Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
ELEANOR CARMELI: Hi, I'm Eleanor.
And I am here on behalf of the Jewglers in New York.
We're really excited to see everyone here
today and celebrate the holiday with you.
So I welcome all of you to put your hands together
for the Maccabeats.
THE MACCABEATS: Two, three, four.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "AL HANISSIM"]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: All right, those of you
who aren't holding up cell phones, taping this,
put your hands together.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "AL HANISSIM"]
NOAH JACOBSON: Let's hear claps, guys.
Come on.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "AL HANISSIM"]
NOAH JACOBSON: Thank you so much.
Google, how are we doing today?
[APPLAUSE]
NOAH JACOBSON: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hold on.
Now, I don't know if you know this,
but this is our busiest time of year.
And over the past week, we've been
in New Orleans, in Houston for a concert, in Florida.
Probably like 10 or 12 shows in the last week.
So we're a little tired.
And we're going to need some energy from you guys.
So one more time, I said, how are we doing tonight?
[APPLAUSE]
NOAH JACOBSON: Much better.
Much better, thank you.
We are the Maccabeats from Yeshiva University in New York
City.
And we are so excited to be here with you today.
It's going to be a great day.
We're going to have some fun.
We can do that if we do three rules.
Can we listen to three rules, Google?
Three rules?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
NOAH JACOBSON: I said three rules.
AUDIENCE: Yes.
NOAH JACOBSON: The first rule, if you know one of the songs
that we're about to sing, you have to sing along, OK?
Especially the kids, very important.
You got that?
Second rule, if you don't know one of the songs
that we're about to sing, we might find it
in our Maccabeat hearts to forgive you.
But you have to clap along for a fast song
and get a little cellphone wave going for a slow song, OK?
Third rule is that after the show,
you must purchase as much merchandise
as you possibly can.
I'm totally kidding about the first two rules.
This next song is Lecha Dodi.
We hope you enjoy.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "LECHA DODI"]
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: [CHANTING] Whoa.
AUDIENCE: Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: You know, they
told me to expect people to be a little brighter here
than everywhere else.
Let's try again. [CHANTING] Whoa.
AUDIENCE: [CHANTING] Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: [CHANTING] Eh.
AUDIENCE: [CHANTING] Eh.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: [CHANTING] Whoa.
AUDIENCE: [CHANTING] Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: [CHANTING] Whoa.
AUDIENCE: [CHANTING] Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: Not bad.
[CHANTING] Whoa.
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: Are they laughing with me or at me?
But just to review, just kidding about those last few.
When Nachum goes, (SINGING) But you got to keep your head up,
you go--
AUDIENCE: Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: I said, when Nachum goes, (SINGING)
But you got to keep your head up, you go--
AUDIENCE: Whoa.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "KEEP YOUR HEAD UP"]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: All right, I think we're ready.
This is going to be fun.
You're all honorary Maccabeats for this next song, all right?
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "KEEP YOUR HEAD UP"]
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: All right,
has anybody been to the mall in the last few weeks?
Anybody here been to the mall?
Don't get out too much, huh?
All right, I've got to stop.
All right, well, if you do go to the mall at this time of year,
starting from about two or three weeks ago, what kind of music
do you hear?
Let's see, this is a Q and A. Answer-- Christmas music,
exactly.
And there's always your Jewish friend who's like, you know,
I love Christmas music.
And it's such a shame, because all the good Christmas music
was written by Jews.
But you know what, that's a two-way street.
All the good Hanukkah music was written by non-Jews, too.
So we decided to rectify that last year.
We actually-- most Maccabeats music
is cover music or parody music.
We actually decided to write an original Hanukkah song
for the very first time, which was really a lot of fun.
It was a new venue for us.
So this is our original Hanukkah song, "Shine."
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "SHINE"]
[APPLAUSE]
NOAH JACOBSON: So we get asked a lot of questions as Maccabeats.
People are very, very curious about our experience.
So one of the questions that we always get
is, did you ever expect in your wildest dreams
that you would start this a cappella
group at Yeshiva University which essentially looks
like the cast of Book of Mormon and that your group would go on
to garner about 15 million views on YouTube collectively?
Yeah, YouTube.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: That's right, we can say that here.
NOAH JACOBSON: And the answer we give them is, yes, we totally
thought that would happen.
No, the answer is we really didn't
think that would happen but we've
had so many really awesome amazing experiences thanks
to this whole experience.
And one of those awesome parts of being in the Maccabeats
is all the travel we get to do.
So in the three years since "Candlelight" came out,
we've been to over 35 states in the United States.
We've done shows in China, New Zealand, Australia, England,
South Africa, really all over the world.
And we have a really good time with it
and we have a lot of fun on the road.
So do you guys want to hear a story from the road?
A Maccabeats story from the road?
[APPLAUSE]
NOAH JACOBSON: Awesome enthusiasm, thank you.
10 points.
So we were in Houston, Texas, which
happens to be my favorite city because that's where I'm from.
And in the music videos, I actually
wear an orange space suit.
I don't know if you've seen that.
And the space suit is sort of an homage to my hometown,
to Houston, because NASA's based in Houston.
So when we went to Houston to do a show there,
there were about 1,500 people in the show.
It was a huge show.
And NASA heard that we were coming to Houston.
And they said, do you guys want to go on a VIP tour of NASA?
And we said, sure.
And so we went, and it was so much fun.
We were in these fake spaceships and we were pressing all sorts
of buttons that we shouldn't.
And it was just so much fun.
And while we were there, the person showing us around
said, look up there.
And we looked up, and there was this observation deck.
And there were all these children,
these little children, waving frantically at us.
And he said, do you want to know why they're waving at you?
And I said, yeah, you know, we're in the Maccabeats.
It's kind of a big deal, whatever.
He said, no, they think you're astronauts.
So it was fun.
And we go all over the world and we have a great, great time.
And every place that we go is a new experience, something new.
And for us, being at Google is so cool.
It's really so cool.
So thank you so much for having us.
So just for you guys, we're going to debut,
do our live debut of our new Hanukkah song this year.
It's called "Burn."
We hope you enjoy it.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: This is actually--
this is good news and bad news.
So the good news is this is the live debut of our new Hanukkah
song, "Burn."
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: The bad news
is this is the live debut of our new Hanukkah song, "Burn."
So you'll have to cut us some slack.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "BURN"]
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: Those of you
who've been to one of our shows before know
that these beautiful but unfortunate chords mean
that our time here is coming to an end.
But my mother would never forgive me
if we went all the way to Central Park for our next show,
which starts in five minutes, without my first introducing
to you to all these nice young Jewish guys.
So all the way down at my left, your right,
our vocal percussionist from Passaic,
New Jersey, Meir Shapiro.
At his right, from your very own Chelsea, New York,
Chanina Abramowitz.
On his right, from Silver Spring, Maryland, Nachum Joel.
On his right, all the way from Houston, Texas, Noah Jacobson.
To his right, from Merrick, New York, Jeffrey Ritholtz.
His right, from Paramus, New Jersey, Joshua Jay.
And to his right, from Monsey, New York, Buri Rosenberg.
NOAH JACOBSON: And finally, all the way
from Brooklyn, New York, Julian Chaim Horowitz.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: As you've just heard, there it is.
No two Maccabeats hail from the same place.
It's our music which brought us together
and our music which brings us together with you today.
This final, I guess, kind of medley of two songs
are really what that's all about,
the power of music, the power of harmony
to bring all sorts of different people
together in all sorts of wonderful ways.
So without further ado, please join us
in these wonderful prayers.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "WAVIN' FLAG/ONE DAY"]
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: We have time for just one more song.
And it probably should be a Hanukkah song, right?
It's the right time of year.
Does anybody have any requests for what that song should be?
Any--
AUDIENCE: "Candlelight."
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: Did someone
say "I Had a Little Dreidel"?
That's my favorite Hanukkah song.
We'll do that.
We'll do that song that you're asking for.
And a few of you mentioned it to us
backstage that you know the words.
So we'll do it on two conditions.
Condition number one is-- and I hope
the cameras are getting this.
If everybody who can, please stand up.
Even you, that's right.
Condition number two, a few of you
mentioned to me backstage that you know the words.
I'm sure the kids all know the words.
Parents, I know you also know the words.
So we've done this song so many times we kind of blocked
the words out of our memory.
So you'll have to help us out.
All right?
Do we have a deal, Google?
Do we have a deal?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: Uh-uh-uh.
I heard coders are the best crowds.
All right.
So I said, do we have a deal, Google?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: All right.
Can we crank it up all the way here?
Turn it up to 11, all right?
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "CANDLELIGHT"]
NOAH JACOBSON: OK, Google.
I think we had a deal.
A deal was in order, OK?
Send us off right.
Everyone together, last time.
Let's go.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "CANDLELIGHT"]
NOAH JACOBSON: Thank you so much.
[APPLAUSE]