I'm not sure I see the connection between Hava Nagila and Christmas (other than in the artist's imagination). On the other hand, recent discussion on the Jewish-Music mailing list led to the claim that almost all popular American Christmas songs were written by Jews, starting with the secular ballad, "White Christmas," written by Irving Berlin (and recorded a few years ago in Yiddish by Mandy Patinkin). In the spirit of that double cultural reverse, and as an antidote to yet another "hava nagila" recording that seems banal above all else, I present this Yiddish take on an American icon of this season: "Yiddish Rudolph" [ video on YouTube ]
I'm not sure I see the connection between Hava Nagila and Christmas (other than in the artist's imagination). On the other hand, recent discussion on the Jewish-Music mailing list led to the claim that almost all popular American Christmas songs were written by Jews, starting with the secular ballad, "White Christmas," written by Irving Berlin (and recorded a few years ago in Yiddish by Mandy Patinkin). In the spirit of that double cultural reverse, and as an antidote to yet another "hava nagila" recording that seems banal above all else, I present this Yiddish take on an American icon of this season: "Yiddish Rudolph" [ video on YouTube ]