Idan Yaniv & Kinderlach: Upbeat Shalom Aleichem for Unity in Israeli Society

This music video presents a joyous, upbeat version of Shalom Aleichem, performed by Idan Yaniv, a popular Israeli, Bukharian singer, and Kinderlach, an Israeli children’s singing troupe. Although this modernization of the popular tune composed by Rabbi Cantor Israel Goldfarb in 1918 only repeats the first stanza of Shalom Aleichem, the tune can be applied to the full song. Without words, the music video itself tells a story of unity and diversity in Israeli society, as a seemingly secular couple turns off the TV and invites the apparently Ultra-Orthodox rabbi and children and traditional lead singer into their home to sing Shalom Aleichem around the Shabbat table. Although this video depicts the song being sung in both the synagogue and at home during the day on Shabbat, it is generally sung only at night, prior to the Kiddush that beings the Shabbat evening meal.