Bishnat “Be the Light” event brings joy to London

Anyone casually walking past St John’s Wood Synagogue on Tuesday night might legitimately have wondered at the torrent of sound coming from within the building.

It was – as any of the 1,000 people inside could testify – that all too rare moment in these troubled times. It was the sound of Jews having fun, singing their hearts out and occasionally breaking into “couldn’t help myself” dancing.

This was an explosive event held by the Bishnat organisation, which has one simple mission — to promote Jewish joy through music. Tuesday’s event, “Be the Light”,  marked Bishnat’s fifth year of operation and for the two co-sponsors, Hilton Nathanson and Moshe Robinson, an opportunity to pay tribute to their late fathers, both of whom loved Jewish music.

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To celebrate — and to help the community rediscover the power of music in healing the pain of relentless antisemitism — the evening, held in co-operation with the Stand With Us charity — showcased the remarkable talents of American tenor Shulem Lemmer and the South African singer, Choni G. They were welcomed by St John’s Wood’s senior rabbi, Mendel Cohen.

Billed as a night for the community “that hits all the right notes”, the event wowed the packed audience. As Hilton Nathanson observed, as well as a stubborn refusal “not to be defeated by those who hate us”, it was also an opportunity to make and create alliances with those outside the Jewish community who had said they would stand by us.

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He welcomed members of the Hindu community and those of other faiths who were present, and advised the audience that it must “say no to sectarianism and racial hate.” We Jews, he said, “are the canaries in the coal mine”, but it was important to link with other communities and stand in the face of such hatreds.

It is fair to say that the synagogue was transformed, with barely an empty seat, both on the ground floor and upstairs in the rocking, dancing gallery. State of the art disco lights strobed the audience as Shulem Lemmer, a world-renowned chazan — and almost certainly the only strictly Orthodox singer (he is a Belz Chasid) to be signed to an international record label — leapt into action.

Lemmer’s beautiful voice, accompanied by a top-class band,  transfixed those present, as he moved seamlessly from classic Israeli songs such as Jerusalem of Gold to niggunim in praise of the Almighty. Framing the music were films on the giant screens dotted around the synagogue — with content ranging from IDF heroism to Holocaust agonies, and a litany of antisemitic crimes committed worldwide, from America to Britain and Australia, in the shadows of 7 October 2023.

If the audience were not already on their feet, they rose as one to cheer special guests Yoni Finlay and Rabbi Daniel Walker, the heroes of the Yom Kippur Heaton Park Synagogue attack in 2025.

Then it was the turn of South Africa’s Choni G to take to the stage, accompanied by film showing him walking round the abandoned Nova Music Festival site. He gave new life to Matisyahu’s chart-topper, One Day, and was then joined by Lemmer and violinist Bar Markovich in a version of Am Yisroel Chai which nearly took the roof off.

Lemmer, proving his versatility, produced beautiful versions of Paul Simon’s The Sound of Silence and Billy Joel’s Piano Man. As all the performers vowed, “We will dance again”, St John’s Wood rocked as it has rarely rocked, deep into the October night.