London concert next week promises to ‘bring back the light’ for Jews

“What we Jews are going through now, we have been through so many times. For so many generations, people have tried to wipe us out, but our tiny nation still stands.

“Unfortunately, in London – the same as New York City and all over the world – society has gone mad and sided with terrorism, and being antisemitic is just something people aren't afraid to be anymore.

“Our identity is enough for people to hate us. Jews are Jews.

“We have to be connected to each other and we have to drown out the darkness with light. We need to bring back the light.”

Lemmer believes that music is a universal language and brings people together, regardless of age or religious observance.

“It speaks to everybody and empowers people.”

It can also inspire faith. “One song, one cry, one emotion we have towards God can light up a really dark place – one mitzvah,” he said.

The concert will offer a mixture of both uplifting classics such as Am Yisrael Chai and emotional new songs like Lemmer’s October 7 tribute One More Dance.

Quoting the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Lemmer added: “One drop of light can expel so much darkness.”

Choni G (Choni Goldman) is known as South Africa's favourite Jewish singer (Image: Choni G)[Missing Credit]

Goldman, who is both a recording artist and the chazan at the Garden Shul (The Great Synagogue), in Cape Town, South Africa's oldest synagogue, said the concert was “crucial to uplift and inspire the community and to give people a sense of pride and resilience.

“We can’t just think we have to stand up to Jew-hatred and persecution, we have to remember we have a mission as Jews – we have the deepest light to bring to the world and we have got to find it in ourselves.

“We need to ignore the hate. This concert, this music, it is almost like putting on noise-cancelling headphones, ignoring the noise and focusing on our mission of bringing light.”

With 1,000 tickets expected to be sold for the concert, Goldman said “just the simple fact that so many of us are getting together already brings a feeling of purpose and joy”.

The music “will carry people for at least the next few weeks,” he promised.

Hilton Nathanson, who set up Bishnat in his father’s memory to celebrate Judaism’s musical traditions, said: “Israel was founded on the promise of ‘Never Again’. But that promise is not Israel’s alone to keep. It belongs to Jews everywhere.

“That holding a concert celebrating our Jewish identity, heritage and values should now feel almost like an act of defiance in Britain ought to stir us to the core.

“The answer is not to become quieter, less visible or less proudly Jewish. It is to stand taller, come together and celebrate who we are, while sharing the values we hold dear with the many good people of this great country.”