The spirit was warm, the music rocking, and the lights definitely on. Inside, chocolate gelt and dreidels on the counters, blue-and-white overhead bulbs and menorahs signified not a typical local rock night at T.T. the Bear’s Place in Cambridge, but rather, JDub Records and Taglit-birthright israel’s “The 8.”

Simultaneous concerts were staged in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington, Tel Aviv, Mumbai, Moscow, and Sydney.

This was the first partnership between the two New York-based organizations, said birthright Associate Director Shira Shimoni, who manned a donuts, dreidels and gelt-laden table along a far wall. “Having concerts where people can enjoy good music, see good friends and have a good time makes them feel good about celebrating Chanukah,” she said.

Taglit-birthright Israel has provided over 147,000 young adults from around the world with free, 10-day trips to Israel.

CJP Senior Campus Associate Matt Lebovic was in full crowd-working mode. “We want to keep everybody warmed by the miracle of Chanukah,” he said. Nearby, CJP Senior Israel Program Associate Becky Kremenitzer said CJP funds a third of birthright’s program, and five people on five local campuses promote birthright and alumni events. (Local alumni association members received discounted tickets .)

Partygoers filled tables, crowded the bar, played pool and turned up the schmooze. “I came to meet people and participate in the Jewish community,” said Randy Bailey, a Cambridge resident and T.T.’s first-timer. The same could not be said of Steven Lee Beeber, author of 2006’s “Heebee Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk,” helping to prove that Chanukah could be hip.

Guitarist/songwriter Jesse Rifkin said he chose the band name Wailing Wall partially because of religious connotations. “I liked the alliteration and the musical quality of wailing,” he said. “The Wall is like Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound.”

Rifkin attended day school and Orthodox Jewish high school in Baltimore. It was, however, a negative experience that turned him off to Judaism until midway through college at Sarah Lawrence. He started Wailing Wall as a solo project, but since 2004, it’s been a free-flowing collective. The group appears on JDub’s newest compilation, “Rooftop Roots Vol. 3.”

Their layered, moody yet complex jam-band style went over well with the keenly-observing crowd; the Brakes were a 70’s flavored, smooth-vocal pop outfit. “Mocean Worker was a monster of a funk band with New York chutzpah and bits of jazz, reggae, and mambo in the mix,” describes attendee Ian Thal of Inman Square. “Simple People were somewhat mellower, with techno, rock, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms.” Cedric Brooks of the legendary ska band Skatalites sat in on tenor sax and percussion.

“The 8” Production Manager David Hughes, who also represents the Paradise Lounge and locals Click 5 and the Dresden Dolls, and Jen Lyon, JDub Director of Event Production, praised Jdub’s slate, which also includes Matisyahu and Michael Showalter. “Golem is folk punk, Balkan Beat Box does world and gypsy,” said Lyon.

Shimoni said that JDub’s nightclubs and music events enhanced birthright’s alumni programming, which includes lectures, book clubs, bar/bat mitzvah programs, and Hebrew Ulpan. Soulico, a DJ crew from Tel Aviv, is flown in monthly. “They do current popular hits mixed with traditional Israeli music,” said Lyon.

“The 8” includes a unique menorah lighting, and Nashua native Juliana Ross had the honors. Ross, a Simmons College student, was herself aglow as she described her recent birthright trip. “We started in Tel Aviv, went to the Golan Heights, rafted down the Jordan River, and spent Shabbat on a kibbutz near Jerusalem,” she recalled. The group shared their bus with eight Israeli soldiers. “The most interesting thing,” she said, “was seeing Israel through the soldiers’ eyes, and having them see it through our eyes.”

A later check on Bailey showed him to be doing all right, chatting up a comely concertgoer by the bar.

“It’s really cool that JDub and others in their sphere are promoting another Judaism for people who don’t necessarily fit into the mainstream synagogue model,” said Rifkin.

“My only disappointment was that since I could not bring my backpack into TT's,” said Thal, “I had nowhere to stow a CD until the end, and the merchandise table was gone.” Guess he danced too long, and will either have to check out the offerings at www.jdubrecords.com, or wait till 5769.