SOPAC presents Nefesh Mountain Hanukkah concert at area synagogue

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Montclair-based Nefesh Mountain has been hailed as a boundary pushing bluegrass Americana band. They’re among the first to give voice and openly represent Jewish American culture, traditions, values and spirituality in the world of American roots music.

Fronted by married couple Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg, Nefesh Mountain will perform a Hanukkah holiday concert on Thursday, Dec. 2, at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, 432 Scotland Road in South Orange. This concert is presented by the South Orange Performing Arts Center, the original venue for this show; this performance has been relocated to the temple because SOPAC’s mainstage theater is under renovation due to damage caused by Tropical Storm Ida. To purchase tickets, www.sopacnow.org/events/nefesh-mountain/

“For us, Hanukkah is about the miracles in our lives that surround us every day,” Lindberg and Zasloff said. “These songs remind us of that magic and the joy that we feel during the holidays — dancing, singing, eating and being close to our friends and loved ones.”

Zasloff and Lindberg’s latest music is deeply influenced by a 2018 trip to Eastern Europe. 

“We tracked down the towns where our families are from, and it was devastating to see the destruction of the Holocaust firsthand, and to know that we’re not so far removed from that time,” Lindberg said.

Zasloff and Lindberg live in Montclair with their three children. The other members of this five-piece band are Alan Grubner on fiddle, David Goldenberg on mandolin and Sam Weber on bass.