Around the campfire, at the end of a wedding, at a shabbaton, at a siyum or a school trip or an impromptu gathering in a bochurim dirah, what creates a better vibe than a heartfelt kumzitz? Slow and powerful, accompanied by guitar or keyboard or just the warmth of vocal harmonies, sung by a group of close friends or three-hundred voices strong, a kumzitz niggun is a genre all its own.

 What’s your favorite kumzitz niggun?

Zemiros choir director Yoily Polatseck

I know that kumzitz songs are very in today and there are a lot of newer beautiful songs. But I can’t help the fact that I grew up on those timeless classics which last forever. Rabbi Boruch Chait’s “Mah Ashiv,” “Va’ani Bechasdecha,” and “Lo Amus/Pischu Li” are my favorites.

Singer Eitan Katz

I enjoy singing Shlomo Carlebach’s “Hatov.” It’s an oldie, but I think it’s one of the deepest niggunim around. No exotic story, but I get emotional each time I hear it.

Conductor Yoeli Dickman

One of my personal kumzitz favorites is “Padah Beshalom Nafshi,” a vintage song from Pirchei London. Another, which we perform a lot, is Carlebach’s “Mimkomcha.”

Singer Zanvil Weinberger

Whenever I come to a kumzitz, they request “Shaarei Demaos” from Avraham Fried’s album Bring the House Down. Interesting how people really like the chazzanus shtickel in the song.

Singer Levi Falkowitz

A kumzitz singer has to understand the crowd and what they are into, and songs also change every season. One kumzitz option I love is “Lomir Machen Kiddush,” written by Avrum Mordche Schwartz and Sruli Lipschitz. I’m connected to both the composer and the arranger, and I liked the song the second I heard it. It feels almost like we’re building a monument to Shabbos, sharing Shabbos with the world.

Singer Avremi Roth

Rabbi Hillel Paley’s “Ochilah La’Keil” is a kumzitz winner. One part of the song offers a gentle beat, the other lifts the crowd up into a prayer.

Singer Benny Friedman

I would say my current kumzitz favorite is “Nafshi,” Ishay Ribo and Motty Steinmetz’s blockbuster duet. For all time? Maybe MBD’s classic “Racheim Bechasdecha,” composed by Rabbi Baruch Chait — it appears on at least four of MBD’s albums.

 (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 742)