ELEANOR CARMELI:
Hi, I'm Eleanor.
And I am here on behalf of
the Jewglers in New York.
We're really excited
to see everyone here
today and celebrate
the holiday with you.
So I welcome all of you
to put your hands together
for the Maccabeats.
THE MACCABEATS:
Two, three, four.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"AL HANISSIM"]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ:
All right, those of you
who aren't holding up
cell phones, taping this,
put your hands together.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"AL HANISSIM"]
NOAH JACOBSON: Let's
hear claps, guys.
Come on.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"AL HANISSIM"]
NOAH JACOBSON:
Thank you so much.
Google, how are we doing today?
[APPLAUSE]
NOAH JACOBSON: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hold on.
Now, I don't know
if you know this,
but this is our
busiest time of year.
And over the past
week, we've been
in New Orleans, in Houston
for a concert, in Florida.
Probably like 10 or 12
shows in the last week.
So we're a little tired.
And we're going to need
some energy from you guys.
So one more time, I said,
how are we doing tonight?
[APPLAUSE]
NOAH JACOBSON: Much better.
Much better, thank you.
We are the Maccabeats from
Yeshiva University in New York
City.
And we are so excited to
be here with you today.
It's going to be a great day.
We're going to have some fun.
We can do that if
we do three rules.
Can we listen to
three rules, Google?
Three rules?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
NOAH JACOBSON: I
said three rules.
AUDIENCE: Yes.
NOAH JACOBSON: The first rule,
if you know one of the songs
that we're about to sing,
you have to sing along, OK?
Especially the kids,
very important.
You got that?
Second rule, if you don't
know one of the songs
that we're about to
sing, we might find it
in our Maccabeat
hearts to forgive you.
But you have to clap
along for a fast song
and get a little cellphone
wave going for a slow song, OK?
Third rule is that
after the show,
you must purchase
as much merchandise
as you possibly can.
I'm totally kidding about
the first two rules.
This next song is Lecha Dodi.
We hope you enjoy.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"LECHA DODI"]
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ:
[CHANTING] Whoa.
AUDIENCE: Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ:
You know, they
told me to expect people to
be a little brighter here
than everywhere else.
Let's try again.
[CHANTING] Whoa.
AUDIENCE: [CHANTING] Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ:
[CHANTING] Eh.
AUDIENCE: [CHANTING] Eh.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ:
[CHANTING] Whoa.
AUDIENCE: [CHANTING] Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ:
[CHANTING] Whoa.
AUDIENCE: [CHANTING] Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: Not bad.
[CHANTING] Whoa.
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: Are
they laughing with me or at me?
But just to review, just
kidding about those last few.
When Nachum goes, (SINGING) But
you got to keep your head up,
you go--
AUDIENCE: Whoa.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: I said,
when Nachum goes, (SINGING)
But you got to keep
your head up, you go--
AUDIENCE: Whoa.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"KEEP YOUR HEAD UP"]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: All
right, I think we're ready.
This is going to be fun.
You're all honorary Maccabeats
for this next song, all right?
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"KEEP YOUR HEAD UP"]
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM
HOROWITZ: All right,
has anybody been to the
mall in the last few weeks?
Anybody here been to the mall?
Don't get out too much, huh?
All right, I've got to stop.
All right, well, if you do go to
the mall at this time of year,
starting from about two or three
weeks ago, what kind of music
do you hear?
Let's see, this is a Q and
A. Answer-- Christmas music,
exactly.
And there's always your Jewish
friend who's like, you know,
I love Christmas music.
And it's such a shame, because
all the good Christmas music
was written by Jews.
But you know what,
that's a two-way street.
All the good Hanukkah music
was written by non-Jews, too.
So we decided to
rectify that last year.
We actually-- most
Maccabeats music
is cover music or parody music.
We actually decided to write
an original Hanukkah song
for the very first time,
which was really a lot of fun.
It was a new venue for us.
So this is our original
Hanukkah song, "Shine."
[MUSIC - THE
MACCABEATS, "SHINE"]
[APPLAUSE]
NOAH JACOBSON: So we get asked a
lot of questions as Maccabeats.
People are very, very
curious about our experience.
So one of the questions
that we always get
is, did you ever expect
in your wildest dreams
that you would start
this a cappella
group at Yeshiva University
which essentially looks
like the cast of Book of Mormon
and that your group would go on
to garner about 15 million
views on YouTube collectively?
Yeah, YouTube.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: That's
right, we can say that here.
NOAH JACOBSON: And the answer
we give them is, yes, we totally
thought that would happen.
No, the answer is
we really didn't
think that would
happen but we've
had so many really awesome
amazing experiences thanks
to this whole experience.
And one of those awesome parts
of being in the Maccabeats
is all the travel we get to do.
So in the three years since
"Candlelight" came out,
we've been to over 35
states in the United States.
We've done shows in China, New
Zealand, Australia, England,
South Africa, really
all over the world.
And we have a really
good time with it
and we have a lot
of fun on the road.
So do you guys want to
hear a story from the road?
A Maccabeats story
from the road?
[APPLAUSE]
NOAH JACOBSON: Awesome
enthusiasm, thank you.
10 points.
So we were in
Houston, Texas, which
happens to be my favorite city
because that's where I'm from.
And in the music
videos, I actually
wear an orange space suit.
I don't know if
you've seen that.
And the space suit is sort
of an homage to my hometown,
to Houston, because
NASA's based in Houston.
So when we went to Houston
to do a show there,
there were about 1,500
people in the show.
It was a huge show.
And NASA heard that we
were coming to Houston.
And they said, do you guys want
to go on a VIP tour of NASA?
And we said, sure.
And so we went, and
it was so much fun.
We were in these fake spaceships
and we were pressing all sorts
of buttons that we shouldn't.
And it was just so much fun.
And while we were there,
the person showing us around
said, look up there.
And we looked up, and there
was this observation deck.
And there were all
these children,
these little children,
waving frantically at us.
And he said, do you want to
know why they're waving at you?
And I said, yeah, you know,
we're in the Maccabeats.
It's kind of a big
deal, whatever.
He said, no, they think
you're astronauts.
So it was fun.
And we go all over the world
and we have a great, great time.
And every place that we go is a
new experience, something new.
And for us, being at
Google is so cool.
It's really so cool.
So thank you so
much for having us.
So just for you guys,
we're going to debut,
do our live debut of our
new Hanukkah song this year.
It's called "Burn."
We hope you enjoy it.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ:
This is actually--
this is good news and bad news.
So the good news is this is the
live debut of our new Hanukkah
song, "Burn."
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM
HOROWITZ: The bad news
is this is the live debut of
our new Hanukkah song, "Burn."
So you'll have to
cut us some slack.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS, "BURN"]
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM
HOROWITZ: Those of you
who've been to one of
our shows before know
that these beautiful but
unfortunate chords mean
that our time here
is coming to an end.
But my mother would
never forgive me
if we went all the way to
Central Park for our next show,
which starts in five minutes,
without my first introducing
to you to all these
nice young Jewish guys.
So all the way down at
my left, your right,
our vocal percussionist
from Passaic,
New Jersey, Meir Shapiro.
At his right, from your
very own Chelsea, New York,
Chanina Abramowitz.
On his right, from Silver
Spring, Maryland, Nachum Joel.
On his right, all the way from
Houston, Texas, Noah Jacobson.
To his right, from Merrick,
New York, Jeffrey Ritholtz.
His right, from Paramus,
New Jersey, Joshua Jay.
And to his right, from Monsey,
New York, Buri Rosenberg.
NOAH JACOBSON: And
finally, all the way
from Brooklyn, New York,
Julian Chaim Horowitz.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: As
you've just heard, there it is.
No two Maccabeats hail
from the same place.
It's our music which
brought us together
and our music which brings
us together with you today.
This final, I guess, kind
of medley of two songs
are really what
that's all about,
the power of music,
the power of harmony
to bring all sorts
of different people
together in all sorts
of wonderful ways.
So without further
ado, please join us
in these wonderful prayers.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"WAVIN' FLAG/ONE DAY"]
[APPLAUSE]
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: We have
time for just one more song.
And it probably should be
a Hanukkah song, right?
It's the right time of year.
Does anybody have any requests
for what that song should be?
Any--
AUDIENCE: "Candlelight."
JULIAN CHAIM
HOROWITZ: Did someone
say "I Had a Little Dreidel"?
That's my favorite
Hanukkah song.
We'll do that.
We'll do that song
that you're asking for.
And a few of you
mentioned it to us
backstage that you
know the words.
So we'll do it on
two conditions.
Condition number
one is-- and I hope
the cameras are getting this.
If everybody who
can, please stand up.
Even you, that's right.
Condition number
two, a few of you
mentioned to me backstage
that you know the words.
I'm sure the kids
all know the words.
Parents, I know you
also know the words.
So we've done this song so
many times we kind of blocked
the words out of our memory.
So you'll have to help us out.
All right?
Do we have a deal, Google?
Do we have a deal?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
JULIAN CHAIM HOROWITZ: Uh-uh-uh.
I heard coders are
the best crowds.
All right.
So I said, do we
have a deal, Google?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
JULIAN CHAIM
HOROWITZ: All right.
Can we crank it up
all the way here?
Turn it up to 11, all right?
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"CANDLELIGHT"]
NOAH JACOBSON: OK, Google.
I think we had a deal.
A deal was in order, OK?
Send us off right.
Everyone together, last time.
Let's go.
[MUSIC - THE MACCABEATS,
"CANDLELIGHT"]
NOAH JACOBSON:
Thank you so much.
[APPLAUSE]
