Check Out 8 of the Greatest Jewish Christmas Albums of All Time

Santa Claus Image by Getty Images

By Dan Epstein December 20, 2016

Eydie Gormé and the Trio Los Panchos — Navidad Means Christmas

Steve Lawrence’s better half went south of the border for this festive 1966 collection of Spanish-language Christmas songs.

David Grisman — Acoustic Christmas

Folk/jazz mandolinist Grisman and his string band serve up swinging instrumental renditions of secular and traditional Christmas carols on this 1983 LP.

Gershon Kingsley — Silent Night, Bloody Night In 1972, electronic music pioneer Kingsley composed and conducted the gothic orchestral soundtrack to the first-ever holiday-themed slasher film.

Klezmonauts — Oy to the World An upbeat and irreverent 1998 collection of traditional and original Christmas songs, perfect for decking the halls with boughs of challah.

The Moog Machine — Christmas Becomes Electric A charming souvenir from the moog synthesizer craze of the late sixties, Christmas Becomes Electric features the talents of Jewish keyboard whiz Kenny Ascher.

Mel Torme — Christmas Songs Forty-seven years after writing “The Christmas Song” with Robert Wells, Tormé finally got around to recording an entire album of Christmas tunes in 1992. It was more than worth the wait.

Lennie Weinrib — Have a Jewish Christmas? A 1967 comedy album written by Ray Brenner and Barry E. Blitzer, featuring eight hilarious sketches about the conflicts faced by Jews as they try to get into the Christmas spirit.

John Zorn — Dreamers Christmas Avant-grade composer and saxophonist Zorn plays it more “straight” than usual on this atmospheric and addictive collection of Yuletide classics and originals from 2011.

Dan Epstein is the Forward’s contributing music critic. His books include Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76.

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