Some stretches in the Jewish calendar are filled with widely observed holidays. The summer months of Tammuz and Av might not be as popular as, say, Tishrei. But the holidays and occasions in Tammuz and Av still warrant a Jewish punk playlist!

Today is the first day of Tammuz, which means Gimel Tammuz is tomorrow night. Here is a playlist to prepare you for Gimel Tammuz, the 17th of Tammuz, Tisha B’Av, and Tu B’Av.

While all four are not typically discussed together, there are connections. They all use the date as a name. The first two descriptions below focus on deceased rabbis who maintain myriad Orthodox followers. The 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B’Av bookend the Three Weeks, a period of mourning for historic tragedies. Tu B’Av is sometimes seen in contrast to Tisha B’Av, given that the two have different focuses and moods and occur six days apart.

Gimel Tammuz

The 3rd of Tammuz is the yahrzeit (death anniversary) of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. To celebrate the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Chabad encourages learning, prayer, and charity. It is common to have a farbrengen, a joyous gathering that includes alcohol.

The Groggers’ “Farbrengiton” combines farbrengen and “Bring it on!” It’s a fun pop-punk song about drinking and partying—at a Gimel Tammuz farbrengen. “Break out the bottles ’cause it’s the Rebbe’s yahrzeit,” sings Groggers front man L.E. Doug Staiman. He explained, “[Farbrengen] is so innocuous and it is part of Chabad tradition, but at the same time, you just go and you get shit-faced.”

17th of Tammuz

This fast day commences the Three Weeks mourning period, which ends with Tisha B’Av. In 1922, Rabbi Yisroel Dov Ber Odesser felt weak and broke his 17th of Tammuz fast. Days later, he found a note (petek) acknowledging that he had done so. Rabbi Odesser understood that the petek was sent by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, more than a century after his death, and followers of Rebbe Nachman believe this as well.

In “The Petek,” Moshiach Oi! recite the petek verbatim in Hebrew and English. The lyrics conclude with “The sign will be that the Seventeenth of Tammuz/They will say that you were not fasting.” Moshiach Oi! singer Yishai Romanoff explained this part was a “sign to [Rabbi Odesser] that this was indeed a miracle, as nobody else knew that he had broken his fast.”

Tisha B’Av

Tisha B’Av concludes the Three Weeks with another fast day. It’s the saddest day of the Jewish calendar, commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other tragedies. The Book of Lamentations (Eikhah) is chanted in synagogue.

While walking home from Tisha B’Av services in the band’s early days, Shondes singer Louisa Solomon and drummer Temim Fruchter were singing Eikhah. Solomon explained that they were inspired to “take this melody from Eikhah—it’s so beautiful and all about loss and destruction and mourning.” She recalled thinking, “We have to take the Jewish liturgy about destruction and loss… and apply it to this great irony and horror that’s being done in our name.” The Shondes used the melody and message of Tisha B’Av for “I Watched the Temple Fall,” a controversial song about Israel/Palestine that says, “No heart could really beat love for this state.”

Tu B’Av

Traditionally, Tu B’Av was a time for women wearing white to dance in vineyards and attract suitors. In modern times, it’s a Jewish love holiday. For the last couple years, Jewcy has put a new spin on Tu B’Av with “Love Bites” parties!

Yidcore masterfully modernized an old bastion of romance with Fiddlin on Ya Roof, their punk rock rendition of Fiddler on the Roof. “Matchmaker (An Ode to Natalie Portman)” captures a longing for love like never before. Romance abounds when Tevye screams “Do you love me?” to his wife, Golda. Matters of the heart reach their zenith with Motel in “Miracle of Miracles.”

For more information about these Jewish punk bands, read Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk by Michael Croland.

Album covers courtesy their respective artists.

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Punk chefs advise that if you want to ground up matzoh to make matzoh ball soup, you can have the punk rock band in your living room do it for you.

If you don’t have a punk rock band in your living room, this playlist should rev you up for all eight days of Passover. If it still isn’t enough (dayenu?), check out last year’s Passover punk playlist.

Yidcore: Bashana Haba’ah

A key theme of Passover is that while we might face problems now, things will be better next year. The chorus of this traditional song says, “You will yet see how good it will be next year.” In Yidcore’s cover, this rallying cry is more of a scream the last time it’s uttered.

The Shondes: True North

The chorus of “True North” connects the seder-ending slogan “Next year in Jerusalem” with social justice activism. Shondes singer Louisa Solomon said the song is about “utopian ideals” in “revolutionary movements—and the related Jewish tradition of actively imagining a better world.” The band included “Next year in Jerusalem” to “connect with our ancestors’ aspirations toward justice,” Solomon explained.

Gefilte Fuck: Why Don’t We Do It in the Shoul?

The song is modeled after the Beatles’ “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” and starts off by suggesting sex in a synagogue. There are four questions in total, and two of them are from the Four Questions: “Why do we eat unleavened bread?” “Why do we dip our parsley twice?” Click here to listen.

Schmekel: The Mohel Song

“The Mohel Song” addresses whether a transgender Jew should get circumcised. Toward the end of the song, singer/guitarist Lucian Kahn sings the chorus of “Chad Gadya.” Kahn associated “Chad Gadya” with his family’s inebriated renditions following four cups of wine at Passover seders. He saw in “Chad Gadya” the “drunken revelry of the liberation moment of the seder.” As Kahn put it, incorporating the song fit into Schmekel’s approach of taking liturgical melodies and other familiar elements of Judaism, “commenting on it,” “re-contextualizing it,” and “making it [their] own.”

G-d Is My Co-Pilot: Dayenu

G-d Is My Co-Pilot was part of No Wave, an avant-garde offshoot of punk rock. The band originally spelled out the first word of their name, but when they played overtly Jewish songs, they used a hyphen instead. Their 1994 album Mir Shlufn Nisht (Yiddish for “We Don’t Sleep”) included “Dayenu,” plus a hora, a Chanukah song, and “Hatikvah.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nphRFZg4zQE

Total Passover: Get Kosher

Total Passover qualifies for this playlist because of their awesome name. Their slogan, “Shalom Motherfucker,” wasn’t well received in their home state of Iowa in the early ’90s. In “Get Kosher,” the Jewish narrator tells a non-Jewish woman that he’ll only date her if she keeps kosher. The chorus includes the hilarious line “Lips that touch swine will never touch mine.”

Moshiach Oi!: Eliyahu HaNavi

This Hebrew song calls for Elijah the prophet to come to us soon with Moshiach. Moshiach Oi! have plenty of punk rock in their rendition, but there are also heaping servings of reggae. In addition, Moshiach Oi! discuss the Exodus from Egypt in songs “Yetzias Mitzrayim” and “This Is My God.”

Gangsta Rabbi: 1st Diaspora Egypt

“1st Diaspora Egypt” appeared on Steve “Gangsta Rabbi” Lieberman’s 69th album last year, and now he’s released three more since. The lyrics discuss how Joseph wound up in Egypt, Pharaoh’s order to build pyramids, the splitting of the sea, and wandering in the desert for 40 years en route to Israel.

…You might need to read the lyrics to get all that.

For more information about all these artists, check out Michael Croland’s book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk.

Art courtesy of Tom Meehan/Total Passover

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Unlike some Jewish holidays (we’re looking at you, Tisha B’Av!), Purim is meant to be fun and celebratory. People dress up in costumes and wave around groggers (noisemakers). The Talmud encourages Jews to drink so much that they can’t tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai.

Here’s a Purim punk playlist for making a racket and drinking too much. If you truly embrace the spirit of Purim, you’ll break your leg while partying, hook up with Haman, and be too hung over to go to morning minyan.

Schmekel: Homotaschen

“Homotaschen” does more than recount a wild Purim escapade involving sex with Haman. It takes the model of typical Purim celebration—drinking to the point of confusion—and applies that spirit to the lyrics. Lucian Kahn, singer/guitarist of the transgender Jewish punk band Schmekel, explained:

All throughout the song, there are things that are slightly wrong or upside-down or on their head. … It says that they’re at the court of King Antiochus, who’s actually the king in the Hanukkah story. There’s just a confused conglomeration of views on Israel/Palestine, where everyone’s confused, and then the narrator decides to just go sleep with the biggest enemy imaginable. Like, “We’re going to avoid this moral debate and, just, like, go have sex with Haman!” Haman turns out to be also pretty gender-ambiguous, where you get “he” and “she” pronouns for Haman at different points in the song. … During the song, you’re supposed to be really confused about what everyone’s identity is and what’s happening and why.

The Groggers: Not Going to Shacharis

While the Groggers don’t have any songs about Purim, they are included here because they took their name from the Purim noisemakers. “We’re making noise. We’re loud and obnoxious,” explained front man L.E. Doug Staiman. The Jewish pop-punk band has made many hilarious videos, including this catchy ditty about refusing to go to shacharis (the morning prayer service). Parents, a doctor, a rabbi, a priest, and a yeshiva cheerleader all fail to get Staiman out of bed. Despite his efforts to the contrary, Staiman winds up being the 10th man for minyan. Maybe this song will inspire you to stay in bed and skip the morning megillah reading.

Yidcore: Shalosh Pinot

Yidcore had songs for most holidays, and that includes Purim—just barely. Lasting about 6 seconds, “Shalosh Pinot” is Yidcore’s shortest song. Why beat around the bush? At breakneck speed, it might be hard to decipher the Hebrew lyrics about Haman’s three-corner hat. They declare that the hat has three corners, three corners the hat has, and if it didn’t it wouldn’t be Haman’s hat. It’s a fun song for kids to sing, albeit not a profound one.

Aaron Alexander: Kleyzmish Moshpit

Hasidic New Wave drummer Aaron Alexander kicked off his solo album, Midrash Mish Mosh, with “Kleyzmish Moshpit.” Alexander had backgrounds in both punk rock and the Jewish music world and said he “wanted to reflect” their commonalities. Having seen “people in a mosh pit” at a punk show and “guys break their legs dancing on Purim at the Chabad house,” he thought the “intense dancing” and energy were “similar.” Play it loud!

For more information about these artists and other Jewish punk bands, check out Michael Croland’s book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt Jews and Punk.

Photo courtesy of Chabad of Cambridge.

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This Sunday marks the 40-year anniversary of the Sex Pistols’ last concert at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. As the show progressed, it became clear that the iconic punk band had no future.

According to Jon Savage in his landmark book, England’s Dreaming, when the Pistols played “Belsen Was a Gas,” it was an “awful” moment marking the show’s downturn. The tactless song about the Belsen concentration camp, written by bassist Sid Vicious, talked about Jews’ graves and “fun” in consecutive lines. Savage wrote, “On the very last word, the group cuts dead, so that the audience, stunned, fails for a few seconds to cheer. The rushing silence is like a black hole: within it, the group implodes. After ‘Belsen,’ there was no way back.”

Vicious’s Holocaust song was hardly a unique expression for him. He frequently wore clothes with swastikas. In the Pistols movie The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle, Vicious walked around a Jewish neighborhood in Paris in a swastika shirt, yielding tears from elderly women on the streets during filming.

Punk’s arch-villain was more provocative, insensitive, and immature than Jew-hating, but he was still genuinely offensive. The situation is more complicated than meets the eye. Vicious’s fraught relationship with Jews featured a handful of them in key roles. Here are four Jews who figured prominently in Vicious’s life—and two examples of how Jews have put their own spin on his name and legacy. Nearly four decades since Vicious’s death in 1979, Jews are having the last laugh.

Key Jews in Vicious’s Life

Malcolm McLaren

Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren steered the band toward chaos and controversy. McLaren brought punk from the U.S. to the U.K., promoted it to a large audience, and pioneered punk style (in part through SEX, a clothing store he ran with fashion legend Vivienne Westwood). According to the book El Sid, McLaren “programmed” Vicious. McLaren and Westwood gave him a “steady diet of poisonous ideas,” including “books on Charles Manson, Nazi paraphernalia, [and] murderous hatred toward the establishment.”

Nancy Spungen

In addition to being a drugged-out disaster, Sid and Nancy were punk’s “it” couple. Nancy Spungen grew up in a Jewish family in the Philadelphia suburbs. When Spungen took Vicious home to meet her parents, she requested bagels and lox and he refused to eat lox. Vicious was not the “nice Jewish dentist” that Spungen’s mother had wanted for her. Vicious allegedly murdered Spungen, but he died from a drug overdose before he could stand trial.

Keith Levene

Guitarist Keith Levene played with Vicious in the Flowers of Romance (the pre-Pistols band that Vicious wrote “Belsen Was a Gas” for) and was also in an early version of The Clash. Vicious and Levene infamously got heroin together in April 1977, leaving Vicious hospitalized for over a month with hepatitis B. He missed signing the Pistols’ record deal on time and recording most of their album.

Mick Jones

Mick Jones is the Jewish guitarist who did remain in The Clash long-term. Jones played guitar for a Vicious solo show in New York after the Pistols disbanded. The Clash played a benefit show for Vicious’s legal defense in the wake of Spungen’s murder, for which Vicious’s mother called Jones a dependable friend.

Putting a Jewish Spin on It

Yid Vicious

The Wisconsin klezmer band Yid Vicious included the songs “Never Mind the Cossacks” and “Anarchy in the Ukraine” on their 1998 album. The playful song titles spoofed the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols and “Anarchy in the U.K.” In the liner notes, Yid Vicious explained that while some people assume they “play some sort of punk klezmer hybrid,” their “take on klezmer is a fairly traditional one.”

Sid Yiddish

Sid Yiddish leads the band Candy Store Henchmen and has been on America’s Got Talent. As an actor, he has appeared in Shameless, a Burt’s Bees commercial, and the video for Ludacris’s “Jingalin,’” frequently portraying a rabbi. He ran for president in 2016, vowing to “buy everyone a brand new pair of shoes and hand out kosher bubble gum, accompanied with good comics.” He was aware of Yid Vicious and thought Sid Yiddish would be “an even funnier play on Sid Vicious’s name.” He said that Sid Vicious “was a punk in every way possible,” and Sid Yiddish was “punk in my own vein, but a funnier sort of way.”

For more information about Sid Vicious, Malcolm McLaren, the Sex Pistols, and punk from a Jewish perspective, check out Michael Croland’s book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk.

Image via Wikimedia

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Shabbat is the day of rest, and according to traditional Jewish law, you shouldn’t listen to music then. But what about the intensity of preparing for Shabbat? Start a one-person mosh pit in your kitchen while making challah!

Here’s a Shabbat punk playlist featuring punk rock versions of liturgical songs, originals about Shabbat, and a cover of the “King of Jewish Music.” The songs might be loud and fast, but they’re still holy—for the most part.

Di Nigunim: L’Cha Dodi

A cornerstone of the Kabbalat Shabbat service, “L’Cha Dodi” welcomes the Sabbath bride. The 13-member band Di Nigunim put their wild “anarcho-klezmer punk” stamp on the beautiful melody. Front man Ben Nigunim explained that he “filled it up with all the pent-up angst of the week, like ‘Fuck yeah! Let’s let loose now!’” He removed references to God, which, he said, “the religious cats probably wouldn’t dig too much.”

Moshiach Oi!: Shabbos

Moshiach Oi! singer/guitarist Yishai Romanoff celebrates that Shabbos is “Hashem’s holy day.” It’s a day when he doesn’t drive, go far, worry, or rush. That’s all there is lyrically, but with screaming and repetition, it’s all emphasized so that you can appreciate how holy the Sabbath is. An early demo of “Shabbos” included guest back-up vocals that sounded “like a demon from hell,” the band’s other guitarist fondly recalled.

The Groggers: Friday Night Lights

Plenty of pop-punk songs are about craving sex. In the Groggers’ version, the narrator yearns to have sex with his wife on “mitzvah night.” Despite having Shabbat guests at the table, he was “playing footsies during ‘Mizmor Shir’” and “waiting for this since HaMotzi.” Spoiler alert: His wife falls asleep before the couple can “feel the Shabbos spirit” together.

Yidcore: Just One Shabbos

Yidcore covered this song by Mordechai Ben David on their debut album in 2000. The lyrics are quite moving, albeit difficult to understand at times. They tell the story of a Jew who didn’t observe Shabbat and connects with Judaism upon visiting the Western Wall on a Friday night. Transformed, the man continues observing Shabbat and spreads the joy to others.

White Shabbos: Shabbos Holy Shabbos

The band name and the song/album title are takeoffs on the legendary metal band Black Sabbath and their song/album “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.” The folk-punk band White Shabbos is decidedly more pious. “Shabbos Bloody Shabbos” praises the holiness of the Sabbath in both Hebrew and English. The lyrics describe Shabbos as “a taste of the world to come.” They encourage listeners to keep the Sabbath in order to help bring the Messiah.

The Schleps: Adon Olam

One of the most fun prayers to learn as a kid is “Adon Olam” because it can be sung to almost any melody. The Schleps chose one of the most common “Adon Olam” tunes for a brutal metalcore rendition. It isn’t like any of the options you heard in Hebrew school. (If you’re looking for a pop-punk alternative, you can sing “Adon Olam” to Green Day’s “Minority” instead.)

Learn more about all of these Jewish punk bands in Michael Croland’s book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk.

Photo album cover for White Shabbos.

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When I married my wife, Tamara, in June, the Mazel-Tov Cocktail was the signature drink at our wedding.

The name was an easy choice— Mazel-Tov Cocktail, a zine published in 1995, was the first comprehensive work exploring the connections between Jews and punk. As the author of Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, I am a particularly big fan.

And while Tamara and I were planning our wedding, and considering a signature drink, a crazy thing happened: The Mazel-Tov Cocktail was in the news! Two days before Election Day, a Donald Trump supporter inadvertently said “mazel-tov cocktail” instead of “Molotov cocktail” on CNN. The Internet had a field day, and I explained the origin of the term in a Jewcy article. With Tamara’s blessing, I now felt compelled to name our signature wedding drink the Mazel-Tov Cocktail.

It turned out, our wedding venue already had a signature drink for the season. It was called a Pineapple-Ginger Smash, also known as a pineapple-ginger mojito. The cocktail consisted of light rum, muddled ginger, fresh pineapple, lime juice, and mint. It sounded nice, but Tamara and I never would have conceived of that combination of ingredients.

I was in a quandary; neither Tamara nor I drink much, but this was an opportunity to put our own stamp on our special day. The idea of creating a Mazel-Tov Cocktail had a personalized touch: punny, punky, and Jewish. The Pineapple-Ginger Smash sounded like an adequate option among many at the bar, but we had already thought about having a signature drink, and it felt like this cocktail was random, and had nothing to do with us.

The solution was ultimately obvious: As a compromise, we renamed the Pineapple-Ginger Smash the Mazel-Tov Cocktail. It didn’t have blatantly Jewish signifiers like Manischewitz wine, but dayeinu. Between the rum and ginger, it packs a punch, and the pineapple is sweet, but just tart enough to be perfect for a happy occasion. It turns out it pairs really well with a wedding where Golem is the band. And I was able to drive home the drink’s name with signs featuring the cover image from the zine Mazel-Tov Cocktail.

The Mazel-Tov Cocktail was a hit. I got to taste one in a bridal suite following the ceremony. Both bars ran out, until my mother urged the event manager to remedy the situation.

You can make your own Mazel-Tov Cocktail, for your punk (if slightly tropical) simcha! This recipe, inspired by our wedding, is based on similar ones from Food.com, Kitchen Sanctuary, and mostly Domesticate Me.

L’Chaim!

Ingredients:

3 tbsp cup pineapple puree OR one pineapple ring
1/2 tbsp of ginger, muddled
1 ounce light rum
6-8 mint leaves
1 tbsp lime juice
Shaved ice
A spritz of seltzer
Additional mint and lime wedge to garnish

Directions:
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the ginger, mint leaves, and lime juice. Add the pineapple ring or puree (you can blend fresh pineapple), rum, and a couple ice cubes, and shake vigorously to combine. Pour into a cocktail glass filled with shaved ice. Top off with seltzer, garnish with a fresh mint sprig and a lime slice. Serves 1.

Recipe photo by Christopher Duggan Photography. Drink photo by Michael Croland. 

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Believe it or not, it’s become a tradition for Jews around the world to celebrate the High Holidays with punk rock.

In 2008, for example, in Tel Aviv, the band Friday Night Sissy Fight promoted a “Rosh Hashana Mayhem” show and encouraged people to “Celebrate the Hebrew New Year with Some Punk.” That same year in Australia, Yidcore played a “Happy Jew Year” show they said would “be sweeter than apple dipped in honey!” Yidcore added, “Well it’s Jew Year next week so we thought we’d give y’all one last chance to rack up a bunch of sins before you wipe your slates clean!” And last year, Jewcy shared Schmekel songs for four Tishrei holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah.

From “Mosh Hashanah” to Yom Kippur intensity, here’s a Jewish punk playlist for the High Holidays, with a Christmas tune thrown in for good measure.

Free Radicals: Mosh Hashanah

As a lover of punk and puns, I give this song title an A+. Houston-based Free Radicals are known for their fusion of jazz, funk, ska, reggae, Afrobeat, and more, and “Mosh Hashanah” combines klezmer and punk rock. “Free Radicals doesn’t play klezmer exclusively, but when we do, it often tends to be our heaviest music,” the band said in a statement. “Maybe this is because our band members have several Jewish ancestors [and] because when we play one-two beats we get confused as to whether we are doing polka, klezmer, or punk rock ….”

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes: Hava Nagila (Christmas Arrangement)

When Me First and the Gimme Gimmes recorded a live album at a bar mitzvah, they of course played “Hava Nagila.” Afterward bassist Fat Mike (better known as the front man of NOFX) explained that he didn’t like the “traditional” song, so they “rewrote” it and came up with a “better version.” The group then played “Hava Nagila” to the tune of “Feliz Navidad,” with a chorus of “I wanna wish you a Rosh Hashanah from the bottom of my heart.” The line doesn’t make sense without an adjective in front of “Rosh Hashanah,” taking the absurdity of the situation to even greater heights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8Q-3ifV1c0

Yidcore: Avinu Malkeinu

Yidcore followed in the path of Barbra Streisand and Phish by covering “Avinu Malkeinu.” This liturgical staple of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur beseeches “Our Father, Our King” to have mercy. In Yidcore’s version, the verses and the coda have punk rock frenzy. Arguably, though, the slower introduction and bridge invite inner reflection. Yidcore deserves extra credit for playing a shofar in songs that had nothing to do with the High Holidays and for saying “Shana tovah” in a song about the secular New Year.

Pitom: An Epic Encounter

On Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes, Pitom addressed the themes and liturgy of the High Holidays. “An Epic Encounter” is the song with the fastest tempo, and it rocked out with intensity toward the end of the album. Guitarist Yoshie Fruchter explained that the song is “supposed to echo as the day is winding down … as things are speeding up” and “echo the movement of” Yom Kippur. He added, “As the day is winding down, the day is getting more intense. … That was the reason for putting that where it is on the record and the feel that it is.” Pitom used intense music to express the intensity of Yom Kippur.

To learn more about Yidcore, Pitom, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and other Jewish punk bands, check out Michael Croland’s book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk (Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO).

Flyer courtesy of Yidcore.

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Traditionally for Shavuot, Jews celebrate that God gave us the Torah by staying up until sunrise learning Torah. Untraditionally, you can rev yourself up for an all-nighter by listening to “Torah hardcore.”   

Unlike most hardcore punk, “Torah hardcore” fully embraces the Tanakh. There’s only one band in the genre: Moshiach Oi! The New York group released their first two albums in 2009 and 2011, and their third, Rock Rabeinu, is tentatively due out in June. For Moshiach Oi!, the messages of Torah and Jewish observance are genuine, and the music is a platform.

“Punk rock music is a great way to express Torah concepts,” said drummer Pesach Simcha Alpert.

Singer Yishai Romanoff added, “It’s powerful. It’s passionate. It’s right to the point, right to the core, no beating around the bush. It’s straightforward. What’s better to use to get out a powerful message?”

Moshiach Oi! often takes that straightforward approach to the extreme, including with songs where two or three words are repeated throughout. While numerous Moshiach Oi! songs promote Torah values and teachings, three explicitly hit listeners over the head with an embrace of Torah.

In “I Wanna Learn Torah,” the title is sung or screamed 24 times in a song that clocks in at 1 minute, 12 seconds. Romanoff declares his desire to learn Torah daily. He aspires to “learn Chumash with Rashi” until he knows it “fluently.” He celebrates that his “Torah fire can never be tamed.” He explains that his need to learn Torah is because of his “soul” and “head” and because the Torah contains “all of God’s wisdom.” Ultimately, he seeks to learn Torah “because I am a Jew”!

“I Love Torah” sees the band mixing in reggae and featuring a guest synth player, and at 3:45, it’s the longest song on Moshiach Oi!’s debut album. The lyrics, however, still get right to the point, with the title repeated 35 times. In the verses with that refrain, Romanoff tells listeners that he learns Torah “every day” and that “it brings light” to his soul. There is one verse where Romanoff leaves out the refrain, but by the end he seems frustrated that he’s veered off track: “That’s enough talk/It’s time to pray.”

In “Torah of Moshe,” the refrain “The Torah of Moshe [Moses] will never be forgotten” comes up 20 times. It’s in the cadence of the popular protest chant “The people united will never be defeated,” imbuing it with punk cred. Romanoff declares, “Torah of truth piercing up through the sky/From Moshe Rabbeinu to Shimon Bar Yochai.” He sings that the Torah won’t be forgotten from Jews’ mouths, minds, hearts, or land.

If you want to stay up for Shavuot, ditch the caffeine and get ready with some Torah hardcore. “Our message … has this objective of waking and shaking people up. And so what better musical style to use than punk rock, which tends to wake and shake people up?” Romanoff explained. “Punk rock has a special power to really get people riled up.”

To learn more about Moshiach Oi!, check out my book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk. Yishai Romanoff is featured on the book’s cover.

Photo of Drummer Pesach Simcha Alpert and front man Yishai Romanoff of Moshiach Oi! from the 2012 documentary Punk Jews.

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Yiddish has had an exciting creative revival in recent years, including festivals, theater, and music. Even punk music is getting its Yiddish on!

From klezmer-punk to pop-punk, here are the best punk acts with Yiddish as their mamaloshen (mother tongue). They’re punk with their attitudes and sensibilities, their musical styles, and their polemics against injustice and war.

Klunk

Klunk (short for “klezmer-punk”) combines klezmer with punk rock and metal. The Parisian band released their debut EP in March. Their songs embrace left-wing stances against oppression, poverty, unemployment, and inequality. “I consider myself a Yiddishist, and I try to promote the Yiddish language and culture by all means possible,” says lead singer and pianist Jean-Gabriel Davis.

“Daloy Polizey” (“Down with the Police”) features raspy vocals, crunchy guitar chords, and a fast tempo. The song dates back to at least 1905. According to the Jewish Music Research Centre, the song “tends toward anarchism, even anarchist terror, especially in the verse that calls to bury Tsar Nicolai along with his mother,” and “may be connected to more radical sections of the Labor Bund.”

Asher Yatzar

Not all Yiddish punk stems from klezmer! Asher Yatzar, a Yiddish pop-punk band, started playing shows in Chicago last year. For the band members, singing in Yiddish isn’t a radical statement, but rather, natural for Ashkenazi Jews. “They’re all Jewish songs,” said guitarist/singer Shmul. “My lyrics are generally more secular, but we have a song about the bund, a song about creating new paradigms for envisioning collective Jewish liberation, a song about Yiddishkayt.”

The song “Genitungen” (“Exercise”) begins, “Far i’deayl gezuntenkeit … genitungen” (“For optimal health … exercise”). In the lyrics, examples of exercise include running, learning in a bet-midrash (house of study), and praying. Asher Yatzar drummer/singer Dave explained that “for ideal health,” a Jew needs “to work your guf (body) and your brain and your nshoma (soul).”

Golem

Golem plays klezmer with a rockin’, punked-up edge. Singer/accordionist Annette Ezekiel Kogan said that Golem was out to make klezmer that “preserved the past” but was “alive,” rather than belonging in “a museum” or “a morgue.”

Golem typically opens shows with Kogan wailing “Oy!” and then greeting the crowd in Yiddish. Golem’s other singer, Aaron Diskin, translates that Kogan isn’t speaking English, German, or Hebrew, but rather—brace for the excitement—Yiddish! With a hefty drum-roll, Golem then launches into the frenzied “Odessa,” which Kogan has called their “anthem.” The old Peisachke Burstein song is about yearning for the narrator’s hometown and “beautiful city” of Odessa, Ukraine. Golem included “Odessa” on their 2004 and 2014 albums, but it sounds the most intense—and punk rock—live.

Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird

Although their “Radical Yiddish Punkfolk Cabaret” stew contains many ingredients, punk is an important element of Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird. In my book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, Kahn says that his music exhibited a “do-it-yourself” approach, “exuberant irreverence and aggressiveness,” “sardonic acid humor,” a “willingness to engage with some dark shit,” and a rejection of “commercial market populism: the idea of trying to make something that’s appealing to everybody.”

When the band included electric guitar, there was a more discernible punk rock vibe, such as in the intense bridge and coda of “Yosl Ber/A Patriot.” Kahn sang most verses of the Itsik Manger song in both Yiddish and English, but it’s the one he didn’t translate into English that made the song’s underlying joke work. In the liner notes Kahn explained that a Jewish soldier accused of running away from battle was a “faithful soldier”: “That’s why I ran away from the front! I hate the enemy so much, I don’t even want to look him in the eye!”

To learn more about Golem, Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird, and other bands that combine Jewishness and punk, check out, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk.

Photo of Klunk by Kriss Peeks

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1. The Schleps: “Adir Hu”

Joshua Sherer handles vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and recording for the Schleps. Sherer said that while Passover has some of his “favorite holiday songs,” he covered “Adir Hu” “simply because it was the easiest and quickest song to record.” One could debate whether this metalcore song is more metal than hardcore/punk, but the guitar sound has a great, heavy crunch, whatever you want to call it.

2. Gefilte Fuck: “Diyanu”

Multiple Jewish punk bands covered “Diyanu,” but Gefilte Fuck was unique in adding “Fuck you!” to the chorus. “I thought the Passover song ‘Dayenu’ that I remembered so vividly from Sunday school needed to be screamed and played fast,” wrote guitarist Adam Bregman in the zine Mazel-Tov Cocktail. The band didn’t limit its Passover celebration to music, throwing matzoh and gefilte fish at fans during live shows.

3. NOFX: “The Brews”

The number-one Jewish punk anthem of all time is “The Brews” by NOFX. The song hailed the Brews (short for “Hebrews”) as an Orthodox street gang that celebrated Shabbat by drinking Manischewitz wine and beating up non-Jews. The Brews were described as skinheads with “anti-swastika tattoos.” The song ends by chanting the chorus of “Dayenu.” 

4. Yidcore: “Ma Nishtana”

Yidcore’s “Ma Nishtana” begins with a young boy reciting “Why is this night different from all others?” and making fart noises with his mouth. Yidcore then plunges headfirst into a screaming, full-throttle rendition of “The Four Questions” that’d make your zayde scream too (from being appalled, that is). It was hard to pick just one Passover song by Yidcore, seeing as how they’ve also covered “Dayenu” and “Vehi She’amda.” Yidcore front man Bram Presser noted, “The running gag for a long while was that Yidcore was started with the express primary purpose of speeding up the interminably long and boring seder. Anything beyond that was just a bonus.” 

5. The Shondes: “At the Water”

“At the Water,” from the Shondes’ The Red Sea, tells the story of Nashon from Exodus. Nashon led the way by walking into the Red Sea until it parted. Shondes violinist Elijah Oberman explained, “It was specifically inspired by Passover and that moment when Nashon goes into the Red Sea—and the idea that you have to go as far as you can on your own before G-d comes in and makes a miracle.” The band members found the story inspirational for social justice advocacy, as it suggests that people have to take risks in the pursuit of doing the right thing.

6. Schmekel: “Pharaoh/Moses Slash” 

The transgender Jewish punk band Schmekel wrote songs about most Jewish holidays, including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Purim. “Pharaoh/Moses Slash” addressed “the part of the Exodus that the haggadah leaves out”: a sexual relationship between Pharaoh and Moses. The chorus celebrates, “Shtupping is a mitzvah, and I’m a matzoh man.” Schmekel also played with “Chad Gadya” in one of their best songs, “The Mohel Song.”

7. Electric Menorah: “Let My People Go”

As the name suggests, the one-man band Electric Menorah started out with Chanukah songs in 2003. In 2008, singer/guitarist Brett Singer released Passocore. The EP featured punk covers of traditional Passover songs, including “Let My People Go.” Whereas the 2003 songs required his friend’s assistance with a drum machine and Pro Tools, Singer recorded the new songs on his Mac using GarageBand. This time around, Singer was truly a DIY one-man band.

8. Gangsta Rabbi: “Shout in Mizra’im”

In January (while he was in a medically induced coma, no less), Steve “Gangsta Rabbi” Lieberman released The King of Jewish Punk, his 30th album (68th if you count his prior cassette recordings). In 2003, his song “Shout in Mizr’aim” topped the Jewish/Israeli chart on MP3.com for eight days. The lyrics recall how the Hebrews built the pyramids and Moses told Pharaoh, “Hey, let my people go!”

You can learn more about all eight artists in my book, Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk.

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