Jerusalem Hanukkah Concert Canceled Following Pressure Over Gender-Segregated Seating

JERUSALEM – A planned Hanukkah concert featuring popular charedi singer Naftali Kempeh has been canceled after days of mounting pressure over the event’s gender-segregated seating arrangements. Away from the headlines, many readers are already planning for the eight nights and browsing Hanukkah gift ideas for family and friends that add meaning to their celebrations.

Kempeh and producer Shalom Wagschal announced Wednesday that they were withdrawing the concert, scheduled to take place at the International Convention Center (Binyanei Ha’uma) in Jerusalem, after demands to cancel the women’s section triggered a chain reaction that included the loss of municipal funding and threats of legal action.

According to a joint statement, the concert was originally arranged with full gender separation, separate entrances, and rabbinic oversight. But after criticism of another charedi concert planned at Jerusalem’s Arena the following week, pressure quickly shifted onto the Kempeh event as well. Rabbinic letters — including from Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch and Rabbi Dov Landau — urged organizers to remove the women’s gallery, a step they ultimately took.

The organizers said that eliminating the women’s section created significant backlash and “a major chillul Hashem” in other communities, while failing to defuse the broader controversy affecting the Arena show. They reported a surge of public pressure, legal warnings, and organized attempts by protesting women to purchase tickets in order to disrupt the event.

They also criticized the Jerusalem Municipality for withdrawing special discounted pricing (“Yerushalmi discount”), noting that similar gender-separated events had received subsidies in the past.

In their statement, Kempeh and Wagschal said they felt they had been drawn into a wider societal battle over religious norms and cultural standards:

“We found ourselves used as a pawn in a much larger public struggle, one that seeks to dictate how our community should live and what is considered acceptable. We do not wish to be part of that.”

The two concluded that the controversy had caused enough division to make continuing impossible.
“Where there is conflict and desecration of Hashem’s name, there cannot be joy,” they wrote.

All ticket holders will receive full refunds.