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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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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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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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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1. Yidcore: Punk Rock Chanukah Song

Adam Sandler took Jewish holiday music to the next level with “The Chanukah Song,” but Yidcore one-upped Sandler with this parody—and circumcised him in the (arguably NSFW) music video. Yidcore proudly recalled the many prominent Jews in punk rock. Yidcore declared, “Joey Ramone ate matzoh at the seder/Just like Richard Hell and most of the Dictators.” Sure the Maccabees are important, but this is an important history lesson too.

2. Golem: Freydele

Golem is a klezmer-rock band with a punk edge. The first few times I heard “Freydele” live, I was blown away that Golem had come up with such a catchy, poppy, dance-y song. Just like most songs that meet that description, there’s some rapping in Yiddish. The lyrics discuss a maydele, named Freydele, who plays with her dreydele.

3. Shira: Hanukkah Song

Although Shiragirl was a punk rock band, as a solo artist Shira focused more on dance music, while still incorporating punk-inspired distorted guitar. “Hanukkah Song” mentions the oil that lasted for eight nights, latkes, chocolate gelt, and doughnuts. The lyrics include a tutorial on how to play dreidel. As far as Chanukah songs go, it’s all encompassing in discussing both the historical and celebratory aspects of the holiday.

4. Schmekel: I’ll Be Your Maccabee

Schmekel frequently relied on Jewish holidays as a familiar, resonant vehicle to discuss the transgender Jewish experience, (Remember all their High Holy Day songs?). Singer/guitarist Lucian Kahn explained that “I’ll Be Your Maccabee” was about “a young, Jewish, trans guy who goes to a Hanukkah party” and tries to seduce “a very handsome, Christian, non-trans guy.” The song includes a keyboard interlude of the more traditional Hanukkah ditty “Maoz Tzur.”

5. The Schleps: Maoz Tzur

If you’re looking for a full version of “Maoz Tzur” (Rock of Ages), The Schleps recorded a 37-second “koshercore” rendition. For Hanukkah 2008, JDub Records (z”l) featured the song on their blog and “predict[ed] that koshercore will finally take off in 2009 (maybe).” Koshercore did not hit the big time in 2009 or, as of press time, ever, but Jews are good at waiting.

6. Gefilte Fuck: Dreidel Song

Gefilte Fuck’s “Dreidel Song” is a medley of “I Have a Little Dreidel” and “Hanukkah, O Hanukkah.” Front man Howard Hallis recalled that he and the band’s guitarist thought it would be “really funny to take some of these old songs” and “make them punk rock style, because there are some really lovely melodies there that can be bastardized and put into the punk rock format.”

7. Electric Menorah: Charmonica for Chanuka

Brett Singer played guitar in a hardcore band under the stage name Bozo Foreskin. He had the idea of “Bozo Foreskin years later exploring his Jewish roots,” so he formed the one-man band Electric Menorah. Electric Menorah released the EP Chanucore, which consisted of three songs uploaded to MySpace. After a Passocore detour, Electric Menorah returned with “Charmonica for Chanuka.” Singer began the song by chanting “Shin! Hey! Gimmel! Nun!” before saying, “Shin sucks. Gimme Gimmel!”

8. Gangsta Rabbi: My Last Chanukah

Finish up your Chanukah with some end-of-life music. Steve “Gangsta Rabbi” Lieberman is battling cancer and finds it difficult to keep making music, but he hasn’t given up. He’s working on his 30th album (68th if you count his 38 cassette recordings), The King of Jewish Punk. He included “My Last Chanukah” on 2014’s Cancer Ward, but it wasn’t his last Festival of Lights. In a July interview, the Gangsta Rabbi had a unique take on his health situation. He wondered, “Has the God of Israel written a scorching rocker for me to play in Heaven—but not until I get there?”

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

Photo of Shira: Andrina Farago, Hair/Makeup: Paul Mojica

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The Shondes have been around for about a decade, and in the band’s early days, it was all too easy to label them based on their punk/riot grrrl background, their Jewish and queer identities, and their radical politics. The Shondes never abandoned any of those. But with their brand-new fifth album, Brighton, showcasing the band’s songwriting depth and pop sensibilities, pigeonholing the Shondes with such labels would sell short just how far they’ve come.

The opening number, “Everything Good,” is the Shondes’ version of a happy pop-rock song. The musical highlight of the whole album is this song’s breakdown, which combines Louisa Solomon’s beautiful but powerful vocals, a distinctive violin part, and crunchy guitar chords. It’s pretty and heavy, all wrapped up in one. It rocks, especially when performed live at the CD release show this past weekend. The title doesn’t lie: It’s everything good.

The next track, “True North,” is a testament to steadfast faith: 

“When we say ‘next year in Jerusalem’/We say ‘every day is revolution’/We raise the torch, we face true North…/Don’t tell me hope is naïve/It can anchor any strategy/I still believe, I still believe”

The song is about clinging to your ideals, as grounded in Jewish terms.

Solomon explained, “We wanted to write a simple pop song about being at a point in life where our ideals had taken a lot of blows, and yet, the act of imagining (a brighter future, justice, revolution, the mythical messianic ‘Jerusalem’ Jews evoke at Passover) itself could provide a kind of groundedness in conviction.”

The ideas here aren’t simple, though. Solomon noted that the Jerusalem reference is a nod to “an ancient Jewish tradition of imagining,” not the city’s present-day role as the capital of Israel. The Shondes have long been outspoken as “firm opponents of Israeli policy” who “renounce claims of Jewish birthright” in Israel, as Solomon put it.

The Shondes have alluded to Jewish topics throughout their career, but Brighton has the most overt Jewish references since their debut. “True North” is one of four songs—out of ten total on the album—with Jewish/religious content. “My Ghost” and “The House” both mention God in their choruses. The anthemic “Unstill Ones” refers to “what the sages meant” and quotes the Song of Songs. The most-Jewish-since-their-debut characterization is even more apparent if one includes “Jacob and Rachel” from Brighton’s “B-sides” collection.

Solomon was inspired to write “Jacob and Rachel” while planning her wedding. The chorus recalls how Jacob “wept when he saw Rachel’s face” and that he “worked seven years for her love.” Solomon was touched by the story of Jacob weeping for his bride. She explained, “Finding romantic precedent in the Bible is tough … and it inspired this song for me as I tried to write through the intensity of my connection with [my husband].”

The chorus also includes the line “So break a glass for all the past that never goes away.” Solomon used the Biblical story to discuss romance in a Jewish context and then built on it. She said, “I used the Jacob and Rachel entry point, trying to get at a connection that feels way beyond size and words—out-of-time in a distinctly Jewish way, just as the Jewish ritual we were planning at the time pulls us out of linear time and asks us to exist in the company of ancestors and unknown descendants via tradition.”

The Shondes’ overtly Jewish lyrics in particular offer thoughtful commentary from intelligent musicians. These are complex ideas told through rocking songs with pop hooks. Don’t just call them simple pop songs. That would sell the Shondes short as much as all the other labels by which their music doesn’t need to be defined.

Photo by Emily Millay Haddad / Circles of Fire Productions.

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In retrospect, it was inevitable that I’d write Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk. I feel a personal connection with many of the featured artists, and had circumstances allowed, I gladly would have seen them live more often. Many of them are based too far away, or don’t play often enough. Yet, there are two bands in the book that I’ve seen far more than any others, and I saw both for the umpteenth time last week. Golem, a klezmer-rock band with a punk edge, is the center of attention in my chapter about punk influences on klezmer and other types of Jewish music. Moshiach Oi!, a “Torah hardcore” band, is perhaps the most prominently featured group in my chapter about overtly Jewish punk rock bands.

Why do I keep going to see these bands over and over again? Of course I enjoy the music, and for a long time it was research for my book. Golem and Moshiach Oi! are based in New York and have been around a while (since 2000 and 2008, respectively), which gave me numerous opportunities. But the reasons I went again and again ran deeper.

Golem and Moshiach Oi! reaffirmed for me that Jewish punk (or klezmer-rock with a punk edge, if you will,) was not just a collection of isolated examples. So many of the bands in my book were spread out by time and geography, but they were an exception. Seeing Golem and Moshiach Oi! so often made my research subject—and my passion—tangible. I wasn’t only covering a band that played a few shows or a defunct band from halfway around the world. Jewish punk—and its variations—was still going strong.

Golem’s and Moshiach Oi!’s music—and concert experiences—also give me satisfaction in my identity as an outside-the-box Jew. This happens at a cultural level with Golem and at a religious level for Moshiach Oi!

My first article about Jews and punk in 2005 began by quoting Golem’s then-violinist, Alicia Jo Rabins, and Golem has been a key part of my Jewish punk journey ever since. I recalled my first Golem show, in San Francisco, in my book:

A 2006 concert showcased Golem’s potential to give fans a wild, fun Jewish experience. … When Golem played a hora, two or three women wearing sexy dresses danced in front of the band and helped get a hora dance going. They were called the Hanukkah Horas—with emphasis on the first syllable of the second word. About half the crowd exuberantly joined hands, kicked their feet, and circled around a mid-sized concert venue. After starting out with the standard Hebrew lyrics of “Hava Nagila,” singer Aaron Diskin frantically sang in English about wanting another tequila with lime and salt. Diskin rolled around onstage, stripped down to “A Great Miracle Happened Here” Hanukkah-themed underwear, which two of his bandmates also showed off.

As I moved around the club intertwined with presumably Jewish strangers, I had a euphoric high and felt “Jewishly connected” on my own terms. I wasn’t getting that in Virginia, where I was living at the time. This was fun Jewish culture mixed with debauchery and edginess. I’d waited a long time and come a long way for this. I don’t get as excited every time I see Golem, but that experience is ingrained in my mind as the benchmark for what a Golem concert is.

This past Wednesday was my 19th time seeing Golem, and I’ve written about the first 18. I’ve started a hora, gotten a hora to switch directions and circle to the left, and danced the hora outside in the rain in December. I’ve seen Golem at an Oktoberfest gig, multiple Chanukah shows (latkes were involved), a holiday season concert, and a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. I’ve even crashed a wedding that Golem was playing at!

Whereas Golem is the band I want to play my wedding when the time comes, Moshiach Oi! was the band at my book release party. I’d been in touch with guitarist Menashe Yaakov Wagner since 2006 about his band White Shabbos, and in 2008, Wagner told me that his friend Yishai Romanoff had started “perhaps the world’s first hardcore vegan straight-edge Orthodox Jewish punk band.” Needless to say, I was intrigued! Around the time Wagner helped expand Moshiach Oi! into a quartet later that year, the label was shortened to “Torah hardcore.”

In November 2008, I went to Wagner’s house and was the first person to interview Moshiach Oi! They’d only played one show, and I was dubious about the band’s prospects. I was wrong, and since then, Moshiach Oi! has released two albums, with a third in the works. The group has been featured in one documentary (Punk Jews) and interviewed for a second (Tikkun Olam) and been profiled in The New York Times. Romanoff graces the cover of my book.

On Thursday I saw Moshiach Oi! for the 10th time, and like for Golem, I recounted every show. A Moshiach Oi! concert is an intense experience, not just because the music is heavy. Romanoff has described the band’s music as “a punch in the face of godliness.” When Romanoff is screaming “Baruch Hashem,” it’s not just art inspired by Judaism. It’s a religious expression of Judaism. “When I’m onstage screaming, I’m trying as hard as I can to only focus on one thing, that I’m doing this for the sake of G-d … only to make G-d’s name great in the world,” Romanoff explained in Punk Jews. Romanoff hopes that his punk rock version of “Shema Yisroel,” for example, makes the prayer more relatable for people who don’t connect with a conventional rendition.

When the opening chords of “Am Yisroel Chai” strike, I get into a focused state. When the lyrics kick in, I scream along with the message of the Jewish people persevering. At my book release party, Romanoff passed me the microphone so I could sing, “We are the children of Abraham… He was the first man to break apart and raise up a fist and smash his culture’s lies and scream ‘Resist!’” Romanoff doesn’t merely tell the story of a Biblical character. He recites it as a battle cry that seamlessly melds his Jewish and punk identities.

When the bridge of “Avoda Zara” kicks in and the musical intensity picks up, I have an out-of-body experience. “No, no, no, I only bless Hakodesh Baruch Hu [the Holy One, Blessed Be He],” Romanoff screams and so do I, before repeatedly screaming “Hey!” in the coda to sustain the momentum just a little longer. During that song, I am filled with a fierce, fierce love for Hashem. That might sound like an oxymoron, but the praise for God is genuine and it’s wonderful. Nothing else brings me closer to God with such concentrated passion in the moment.

I know that that not everyone is reassured in their Jewish identity or feels an unparalleled connection with God. I do, and with these concerts I keep going back for more.

Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk was published in April by Praeger (an imprint of ABC-CLIO).

Image credits: Cover of Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk

Golem via Golemrocks.com

Moshiach Oi! performing at the Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk book release party in June. By Michael Shields.

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