"It was the first live Jewish music heard in Russia in over 70 years"

On the evening of April 3, 1989, two years before the fall of the Iron Curtain, the London Pirchei choir danced onto the grand stage of a concert hall in Moscow singing “Racheim Bechasdecha,” electrifying the thousands who packed the hall — it was the first live Jewish music heard in Russia in over 70 years. This concert was followed by three more in Moscow and two in Kiev in the span of a week and a half to audiences hungry for a taste of Yiddishkeit. Led by the indefatigable and multitalented Yigal Calek, the choir interacted with the audience, performing songs and skits depicting Jewish life, inspiring the young and old, and awakening the souls of elders who told us about faded yarmulkes that lay hidden on the bottom of cabinets.

—Moshe L., on behalf of Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel,

and Mendy G.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 870)