The Boston University Florence and Chafetz Hillel House will be partnering with the Maccabeats, an all-male Jewish a cappella group, and the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation to host a joint bone marrow registry drive and a cappella concert at the Alfred L. Morse Auditorium Sunday.
“The Maccabeats and Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation have worked together in the past,” said Allison Penn, a junior in the College of Communication and director of public relations at BU Hillel. “BU Hillel hopes to reunite the groups again for more entertainment and ‘tzedakah,’ a word meaning ‘duty to perform charity.’”
The concert starts at 6 p.m., but the Gift of Life will be available 45 minutes before the concert at a cheek-swabbing station where interested donors can swab the inside of their cheeks to enter the bone marrow registry. Proceeds from the concert will go to BU Hillel to enable the group to host charity events similar to this one in the future.
The Gift of Life is a bone marrow and stem cell registry that links donors to patients in need across the world, Penn said.
“The Gift of Life has over 200,000 registered donors and over 11,000 matches. They have serviced over 43 countries as of last week,” she said. “It’s a really impactful thing because when you register yourself, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be matched with someone. If everything works out, the patient will be saved or served in some way.”
Due to a contest held by Hillel International to choose one school where the Maccabeats would perform, the a cappella group, which has over 20 million views on YouTube and have made various TV appearances, is performing at no cost to BU Hillel, Penn said.
BU Hillel hopes to create a sense of Jewish pride and identity across campus, she said, ideas that are also ingrained in the Maccabeats’ philosophy.
“These themes — being proud of who you are and being proud of your Jewish heritage — are fundamental to what the Maccabeats do,” said Julian Horowitz, Maccabeats director and performer. “As always, our concerts are not just for Jews and are open to anybody who wants some feel-good, fun, clean music.”
Starting as a student group at Yeshiva University in New York, the Maccabeats, all Yeshiva alumni, decided to continue singing after graduation. The group is known for performing a wide range of songs, from a Passover-tinged “Les Misérables” medley to a cover of Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” to traditional Hebrew prayers such as “Oseh Shalom.”
The Maccabeats made a considerable contribution to the Gift of Life, but “unfortunately, Gift of Life has thousands of cheek swaps sitting in storage waiting to be processed due to lack of funds,” Horowitz said.
“Two years ago, under the framework of our Miracle Match Campaign, we started raising funds to help Gift of Life process these swabs,” he said. “To date, we’ve raised over $150,000 and helped find 15 life-saving transplants. Thanks to the support of fans around the world, we’ve actually saved 15 lives. We continue to work with Gift of Life by having them set up tables at many of our shows across the country to get fans to join the registry.”
BU Hillel which is comprised of about 4,000 students, making it the largest student group on campus, is looking to give back and “add value” to the community through this initiative, said Ethan Sobel, BU Hillel director of student activities.
“Hillel is always looking to build community and partnerships. We like to help other institutions reach their goals,” he said. “Having hundreds of people come into the concert will allow people to think about donating. Even if they don’t swab that day, maybe they will donate in the future.”
Hillel encourages all students to attend, regardless of religious affiliation. The performance is open to the general public, but discounted tickets are available to BU students who purchase tickets in advance on Eventbrite.
