The Shvesters, Chava Levi and Polina Fradkin. Photo: provided.

There are times when a concert is so good, you close your eyes and marvel in meditative greatness. But when I saw The Shvesters at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan on March 20, I kept my eyes open — because my experience was something far better than I could have imagined, and brought me back to nostalgic highlights of my youth.

Singing mostly Yiddish covers, along with Hebrew ones and some English songs thrown in, The Shvesters stand out for their vocal excellence. Chava Levi and Polina Fradkin, who live in Israel, make it look easy. A friend of mine noted that singers on TikTok sometimes don’t translate to the stage. The Shvesters own the stage with nothing more than their voices and a piano player — in this case a talented Moshe Elyakim, who lives in Brooklyn and is Israeli.

“This is the kind of music I love,” Elyakim told me in an interview. “Jazz, Jewish and fun.”

Wearing classic blue dresses, The Shvesters showed meticulous attention to dynamics, diction, chord changes, and creative introductions to songs. You may have heard Simon Cowell on American Idol say that someone doing a cover should “make it their own.” This group has no problem doing that; in fact, it’s their forte.

The highlight of the show was Levi’s interlude in “Eishet Chail” or “Woman of Valor,” where she lets it rip with her soaring vocals. The tearjerker, “Eli, Eli” or My God,” My God,” contains the words of Hannah Szenes, who was killed by the Nazis when she was only 23.

The harmonies of The Shvesters are airtight and magical. “A Yiddishe Mama” made me think of my own mother, while “Oyfyn Pripetshik” and “Tumbalalaika” made me think of my Nana who sang those to me before I would go off to Camp Ramah in West Nyack, New York.

From a vocal standpoint, this is one of the most flawless Jewish music groups you will see. While some may have wished they danced, or did original tunes, that is simply not what they do. Fradkin also displayed her comedic chops. In between songs, she noted that someone stayed late at a recent show and asked if they could bring an inhaler to Israel for their relative. She also quipped that someone wanted to set their grandfather up with her grandmother, and others wanted to set the two of them up (none are single).

Sean Leviashvili of Manhattan said he was greatly moved by the concert.

“My grandmother sang Yiddish to me, and she passed away 12 years ago,” he told me in an interview for this article. “This was the first time since then that I felt like she was with me.”

Alexandra Sapozhkinov celebrated her 95th birthday with family members at the show. Born in Romania, she told me, through a translator, that she loved all of the songs.

The Shvesters also performed a beautiful rendition of the Israeli classic “Kalaniyot.” One of my favorite songs is “Mi Haish?” or “Who Is The Man?/Who is The Person?” and I was floored by some harmonies I didn’t expect.

Radkin explained before the song that the words tell you how to be a good person, like avoiding “Lashon hara,” or evil speech.

The Shvesters are excellent from a technical aspect, but their best quality is that they sing with emotion, as if they are channeling the great traditions and memories of the past, directly into your hearts and ears. In a time when Jewish pride is sometimes lacking on college campuses, The Shvesters should immediately have a college tour.

A great concert, like a great movie, hugs you like a warm coat, long after the final frame or note. That is certainly true of the performance of The Shvesters.

The group is recording an album, and will no doubt have other tours and shows. You should go, bring them to your synagogue, or just share with your friends to celebrate Jewish pride and Jewish music.

The author is a writer, based in New York.