The audience listened, sang along and were even dancing in their seats. Photos by Barry Insell

ESRA turned back the clock to the Swinging Sixties for this year's big fundraiser on Sunday January 4th when a filled-to-bursting Herzliya Performing Arts Center rocked to the music of The Beatles.

Members of the Anglo-Israeli population came to relive and revive their youth with songs of the greatest pop group of all time, performed by the Magical Mystery Tour Band.

Made up of five middle-aged musician-singers – rather than four mop-haired youths from Liverpool – they sang and played dozens of the Beatles most memorable hits.

The audience listened, sang along and were even dancing in their seats and in the aisles as those familiar refrains from yesteryear rang out.

The evening began with an opportunity for old and new friends to meet in the lobby while buying raffle tickets.

ESRA chairperson Brenda Katten greeted everyone from the stage, and this was followed by a short movie about ESRA's community projects.

This included the three Students Build a Community projects in Hefzibah, Kiryat Nordau and most recently, the Sela neighborhoods of Netanya.

Then the band came on to the stage . . .

Using our current wisdom and knowledge, we listened again to those lyrics which mesmerised us in the 1960s.

Please, Please Me and A Hard Day's Night took on a meaning which whizzed by us in our youthful naivety all those years ago. 

Who amongst us grasped – or was willing to admit that we understood – Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds back then, without getting into trouble with parents, or even worse, the police?

Need we be reminded now, like we did then, that Money Can't Buy Me Love? And what did we think in those days when we heard Yellow Submarine and what cord did it strike now that made it the song most requested from the ESRA audience that night?

And how come the band didn't sing Will You Still Love Me When I'm 64? Audience sensitivity, perhaps?

That all too familiar immigrant experience of not knowing the language, and not having the words to say what we mean, reverberated all over again during the rendition of Michelle.

So with a little Help From My Friends in the audience we clapped, sang along, got up and danced, and then lit the 'hi tech' candles on our mobile phones.

Such a lovely audience, we really did enjoy the show!