Jewish Acappella Group The Maccabeats Releases Original Hanukkah Song About Jewish Resilience

The Jewish acappella group The Maccabeats released on Sunday an original new song for Hanukkah called We’re Still Here (Am Yisrael Chai).”

“Through the ages and thru the years (we’re still here),” the group sings as reminder for listeners. “Through the pain and thru the tears (we’re still here)/We’ll persevere we’ll carry on (we’re still here)/Am Yisrael Adayin Kan (we’re still here).”

That final Hebrew refrain, which means the people of Israel are still here, is repeated throughout the song as the group sings about the Jewish state being the “tiniest of nations, casting light into the dark … a lighthouse in the storm, a candle in the night.” They also urge listeners to “scream into the shadows” and “keep this [Jewish] flame alive” because “in this fight we have us and we have hope.”

The group has a long tradition of releasing Hanukkah tracks each year that are parodies of existing pop songs, but this year opted to release an original track that they wrote with Noah Jacobson, seemingly as a response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks that took place in southern Israel. They said We’re Still Here (Am Yisrael Chai) “is a celebration of the indomitable spirit that has kept the Jewish people shining bright throughout history.”

The song’s music video includes footage of Israelis and Jews around the world showing their solidarity with Israel and against antisemitism. It also draws attention to the 240 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, some reunited with their families, and soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who are fighting against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. Scenes in the music video show soldiers reuniting with their families and having wedding proposals amid the Israel-Hamas war, while other clips show civilians packing care packages for the soldiers.

The Maccabeats additionally incorporated into the music video images of Jewish perseverance throughout the years, like an image of a menorah in a window sill surrounded by Nazi flags in 1931, footage from the 1933 American Jewish Congress march against Nazism, a picture of Jews in Nazi Germany lighting a Hanukkah menorah in 1943 and a scene from the 1987 march for Soviet Jewry in Washington, DC.

The music video also features footage of The Maccabaeus traveling to Washington last month to perform for the “March for Israel” rally — which made history for being both the largest pro-Israel gathering and the largest Jewish gathering in US history, with nearly 300,000 people in attendance.

In November, The Maccabaeus collaborated with the acapella groups Y-Studs and Six13 on a rendition of the prayer for Israel.

Watch the music video for We’re Still Here (Am Yisrael Chai) below.

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