JL;DR SUMMARY The popular Jewish anthem, "Am Yisrael Chai" (The People of Israel Live), was written and first performed in the mid-1960s by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach at the request of Jacob Birnbaum, the founder of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ). A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.