Sometimes, an a cappella group needs a theme to keep its shows focused. Manginah, Brandeis' Jewish (read: almost all the songs are in Hebrew) coed a cappella group certainly took its theme, "The Manginah Bar Mitzvah Party," to heart, structuring the show in the form of a bar mitzvah service. There were short sketches between several of the songs, including an opening speech thanking the friends and family for coming, short poems calling members of the community to light candles, and "gift presentations from the brotherhood and sisterhood." The short rhymes, each read by a different Manginah member, asked different celebrity Jews to come up to the bimah and light a candle. Some of these verses honored Brandeis notables like Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS). Others called for such entertainers as the ever-popular Matisyahu and referenced such recent Brandeis controversies as the Carter-Dershowitz and Pipes-Finkelstein appearances. One such between-song sketch made a peculiar jab at the Bush administration.

Some of Manginah's musical offerings were humorous as well, such as "Hanukkah Hey Ya," a re-wording of Outkast's 2003 single. The energetic song punctuated the ballad-laden program and prepared the crowd for the most lively and powerful performance of the evening, Assaf Ben-Atar's '07 solo in "Jerusalem," a song originally by Chassidic rapper and reggae artist Matisyahu. Ben-Atar was a highlight of the evening, nailing the reggae-patois cadence.

All five of Manginah's departing seniors gave solos during the second half of the show after receiving a pitch pipe, a copy of its most recent album and a short speech from an underclassman member on the senior's virtues. The nearly two-hour show ended with a performance of "Amen." The singer who introduced the song called two members from the audience who were on semester leave to join in during the finale, which preceded a sort of reception with a slideshow of the singers' b'nai mitzvah photos.

The bar mitzvah theme certainly resounded with the audience, which consisted of both family members and students. The songs were met with wild applause and the jokes with eager laughter from much of the audience, which packed the International Lounge in Usdan Student Center. As one of the few non-Jews in the audience, much of the humor went over my head, but the energetic audience and convenient song translation sheet (with side-by-side Hebrew and English) helped carry me through the performance. The demand for a Hebrew-singing a cappella group may be somewhat limited, but the group is clearly well-loved by its sizeable coterie of student, faculty and family fans.