We’re not gonna do this for eight days, for a couple of reasons – one, because tomorrow we’re off for Christmas, and two, there aren’t enough of these to go around.

But two nods to Hanukkah are better than one – Western Civilization is a Judeo-Christian affair, after all, and since we’ve done lots of Christmas stuff already and we’ll have lots more before it’s over, it’s only fair that we hit this twice.

Besides, the Maccabeats are good kids. They’re a bunch of guys from Yeshiva University who – well, we’ll let them tell it…

In the fall of 2007, a few students at Yeshiva University came to a startling realization: Jewish collegiate a cappella groups had been formed on almost every college campus with a substantial Jewish student community – every campus, that was, except for YU! This realization soon led to the formation of the Maccabeats, YU’s all-male a capella group. At first, the Maccabeats sang mostly in the privacy of their own practice room, developing a repertoire. Soon, though, their music began to spread and be performed all over campus at a plethora of university events and at numerous concerts. The Maccabeats have since performed all around the country, from New York’s Madison Square Garden to Los Angeles, California (and everywhere in between).