Filipino choir at choir festival in Jerusalem

A joint choir from the Saint Lorenzo Ruiz Filipino community and the Good Shepherd Filipino community, both in Jerusalem, participated in a choir festival in the Clal Building in central Jerusalem. The event was the concluding program of the Menofim Festival, now in its eighth year in Jerusalem. The organizers seek to make use of the circular interior of one of Jerusalem’s oldest commercial centers for the occasion. Jewish and Christian choirs sang to an audience of about 800, gathered within the commercial center. The building’s interior served as an auditorium for the choirs, which stood on different levels, with the audience moving freely between the levels.

The Armenian choir and a Christian girls’ choir also sang at the event. The Filipino choir presented a variety of religious and folk music to the appreciative audience.

Unfortunately, a group of Jewish extremists from Lehava, at their head the founder of the group Benzi Gopstein, broke into the concert and tried to disrupt it during the performance of the Armenian choir. They shouted abuse against Christians while the Armenian choir sang its song. The police had to be called but the extremists continued to disrupt the event. Nonetheless, the choirs continued to sing after the extremists had been put out of the building even though they continued to protest the event outside the building.