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Why The Shvesters Are One of the Best Jewish Music Groups in the World
The Shvesters, Chava Levi and Polina Fradkin. Photo: provided.
There are times when a concert is so good, you close your eyes and marvel in meditative greatness. But when I saw The Shvesters at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan on March 20, I kept my eyes open — because my experience was something far better than I could have imagined, and brought me back to nostalgic highlights of my youth.
Singing mostly Yiddish covers, along with Hebrew ones and some English songs thrown in, the Shvesters stand out for their vocal excellence. Chava Levi and Polina Fradkin, who live in Israel, make it look easy. A friend of mine noted that singers on TikTok sometimes don’t translate to the stage. The Shvesters own the stage with nothing more than their voices and a piano player — in this case a talented Moshe Elyakim, who lives in Brooklyn and is Israeli.
“This is the kind of music I love,” Elyakim told me in an interview. “Jazz, Jewish and fun.”
Wearing classic blue dresses, The Shvesters showed meticulous attention to dynamics, diction, chord changes, and creative introductions to songs. You may have heard Simon Cowell on American Idol say that someone doing a cover should “make it their own.” This group has no problem doing that; in fact, it’s their forte.
The highlight of the show was Levi’s interlude in “Eishet Chail” or “Woman of Valor,” where she lets it rip with her soaring vocals. The tearjerker, “Eli, Eli” or My God,” My God,” contains the words of Hannah Szenes, who was killed by the Nazis when she was only 23.
The harmonies of The Shvesters are airtight and magical. “A Yiddishe Mama” made me think of my own mother, while “Oyfyn Pripetshik” and “Tumbalalaika” made me think of my Nana who sang those to me before I would go off to Camp Ramah in West Nyack, New York.
From a vocal standpoint, this is one of the most flawless Jewish music groups you will see. While some may have wished they danced, or did original tunes, that is simply not what they do. Fradkin also displayed her comedic chops. In between songs, she noted that someone stayed late at a recent show and asked if they could bring an inhaler to Israel for their relative. She also quipped that someone wanted to set their grandfather up with her grandmother, and others wanted to set the two of them up (none are single).
Sean Leviashvili of Manhattan said he was greatly moved by the concert.
“My grandmother sang Yiddish to me, and she passed away 12 years ago,” he told me in an interview for this article. “This was the first time since then that I felt like she was with me.”
Alexandra Sapozhkinov celebrated her 95th birthday with family members at the show. Born in Romania, she told me, through a translator, that she loved all of the songs.
The Shvesters also performed a beautiful rendition of the Israeli classic “Kalaniyot.” One of my favorite songs is “Mi Haish?” or “Who Is The Man?/Who is The Person?” and I was floored by some harmonies I didn’t expect.
Radkin explained before the song that the words tell you how to be a good person, like avoiding “Lashon hara,” or evil speech.
The Shvesters are excellent from a technical aspect, but their best quality is that they sing with emotion, as if they are channeling the great traditions and memories of the past, directly into your hearts and ears. In a time when Jewish pride is sometimes lacking on college campuses, The Shvesters should immediately have a college tour.
A great concert, like a great movie, hugs you like a warm coat, long after the final frame or note. That is certainly true of the performance of The Shvesters.
The group is recording an album, and will no doubt have other tours and shows. You should go, bring them to your synagogue, or just share with your friends to celebrate Jewish pride and Jewish music.
The author is a writer, based in New York.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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