On the 8th Night of Chanukah, Congregation KINS proudly hosted Jewish music star Simcha Leiner for a community-wide concert. As part of his Kol HaKavod worldwide tour, Simcha’s vision was to bring a first-class concert to the center of each Jewish community that he visits. With more than 500 attendees, the Chicago show at Congregation KINS featured an amazing array and top-notch display of music, lighting and visual enhancements, including special videos that were produced specifically for the tour. The show opened with 2 songs performed by Chicago’s own AY Karsh, before Simcha Leiner took the stage. During the concert, Simcha sang several songs from his new album, Kol HaKavod, as well as a number of his most popular hits from the past 10 years. The two main highlights of the show, however, were undoubtedly (1) a kumsitz duet set featuring Simcha Leiner and Chicago’s own (and KINS member) Jeremy Amster and (2) the ruach of the attendees, including children of all ages as well as the members of Chicago Yachad, each of whom got up to dance through the aisles with Simcha at various points during the concert. In addition to the hard work of Simcha and his production manager, Shua Sorscher, the show was made possible due to the efforts of the members of Congregation KINS that volunteered to run ticket sales and serve as ushers, as well as several local professionals, including Gershon Friedman and Mesamchei Lev Orchestras, Avi Berkman of JOR Productions, and Larry Engelhart of Deja Views. It was truly a collaborative first-class performance full of energy, excitement and powerful music that served as a perfect cap to the Chanukah holiday and left attendees looking forward to Simcha’s next visit to Chicago!
