Orthodox Jewish Songwriter Reclaims Christmas Carols as Chanukah Songs in Yiddish

Some of the most popular Christmas songs were written by Jewish composers and lyricists. The lyrics are mostly secular and not religious but evoke the joys of winter and the holiday season. 

Orthodox singer-songwriter Yossi Desser took 12 of these carols and created original lyrics in Yiddish that evoke the spirit of Chanukah.

As Rukhl Schaechter wrote in The Forward,

It may sound gimmicky but in his debut album, “Yiddish Chanukah Carols”, Orthodox singer-songwriter Yossi Desser has done an amazing job, setting Yiddish lyrics about latkes, dreidels and the snow to the melodies of traditional Christmas songs, and making them sound as if they were Jewish all along.

In a video posted on YouTube when the album went live, for example, Desser sings his song, “Dreidelekh” (Little Dreidels), to the tune of “Silver Bells”, the classic Christmas song first recorded and popularized by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards in 1950.

What’s most fun about watching Desser sing this is that we get the tongue-in-cheek references: the unabashed sentimentality of the crackling fireplace, the gaudy Hanukkah sweater, the twinkling seasonal lights in the urban streets; and yet, Desser himself sings it as earnestly and sweetly as, ahem, a choir boy. Even more surprising is that, hearing him singing it in Yiddish soon begins to sound perfectly natural.

Here is the music video of Dreidelekh set to the music of Silver Bells, composed by Jewish songwriters Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison) and Ray Evans. Enjoy!

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