(Courtesy of Bnei Akiva) Hundreds of Bnei Akiva chanichim (youth), including over 300 teens from the greater New Jersey/New York metropolitan area, roared with excitement last Thursday night in Kfar Saba when Ishay Ribo, one of Israel’s most beloved singers, took the stage at a surprise concert and sang out to the crowd “Erev tov, Bnei Akiva!” The teens, many donning Israeli flags on their backs or heads, danced, jumping up and down in excitement, and screaming the lyrics to all of the songs they knew by heart, their energy and ruach filling the concert venue.

The concert kicked off Shabbat Mach Hach, the once-a-summer unifying Shabbat when all 11 Mach Hach Ba’Aretz buses join together for a weekend.

“It is amazing to be living in a generation when we can experience this wonderful country and the incredible land promised to us by Hashem,” said Rav Shaul Feldman, executive director of Bnei Akiva of the U.S. and Canada, at the concert. “Now, we have an opportunity to honor this land with one of the best artists in this generation of redemption of the Jewish people.”

Ribo’s moving performance was part of Bnei Akiva’s Celebrate Israel 75 concert series, a musical tribute to the heartbreak and hope of Israel’s 75 years of existence. Bnei Akiva launched the series with Eitan Katz at their Upper West Side Yom Ha’atzmaut event and will also host Joey Newcomb at day camps across the country this summer.

The series culminates with an Ishay Ribo concert at the storied venue of Madison Square Garden on Labor Day Weekend, the first time that an Israeli Jewish Orthodox artist will perform on its main stage. Ribo will sing to a sold-out audience of 14,000 people from across the spectrum of the Jewish community, from Orthodox to non-affiliated, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, all united by celebrating the incredible story of the State of Israel through music and the ultimate message that no matter your background, as a Jew Israel is your home.

The Elul concert, will no doubt serve as an uplifting experience imbuing the ultimate teshuva, returning to our core and to our homeland: Am Israel, Eretz Israel, Torat Israel.

Tickets for Bnei Akiva’s Ishay Ribo’s elul concert at Madison Square Garden can be purchased at: bneiakiva.org/ishayribo