Kaye Show 2-DVD collection. 

Enjoy!

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Musical Flashback to 1960: Harry Belafonte Sings Hinei Ma Tov

Hinei Ma Tov is one of those songs, like Hava Nagila and Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, that has broken out of the world of Jewish music to achieve popularity in the general culture. 

Its lyrics are the first verse of Psalm 133, which reads, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"
הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד

We found versions of the song in some unexpected places including Indonesia, where a college choir gave a performance that we shared here a few months ago.

In the 1977 television film Raid on Entebbe, Yonathan Netanyahu and Sammy Berg lead the Israeli commandos in singing the refrain while the commandos' plane is en route to rescue the hostages. It is also played during the closing credits. 

In 1960 Harry Belafonte performed Hinei Ma Tov on a TV program in England that was captured and uploaded to YouTube. We hope you'll enjoy this version.

(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.)