For the sixth straight year, David Abitbol and associates hosted their Jewlicious Festival, in Long Beach at the Alpert JCC. Over a thousand attended, which included not only music, but art, comedy and cultural events that brought Jews from all over the map to bring out the kool in kvetch. (Pictured below is Grammy-winning artist/Hasidic reggae superstar Matisyahu, who headlined Jewlicious for the third year in a row.)

As Travis Koplow, a writer for Los Angeles Metblogs, put it, “there’s never been a better time to be Jewish.” Indeed, the organizers of Jewlicious know that tapping into the hipster mode of Jewish expression is a great way to get Yid youth to celebrate, connect and have fun. Rabbi Drew reflected that some of the people there were locals “and had other things going on in their lives” but also that “some of the participants stayed up hanging out with each other into the wee hours” of the night.

Frummin’ comedian Heshy Fried met “some pretty interesting folks,” including Patrick Aleph from Punk Torah who does Pesach with a cheeseburger on matzo. Heshy wanted to “take a step back and look at all of these Jews that are connecting to Judaism or God” in different ways, concluding that “there is no one way to practice Judaism.” Mr. Abitbol couldn’t have said it better himself. Jewlicious received some press in The Forward, whose correspondent Gordon Haber felt was a little too Jewy:

The audiences for the bigger shows — the concerts and comedy — were a sea of yarmulkes, and all weekend the hallways resounded with the swishing of long skirts. So instead of broad diversity, it might be more accurate to say that there were all kinds of observant Jews.” So Haber asked one of the organizers what it was really all about, to which he got this reply: “To help prevent a generation from opting out, from disassociating themselves from Judaism and leaving the Jewish community behind.”

Whether you’re black-hatted or a nudnik, there’s something for you at Jewlicious. See the bands, talk to people, have a good time. Maybe even meet a shiksa. What Mr. Abitbol and company have appeared to have done is start to bridge the gaps that still exist among American Jewry and make them interact through song, dance, laughs, and sunny California mellow.