MOBILE, Alabama--What song do Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan and Bar and Bat Mitzvah bands all across the land have in common? Why, "Hava Nagila," of course. Belafonte's 1959 Carnegie Hall performance of ...

One day, in the summer of 2008, the question “‘Hava Nagila’ — what is it?” popped into Roberta Grossman’s head. Although she was familiar with the ubiquitous song, she was clueless about its origins.

A detailed look at the history of the Jewish song "Hava Nagila," which is routinely played at celebrations such as weddings and bar mitzvahs. This lively documentary also includes interviews with ...

Abraham Zevi Idelsohn was a Jewish musicologist, composer, and cantor born in 1882 in Latvia. He is best known for preserving and studying Jewish music from around the world. After moving to Jerusalem ...

It's not a very complicated song, or even a very subtle one. Its pop-culture connotations are more than a little kitschy. Ask a serious musician about it, and watch the ensuing slight look of distaste ...

The beauty of downtown’s Museum of Jewish Heritage is that it is of a piece. To get to its newest exhibit, “Hava Nagila: A Song of the People,” wander through other rooms: Ukrainian shtetl life, old ...

Whether you love it or you hate it, you know it: "Hava Nagila." Maybe you grew up listening to Harry Belafonte's rendition, or found yourself in a chair being hoisted into the air by a singing crowd ...

I have a confession: I do not like the hora. Circle dancing is bad (sorry), and you will never be able to convince me that the chair lifting is safe. However, as a Jew, there is no escaping the hora — ...