The 34th Annual South Florida Chassidic Chanukah Festival is getting bigger and better. Considering that over 10,000 people have participated each year since the event was moved to Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach back in 2007, the staff and volunteers preparing the upcoming Festival set for Sunday, December 1st, have coordinated a star studded program that will guarantee the biggest attendance ever.
The crowd will be even bigger than last year, as tens of thousands of tourists, in love with Jewish music, are expected that week in South Florida for the Thanksgiving weekend.
Avraham Fried, King of Jewish Music, will be the featured entertainment, as he will performing a full concert of his most popular Hebrew, English and Yiddish songs.
Fried began his career with the release of his first album “No Jew Will Be Left Behind” in 1981, featuring the song “Kel Hahodaos”, written by Kol Salonica.
In the summer of 2009, Fried made a concert tour in Israel where he introduced Israeli singer and composer Chanan Yovel and featured the songs Rak T’filla and U’Nesane Tokef. His first DVD was released in December 2009.
His music is mostly categorized as pop Jewish music, similar to Mordechai ben David and tends to integrate many styles of popular music, including pop, rock and jazz, with Jewish lyrics and themes.
The Festival takes place in Hallandale Beach, at Gulfstream Park, US1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd.The event is annually produced and directed by Chabad of South Broward, leaders in Jewish Education, social services and community outreach.
For the last three years, the Chanukah Festival was seen live around the world via Chabad.org’s Jewish TV. It was the most watched Live Jewish TV Show in 2010, 2011, and 2012. People from across the globe, from the Ukraine to Israel, from South America to Australia, were fixed to their screens for the three hour Chanukah production that warmed so many hearts and inspired so many souls.
The Festival will be preceded by a one hundred Car Menorah parade, starting out from the Yeshivah Gedolah of Greater Miami, under the auspices of Florida Friends of Lubavitch.
The Festival will honor the Friendship Circle, a program with 87 branches worldwide, that caters to children with special needs, who are teamed up with local teenagers. These teenagers serve as volunteers and friends of these children with special needs.
Other Festival highlights include the lighting of Florida’s Largest Menorah, led by Cantor Rabbi Yossy Lebovics and a large lineup of Community Leaders and Dignitaries, free Chanukah gelt and goodies for the thousands of children in attendance, a delicious dinner (for a nominal fee), and scores of valuable prizes.
Rabbi Levi Tennenhaus, the events’ coordinator and Chabads’ Program Director, encourages those who can afford to get reserved seating: “The event, as always, is free. However, in addition to our major sponsors, individuals are entitled to reserve VIP seats for $100 per seat. This will help both the Festival, which runs at an enormous cost as a service to the community, and individuals who want the luxury and convenience to sit up front with their seats reserved exclusively for them and their families.”
Chanukah marks the birthday of Chabad of South Broward. The first Chabad Center in Broward County, Chabad of South Broward now runs from their Headquarters in Hallandale Beach over forty programs and institutions throughout Broward county, including Project PRIDE, a non-sectarian drug prevention and education program, The Friendship Circle, an incredible interactive program for children with special needs, Florida’s only Teachers Seminary for Women, the fast expanding CHAI TOTS Preschool and Hebrew Club, Bar and Bat Mitzvah Clubs, CTEEN Club, 3 Mikvahs accessible to the physically challenged, Camp Gan Israel, Kollel for Businessmen and Professionals, the David and Hanna Tennenhaus Library, and 12 Synagogues. Chabad of South Broward is headed by Rabbi Raphael and Goldie Tennenhaus, who came to Broward County in December 1980. Log on to Chabadsouthbroward.com to see the scope of Chabad’s wide range of programs.
For more festival information, and to reserve VIP and box seats, please call 954-458-1877 or email levi@chanukahfestival.com, or log on to Chanukahfestival.com.
best voice, best message, shliach through his music, KEEPS GETTING BETTER..
the king of music is AVROHOM FRIED
Avraham Fried is now the reigning king!
But there is only One KING of Jewish music !!
Gopin family and Kosher Central are #awesome…