The Chief Rabbi paid tribute to a “quite extraordinary” Shabbat UK, as over 1,000 UK Jews came together on Saturday night for a Havdalah concert.

Speaking at the Havdalah UK event at the Watford Colosseum, Rabbi Mirvis told the crowd that this year’s Shabbat UK had seen “close to 500 challah makes, people preparing for the largest ever shul dinners, thousands of people preparing for home hospitality events [and] extraordinary shiurim and lectures and talks given by some of the most outstanding minds in the Jewish world”.

He also urged those who had taken part in the Shabbat UK celebration not to forget “that there are another 51 Shabbatot in the year”.

The audience enjoyed performances from the Portnoy Brothers band, as well as from the Maccabeats, the Jewish acapella group.

The celebration was almost cut short, however, when fire alarms in the venue were triggered and officials prepared to evacuate the crowd. Audience members reported smelling smoke, however, the source of the burning was found and dealt with, and the order to evacuate was cancelled.

Ashley Blaker, the religious Jewish comedian, was compere for the evening. He entertained the audience by describing how he had made fun of Shabbat UK as part of one of his comedy routines last year, after which he was asked to host the event this year. To laughter from the crowd, he said he hoped to repeat this technique with the Royal Variety Show.

Speaking to the JC, the Maccabeats said that they were “very excited to be part of… this very special weekend which unites British Jewry”.