By Sarah Harper

Driving down the interstate on December 28th was anything but normal for the local residents of Miami. With tye-dye shirts popping out of car windows and jam music blasting, excitement truly filled the Florida air as phans prepared themselves “to run like antelopes out of control” for phour days of Phish New Years in Miami. Not only was the show a reunion for many concert goers, but if one were to look around one would see Stars of David hanging off half of the phan’s necks.

“It was like a youth group convention or a winter camp reunion running into all these Jewish friends of mine,” said Michelle Cravez. But that’s no surprise; Phish serves as a magnetic attraction to the Jewish crowd with bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman being proud Jews themselves. Since the band’s get-go, the two artists have incorporated Jewish tunes into their long jam songs including “Avenu Malkenu,” “Hava Nagilah” and Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” at many of their concerts. If played from beginning to end, one may even discover in their 1994 album “Hoist” an eerie a capella version of “Yerushaliyim Shel Zahav.”

The fun doesn’t stop here for the band has even attracted Jewish campers to be creative with mixing Phish lyrics into Jewish songs. Back in 2005, Kutz campers Adam Ross and Alex Harper wrote a "Mi Chamocha" to Phish’s song, “Wading in the Velvet Sea” and it quickly swept across the NFTY nation. When Phish played “Wading in the Velvet Sea” at the recent show in Miami, the "Mi Chamocha" lyrics were heard out of many nostalgic NFTY Jew’s mouths.

This Miami phish phestival which ended their 2009 tour was more than just a musically good time, but a phantastic cultural experience and Jewish reunion for many of those involved.