Park City Jewish Festival brings famous singers, families together two years in a row

PARK CITY — Excitement, music and laughter filled the air in Park City Wednesday night as Jews from across Utah gathered for the second annual Park City Jewish Festival.

The snow was absent, as were the hoards of skiers, but people still traveled from far and wide to come up to the mountains to meet with friends, enjoy delicious food and hear live music from three different performing groups.

Members of the Jewish community in Utah traveled from across the state, including a group who came all the way up from St. George. While it was geared toward their community, the festival was free for all attendees to listen and participate.

Guy and Jan Piersall traveled to Park City from Nevada to escape the heat. When they heard there was a festival happening near them, they decided to come check it out.

"We came here to listen to the music," Guy Piersall said. He and his wife are members of the Global Hope Network, serving as the network's Partner and Resource Development team. He said the two of them, while they remained Christian, still loved the Jewish culture.

"It's exciting," Jan Piersall said. "I haven't heard the more modern music of Israel, so that's another reason why I came."

Arturo Rios traveled east from Salt Lake City to attend the festival with his family. His children loved the singer Nissim Black, an African American rapper from Seattle who converted to Judaism years prior.

"We like the singer, we love his music," Rios said. "My kids grew up listening to him, and it's such a cool experience to come listen to him live."

Rabbi Yudi Steiger helped organize the festival in Park City. He is the rabbi over Park City, and coordinated with officials in Park City to host the festival at the Canyons.

"Park City celebrates a lot of different cultures," Steiger said. "… We felt Park City has a vibrant and growing Jewish Community, and it's time that we're able to go out there and celebrate proudly, for sure with all the antisemitism that's going around in the world."

He said he wanted to highlight the things that people have in common as people, rather than focus on the things that make people different.

While this is the second music festival, it is the first world tour of singer Chaim Zippel, a rising Israeli singer who began his public tour in Park City.

Zippel said he has always been interested in music, even as a child. He remembers playing in a band with "a few kids with plastic guitars."

Zippel ended up auditioning to perform on a reality TV show in Israel. Following his second place winning performance on the show, he said he began to sing and play professionally.

While he has been performing for some time, Zippel admitted he still gets slightly nervous before going onstage.

"The second before going on stage, it's a healthy nervousness," Zippel said. "But everything feels great once I get on, thanks to the team that's with me."

The team had only met in person at Park City, but they had played together and rehearsed via phone and video calls.

"It's such a pleasure and honor to work with this great team," Zippel said.

Hundreds of people gathered to listen to the music, sing, dance and celebrate being Jewish together. While different rabbis wandered through the crowds, armed police officers stood watch on the periphery, ensuring that the festival would go off without a hitch.

Steiger thanked the Summit County Sheriff's Office and other police for being present to help ensure the revelers would remain safe.

Steiger also honored Rabbi Benny Zippel, Chaim Zippel's relative, while Steiger was performing the opening ceremonies. Steiger credited Rabbi Benny Zippal as an instrumental figure in helping the Jewish community to thrive in Utah for more than 30 years.

Chaim Zippel was joined by two other musical groups, Nissim Black and The 8th Day, the latter of which opened the festival with a prayer. The musicians flowed on and off the stage, occasionally performing with one another in addition to their solo performances.

The music was partially in English, but they also sang in Hebrew, praising God and thanking him for the ability to gather together in peace.

Chaim Zippel said that while he was only singing in English and Hebrew on Wednesday night, on Thursday he will be performing in Florida, singing in Italian, German, English and Yiddish.

He also said that he loved visiting Utah, especially the people here. While he enjoyed seeing both Antelope Island and the Cottonwood Canyon, he said he felt a lot of love from the people he met while visiting, both as a person and as a Jew.

"The people were so welcoming and so nice," Chaim Zippel said.

He said he hopes to continue singing across the world, but also said he knows it may not be set in stone.

"There's a saying in Yiddish," he said. "'Der mentsh trakht un got lakht.' It means, the man makes plans and God laughs."

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