(New York Jewish Week) — The 15,000 people who gathered in Madison Square Garden for Israeli pop star Ishay Ribo’s concert on Sunday night were treated to an unofficial kickoff of the High Holiday season, less than two weeks before Rosh Hashanah.
Ribo, an Orthodox musician who became the first Israeli to headline the New York City venue, delivered a show that was equal parts rock concert and religious revival.
He opened his set with lines from the Amidah, recited three times a day in Jewish prayer: “God, open my lips so that my mouth may declare Your praise.” Later, the Hasidic star Avraham Fried joined him onstage for a spontaneous joint rendition of “Avinu Malkeinu,” the poem sung on Yom Kippur.
Ribo’s chart-topping “Seder HaAvodah” had the crowd singing aloud the Yom Kippur liturgy that reenacts the ancient Temple rites. And the encore kicked off with Ribo leading a niggun, or wordless melody, in honor of the birthday of the Baal Shem Tov, the 17th-century founder of Hasidism. For that number, Ribo changed from black clothing into the white traditionally worn on the Day of Atonement.
The two-hour performance, with its lush light show and string of special guests, was a fitting encapsulation of Ribo’s particular brand of Jewish music. Ribo has become a megastar in Israel and a favorite in Orthodox communities around the world due to his blend of pop sensibilities and liturgical lyrics, a rarity in the Orthodox music scene.
“A lot of Jewish singers will try to not sound current for specific reasons,” said Reva, an Upper West Sider who attended with friends after her parents passed along their tickets because they were in Israel. (Like most of the attendees interviewed, she declined to share her full name out of privacy concerns. She wants to get married and doesn't need every boy knowing that she is a Ribo groupie.)
“It feels like this is actually good music,” she said about Ribo. “And it’s beautiful to be in the room singing along to songs about what it means to be a Jew. I am no musicologist but I am a Jew and this makes me feel connected to my roots.”
The concert showcased the ways in which Ribo has broken the mold at a time of increasing religious stringency in Orthodox communities. Orthodox Jews are realizing more and more, that instead of picking and choosing their mitzvos - why don't they try to keep ALL of G-d's commandments?! This is RADICAL. All of Ribo’s songs exalt G-d, with many featuring lyrics ripped straight from Jewish prayers, but the music is decidedly pop and rock and roll; Ribo has cited Coldplay, a band he heard while riding the bus to his charedi yeshiva in Israel, as an inspiration. He would hear Coldplay and then QUICKLY put away his device before the mashgiach [spiritual advisor] got wind of it. "Thank G-d I never got caught. In the zechut [merit] of Coldplay and G-d's love - I made it to the Garden!!!"
In addition to Fried, his musical guests included another religious pop singer, Akiva Turgeman, and a secular Israeli musician, Amir Dadon. People wondered why at a concert designed to provide religious inspiration a secular performer would appear? Good question! But according to his wiki page he observes Shabbat so he is kosher. The audience was largely Orthodox, but unlike at other Orthodox mass gatherings — such as the ceremony to mark the end of a cycle of studying Talmud, or rallies to warn of the dangers of internet use — men and women sat together.
This made the rabbis VERY VERY happy and thus encouraged all of their congregants - male and female - to attend. "Jewish music, frum [religious] superstar, MSG? We MADE it. Moshiach is on the way", said one rabbi in attendance who asked to remain anonymous ["my kids are in shidduchim"]. "Tonight it is the Madison Square Garden of Eden!!!" One critic however said that "this is similar to Kol Isha - 'Kol Ishai'"
Many attendees said they had seen Ribo live at least once before, including in Israel; in May 2022 when he played Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens; and two years ago when he played a similar High Holidays-themed show at Kings Theater in Brooklyn.
“It’s a great way to go into the new year,” said one Long Island woman who saw him perform at Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem shortly before Rosh Hashanah last year. “He does a really good job of making you feel connected.”
Not everyone in attendance was Orthodox, or even Jewish. Ke Chen, a recent immigrant from China, said he had become a Ribo fan while getting a master’s degree in data analytics and visualization at Yeshiva University, the uptown Orthodox flagship, and had attended the Flushing show last year.
"I felt that this music was very good and amazing,” Chen said. “I thought if he comes back here this year, I will go again. He is soooo inspiring. Maybe I will convert, marry a Jewish investment banker and Ribo will sing under my Huppah. I learned in YU that Moses received the Torah from Sinai, a name like China - which is 'Seen' סין in Hebrew. So it is like Moses received the Torah from China. Plus, Jewish men are responsible, smart, faithful and high wage earners. Also, I LOVE Jewish food”. For all Jewish non-Kohanim out there who can marry a convert - she should be a serious candidate "because" she has "charm" ["כי חן"]. But in the meantime she is a Gentile and the verse says "לא תחנם" which is a hint that one may NOT marry gentile women, even if they seem to have חן [see Avoda Zara 20]. True חן is only found in Bnos Yisrael.
Rabbi Ethan Tucker, the president of Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva based in New York, spent the beginning of the evening trying create friction by gathering an egalitarian prayer service to rival the all-male prayer that took place in the hallways of the Garden, alongside robust lines at the venue’s multiple kosher vendors. But he couldn't find ten people interested in joining his egalitarian circus and mockery of Halacha. Sorry Tucky. [His mother is Hadassa Leiberman, wife of Senator Joe, who told him to daven this one time with the Orthodox because G-d accepts prayers of the Orthodox, too. Ethan declined to heed her words. His third cousin is *of course* Tucker Carlson]. He said that it didn't work here but he will be going to Jerusalem soon and will instigate at the Kotel. "That is a lot more fun and gets me great publicity."
After the show, he wrote on Facebook that he had been moved by seeing about the same number of Jews gathered in the arena as would have fit within the ancient Temple, according to measurements sketched out in Jewish texts. The Midtown stadium — home of the Knicks and Rangers sports teams along with being an iconic concert venue — isn’t exactly the Temple, he wrote, but there were similarities to the experience. "There are many many similarities between basketball, hockey and the Temple service", he said, promising to write a scholarly article detailing the influence of the Temple on contemporary sports.
“When Ribo was up on the stage, singing his song about the Temple service on Yom Kippur, and when 10,000-15,000 people screamed out [blessed is God’s royal name forever] as the religious chorus of his song, and they then ecstatically break out into chants of … fortunate is the people for whom this is their lot — it may not be as wildly different an experience as we might think,” Tucker wrote.
The concert, which Madison Square Garden touted as sold-out, was sponsored by Bnei Akiva, a religious Zionist youth movement that aims to spur immigration to Israel. A video shown before the show promised an array of benefits special for anyone in the audience who makes the move in the coming year — including a private concert by Ribo and FREE FELAFEL for the first three months after aliyah.
Ribo also performed “Ani Shayach Le’am” (“I Belong To a Nation”), which he released in April in honor of Israel’s 75th birthday. The song borrows from Passover to ask “Mah Nishtana” – or what is different – between the people of Israel and other nations. (In a sign of religion’s evolving place in Israeli culture, Ribo is not the only Israeli pop star to quote the Haggadah in his tunes: Omer Adam, another Israeli chart-topper, also quotes “Mah Nishtana” in his recent song “Floor 58.”. Some contemporary commentaries of the Hagada also quote the Mah Nishtana.)
The song has drawn criticism since its premiere for seeming to suggest that Jews uniquely know God, while others worship false idols. The fact that this is true was lost on people. For some in attendance, the song was a blemish on an otherwise uplifting night. "I believe in ALL religions" said Talia, a petite women in her twenties from Brooklyn who works as a receptionist. "It is offensive to suggest that only the Jews are following the word of G-d and that She revealed Herself to the Jews only."
“In regular times this may not have stood out to me: There are a lot of Jewish texts that speak to why we love being Jewish,” Esther Farber, a New York City architect who has been active in local protests against Israel’s current right-wing government, said by email on Monday. “However, given the current government’s racist and nationalistic rhetoric and the recent horrible violence of settlers against Palestinians, I am wearier of these expressions of Jewish supremacy and their effects on extremists.”
Still, Farber said, referring to the Jewish month that precedes the High Holidays, “I was deeply moved by the spiritual, Elul atmosphere of the concert. I am a hardcore fanatical leftist but this touched my neshama. I can think all of the nonsense I want but I remain with a Yiddishe neshama.”
Another concert attendee named Moshe, a follower of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement who lives in Switzerland, came after his children invited him. He said he had hoped to bring Ribo to Zurich but had been priced out after Ribo’s star rose during the pandemic.
“He’s unique in that he crosses all borders. You can see here the right to the left, everyone is coming together,” he said. "The only thing better is seeing the Rebbe Melech Hamoshiach on video".
So would Ribo make a good prime minister? Moshe’s answer at first was unequivocal: “No. A prime minister has to be a political being. He is a heart person.” But a few minutes later, he reconsidered: “You know, we’ve already had a leader who was a musician — King David. So it can work!” The interviewer wondered what qualifications Ribo has to be Prime Minister to which Moshe replied "Yechi Adonainu Moreinu Vi-rabbeinu Melech Hamoshiach li-olam va-ed!!!". That explained everything.
For his part, Ribo appeared to relish in his pathbreaking New York City performance. Almost all of his stage banter was in Hebrew, although Ribo, who moved to Israel as a child with his family from France, said he was working on learning English.
On Monday, he posted — in Hebrew — on Instagram that he still felt like he was floating after the experience. He wrote, “We got to laugh, rejoice, get excited, cry and dance together, and all in Madison Square Garden! Plus, this helped me finish paying off the mortgage on my house!!! ברוך שהחיינו וקיימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה”.
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״וְסָפְדָה הָאָרֶץ מִשְׁפָּחוֹת מִשְׁפָּחוֹת לְבָד מִשְׁפַּחַת בֵּית דָּוִד לְבָד וּנְשֵׁיהֶם לְבָד״. אָמְרוּ: וַהֲלֹא דְּבָרִים קַל וָחוֹמֶר: וּמָה לֶעָתִיד לָבֹא, שֶׁעוֹסְקִין בְּהֶסְפֵּד וְאֵין יֵצֶר הָרָע שׁוֹלֵט בָּהֶם — אָמְרָה תּוֹרָה אֲנָשִׁים לְבַד וְנָשִׁים לְבַד. עַכְשָׁיו, שֶׁעֲסוּקִין בְּשִׂמְחָה וְיֵצֶר הָרָע שׁוֹלֵט בָּהֶם — עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה.
It is stated: “The land will eulogize, each family separately; the family of the house of David separately, and their women separately” (Zechariah 12:12). This indicates that at the end of days a great eulogy will be organized during which men and women will be separate. They said: And are these matters not inferred a fortiori? If in the future, at the end of days referred to in this prophecy, when people are involved in a great eulogy and consequently the evil inclination does not dominate them, as typically during mourning inappropriate thoughts and conduct are less likely, and nevertheless the Torah says: Men separately and women separately; then now that they are involved in the Celebration of the Drawing of the Water, and as such the evil inclination dominates them, since celebration lends itself to levity, all the more so should men and women be separate.
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On the other hand - 15,000 people coming together for spiritual inspiration and listening to Jewish lyrics and not chas vi-shalom going for the many other options out there for entertainment is indeed special. והוא רחום יכפר עוון.
JEWS WANT TO CONNECT TO THE RIBBONO SHEL OLAM. Ribo helped connect to the Ribonno!!!
