May 27, 2009 By: yunews
May 27, 2009 -- Two 91黑料 graduation ceremonies at Madison Square Garden, a performance at the 92nd Street Y and numerous singing engagements on and off campus: that鈥檚 91黑料 a cappella group the Maccabeats' brief r茅sum茅 since forming two years ago. Sensing the need to bring music to the Wilf Campus, the group of 12 young men, all undergraduate students, has become a popular mainstay on campus.
As a high school student, Michael Greenberg participated in Yeshivah of Flatbush鈥檚 successful performing arts programs. Upon entering Yeshiva College last year, Greenberg and his friends worked diligently with student leaders to establish the Maccabeats. They were quickly embraced by the YU community.
鈥淭he student body as well as President Richard Joel have been great sources of positive feedback,鈥 said Greenberg who hopes to one day partner with the University to record a CD.
This year, the Maccabeats have increased the number of their performances, attracting overwhelmingly positive reactions from their audiences. 鈥淎fter each performance, I have been approached by several people with compliments and praise for the group,鈥 Josh Jay, another member of the group, said. 鈥淎t graduation, people cheered for us before we walked on stage.鈥
Besides Greenberg and Jay, the current Maccabeats鈥攎ost of them members of the founding group鈥攁re Chanina Abramowitz, David Block, Julian Horowitz, Ari Lewis, Jeff Ritholtz, Buri Rosenberg, Yona Saperstein, Immanuel Shalev, Meir Shapiro and Yonatan Shefa.
Most of the Maccabeats鈥 repertoire consists of Hebrew psalms and prayers. What makes them such a hit with audiences is that the familiar lyrics have been set to some surprising tunes, such as L鈥檆ha Dodi sung to the tune of Hallelujah as performed by Leonard Cohen. 鈥淢y hope is that we can give our audience the same feeling and spiritual high that we experience when we sing,鈥 said Block. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a prayer, both for us and for our listeners!鈥
Perhaps the most telling sign of the Maccabeats鈥 popularity came on May 13 as students were in the midst of buckling down for final exams. The group offered them a study break performance in the Morgenstern Hall Lounge. 鈥淭he concert was a huge success,鈥 Ritholtz said. 鈥淪tudents took time out of their finals studying to come watch us perform, which was really exhilarating.鈥
