The Maccabeats, a Jewish singing group, has a released a Hanukkah Hamilton Parody. Maybe now for his next musical Lin-Manuel Miranda will do the story of the Maccabees.
It makes sense that The Maccabeats would have something special for us to celebrate Hanukkah. After all, they named themselves for the Maccabees.
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In the video, The Maccabeats play the Jews standing up to Greek Persecution more than 2, 100 years ago. But they are dressed in American Colonial era garb just like the cast of the musical “Hamilton.”
They sing, “We are not gonna betray our God. We are not gonna betray our God. Hey yo, we don’t need permission, to keep our great traditions. And we’re not gonna betray our God.”
Originally formed in 2007 as Yeshiva University’s student vocal group, the Maccabeats have recently emerged as both Jewish music and a cappella phenomena, with a large fanbase, more than 20 million views on YouTube, numerous TV appearances, and proven success with four albums, 2010′s Voices From The Heights, 2012′s Out Of The Box, 2014′s One Day More and 2015′s A Maccabeats Hanukkah.
Though the Maccabeats aren’t your grandfather’s synagogue choir, their ideology and identity play an important part in what they do. Strongly committed to the philosophy of Torah u-Madda, the integration of traditional and secular wisdom, the Maccabeats perform an eclectic array of Jewish, American, and Israeli songs.
Their breakthrough piece, Lecha Dodi, is the epitome of this synthesis, combining some of the most beloved words of Jewish liturgy with Leonard Cohen’s meaningful and melodic Hallelujah.
