Celebrating The Maccabeats, the Greatest Jewish Holiday-Themed A Capella Parody Group Ever

It will not surprise you to learn that the parody artist who gets the most play in my home is “Weird Al” Yankovic, the national treasure and musical legend I have had the honor and pleasure of working with on more than one book. 

Even if I were not among the world’s preeminent experts on “Weird Al” Yankovic he’d still dominate my home because he is the best and most successful parody artist of all time and also children love him. 

You might, however, be surprised to learn the identity of the second most popular parody act in my household. 

That would be a collection of clean-cut, yarmulke-wearing Yeshiva University graduates named The Maccabeats who perform joke-free A cappella parodies of pop songs with lyrics about Jewish holidays. 

That might sound like an absurdly niche act but I’ve got to say, when it comes to putting out A cappella Youtube videos of pop parodies with Jewish lyrics the Maccabeats are very good. 

They’re probably the single greatest A cappella group ever to release Jewish holiday-themed parodies of Top 40 hits in human history because they are also quite possibly the only A cappella group that releases Jewish holiday-themed parodies of Top 40 hits. 

The Maccabeats have found a welcome home on Youtube because the medium is unmistakably tilted towards children, teenagers and the emotionally stunted.

My kids love Youtube and they love A Cappella parodies and covers as well. Instrument-free music might be grudgingly tolerated by adults but the right costume, the right make-up and the right music video can make A Capella dorkiness seem positively magical.

I am an adult in some ways yet I also think that there is something remarkable about people who can simulate the sounds of various instruments using just their voices. If it’s not genuine magic then it is at the very least a nifty party trick. 

The Jewish anthems of The Maccabeats are instructive as well as entertaining. “Latke Recipe”, the group’s parody of  Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” doesn’t just entertain; it also features a recipe for making delicious potato pancakes for Hanukkah.

Researching this piece (which is a grandiose way of saying looking at Youtube) I realized that I’d never actually heard “Shut Up and Dance” in its entirety, nor did I know who recorded it.

I was familiar at least with the chorus because it is very catchy but I’m so much more familiar with the Maccabeats parody that it feels like the real song is the one about how to make potato pancakes and the bogus version is about dancing and romance. 

It’s not unlike how “Weird Al” Yankovic fans will adore the parody and grudgingly tolerate the source. Like “Weird Al” Yankovic, food figures prominently in the music of the Maccabeats. “Latke Recipe”, for example, isn’t their only song about latkes. 

“Pan Fry”, a parody of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and Li’l Nas X’s “Old Town Road” is also about making latkes and other Hanukkah traditions. 

The Maccabeats’ parodies are catchy because the hits they’re spoofing are infectious or they wouldn’t be ubiquitous. 

My five year old son Harris loves the Maccabeats so much that he regularly requests the Maccabeats’ “Dayenu” which isn’t a parody at all but an A cappella version of a Jewish prayer. 

Culturally I’m about as Jewish as they come but I spend very little time in synagogues. So I’m grateful that these nice, wholesome young men are helping provide my boys with a Jewish education using the most powerful of all tools: spirited parodies of pop hits. 

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