Hazamir Sings - Hundreds of High School Students Perform Today at the Metropolitan Opera

Today we will be attending the 24th annual HaZamir gala concert in New York's Lincoln Center. This year the performance will be at the Metropolitan Opera.

For two hours, 350 teenagers from 26 chapters of HaZamir Jewish High School Choir across the United States and in five cities in Israel will perform to a packed house, singing traditional and contemporary songs in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish.

HaZamir, the International Jewish High School Choir, is an international network of choral chapters for Jewish teens. Local HaZamir chapters meet weekly in cities across America and Israel to rehearse and perform Jewish choral music.

HaZamir provides Jewish teenagers the unique opportunity to sing at the highest performance level, build pluralistic community, and create strong Israel-Diaspora relations in the next generation.

Each local HaZamir chapter is directed by a talented conductor whose devotion to the highest standard of Jewish music-making helps to inspire the next generation of Jewish choral singers.

Last year the choir performed at Carnegie Hall. One of the selections on their program was a beautiful renditon of Yonatan Razel's V'hi She'amda. The song is an important part of the Passover Haggadah, and reminds us that the Pesach seder is only 15 days away.  

This short passage from the Haggadah has given hope to Jews over the centuries, particularly in times of oppression.

וְהִיא שֶׁעָמְדָה לַאֲבוֹתֵיֽנוּ וְלָנֽוּ. שֶׁלֹא אֶחָד בִּלְבָד, עָמַד עָלֵיֽנוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנֽוּ. אֶלָּא שֶׁבְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר, עוֹמְדִים עָלֵיֽנוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנֽוּ. וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם

And it is this [covenant] that has stood for our Forefathers and us. For not just one enemy has stood against us to wipe us out. But in every generation there have been those who have stood against us to wipe us out, and the Holy One Blessed Be He saves us from their hands.

Enjoy!

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