Me and my sister just bought a menorah to display in our window to show our support for Israel. Stay safe, my jewsh friends. Just wanted to add that our dear lifelong friend has chosen not to display a menorah for the first time in her 60 years for fear of hate mongers retaliating against her and her families. This saddens me beyond imagination. I can't even imagine not putting up a Christmas tree because of fear.
That is sad. My reaction has been to light an extra chanukiya this year. This problem will not go away by us hiding our Jewishness. We have a purpose in this world, and when we're not doing it, that's when we have trouble. I can't fault your friend for her caution, tho, and hope your strength will be a source of encouragement for her.
You are,indeed, THE tour guide, providing a loving path for the non Jewish into the mysterious and usually closed world of some of the various Jewish sects. The many aspects you share and explain are so appreciated. You are a gem.
I am not Jewish but i live in West Rogers Park in Chicago which has a HUGE hasidic population. I love watching these videos to get more of an understanding of my neighbors. And that song Different, wow...so touching. These songs prove that we are ALL people with the same emotions and humanity, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim. And the Dreidel song!!! We sang that song in my grammar school along with Christmas Carols.
Crowdsourcing request! Do you love watching Hasidic music videos but you often scratch your head over some of the rituals you are seeing in the videos? Well, I'd love to explain! Please leave a comment with things you notice in Hasidic music videos that you don't understand. I'm working on a video where I'll explain some of the rituals, so I'd love to include some of the things you were wondering about.
The video brought back a deluge of memories and tears. When I told my grandparents that I was going to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia their response was epic - I paraphrase - "Oy vey, vhy are you going to a goyishe school in MY Villiamsburg?" Bubbe I said, "The College of William and Mary is a reputable state school that is not in YOUR Williamsburg but in the Williamsburg in Virginia." Even though I became a successful doctor, she could not understand where in Her Williamsburg there was this goyishe college. Until her last breath, she could not understand the difference of Her and MY Williamsburg. I miss her dearly and I love your videos - please keep them coming. Greetings (again) from Rapid City, South Dakota
Aww that's beautiful. I remember when back in the day, the only Williamsburg people knew of was Williamsburg Virginia. The Hipsters put the other Williamsburg on the map. Guess it was the other way for your bubbe... Thanks for your comment :)
That really put a smile on my face and heart. One of my favorite sayings is Blusen Krachen Tookis. It means blow chalk up your butt. It keeps me humble and learning. L'chaim. ❤😂❤
@FriedaVizelBrooklyn I will tell you a funny one. In about 1993, I climbed with a friend to the top of the Williamsburg Bridge one night. ❤😂❤. I lived a few months in a apartment with the train passing by from that bridge. I'm 61 now. I'm brave in other ways now.
Thanks for sharing!! I'm an orthodox jew and grew up in Brooklyn listening to Avraham Fried and MBD of course who both of them reside in Brooklyn. Nowadays there are so many others with different tastes for all. Jewish music never gets old
גרייט צו היימישע חסידישע מוזיק פאר די חתונות: בעזרת ה' יתברך יום ד' פרשת ויגש, ח' טבת, שנת תשפ"א לפרט קטן, פארנדיג אויפ'ן עראפלאן קיין אומאן לכבוד מיין טייערער ... נרו יאיר איך וויל דיר בעטן דו זאלסט ווייטער מאכן די מוזיק פאר די חתונות אין ישיבה; ווען דו פלעגסט אנגרייטן די ניגונים האט עס געהאט עפעס א שטיקל טעם, דו האסט צאמגעשטעלט שיינע חסידישע געשמאקע ניגונים. ביי די לעצטע חתונות גרייט מען אן ניגונים אן קיין טעם, פון זינגערס וואס איך ווייס נישט און זיי ווייסן נישט די פשט פון די ניגונים. איך בעט דיר זייער דו זאלסט נישט אפלאזן די זאך; בלייב שמש, בלייב באדינען דעם רבי'ן מיט דעם זאך. לייג ניגונים וואס איז אידיש, היימיש, חסידיש, ערליך און אין די זעלבע צייט קנאקעדיג לעבעדיג; ווייז פאר די יונגט אז פאר היימישע ניגונים פעלט גארנישט, עס איז מער לעבעדיג וכו'.
I loved this so much❤ all very very talented but my all time favorite is Shulem Lemmer Thank you for this phenomenal video. Also just asking any more Pearl and Frieda interviews coming up soon?
I’m really tickled that Shulem Lemmer left a comment! He’s the only one of the lot to leave a comment! I am thinking it’s really time I get Pearl on board with a new segment! We’ve been talking about it but nothing concrete.
I understand almost no Hebrew or Yiddish, but I get the message because it truly is soulful. I love the lyrics are fashioned from prayers or sentiments of Scripture. I think that is why it is so pure and soulful. The men only is such a sense of comradary (sp?). I hope you do a rerun of some of the songs you couldn’t include.
My favorite was the Hazzan -Moishe Oysher from Bessarabia. He later moved to Canada, Philadelphia, & Brooklyn to act and sing. His voice was spectacular !
As usual, a tantalizing peek into the world of Hasidic life- the lovely tradition of music. I was happy to see that you included a short bit of Reb Shlomo at the end. Keep up the great work !
This was so enjoyable. I have been getting into listening to Hasidic/ Jewish music for the past 12 months and I LOVE and THIRST for content like this!!! Hopefully there will be more to come in terms of other artists or maybe even Hasidic music history. Love your channel. Thank you!
We actually do have love songs. Love for Hashem, The Torah, The Mitzvohs, Love for Every Jew, and the love of helping others. May we always love each other and bring the ultimate redemption very soon.
This is so good! I love how it's historic and insightful and a total throwback to so many songs. Words are honestly failing me to describe how good this is
Can I just say, I really admire and appreciate what you do. I’m not chassidish, more on the Yeshivish side of the spectrum, so I’m not familiar with all the ins and outs of the chassidish world. But I think you’re doing a tremendous job showing the richness, the multifaceted beauty of it to the world. There’s something very mature and admirable about being able to say: it’s not for me, but it’s still good. Thank you!
It's so enthralling to travel with Frieda along Hasidic music, such a pleasure to meet our favourite singers and the masters yet unknown to us. Great spiritual and researching work of Motty Steinmetz ─ his album «Atik Yomim» (2022)! This is a magic gift of Motty Steinmetz to the world, his spiritual connection with true Hasidic wisdom, when reality (the space) is nourished with hope, when the sacred words of Torah are felt on the sensual level filled with ancient Vizhnitz melodies. Ancient Vizhnitz became the birthplace of Hasidic philosophy due to Rabbi Israel Ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov). These songs miraculously survived during the Holocaust and were brought to life by Motty Steinmetz and his family. We cherish the memory of those, who suffered during that evil time and join Motty’s ancient-days songs, which are now also living in our hearts forever.
Although not Hasidic but in Yiddish, there's the troop The Brothers Nazaroff. It would be cool a video on understanding of the Yiddish dialects, which one is more prevalent and less spoken, by which communities Satmar and Chabad, from where they came and so on (like Hungarian/Polish dialect vs Lithuanian one).
Hello Frida, thank you for your wonderful videos! I have been a long time fan & came on your lovely tour in september ❤ would it be possible to make a youtube or spotify playlist? I really like jewish music, but it's sometimes hard to know where to start. Thank you in advance and keep up the great work ❤❤❤ warm greetings from Belgium
Such a beautiful video! I don't know most of these singers because I live in Israel. Here, religious singers enjoy a huge following of all types of Jews, and their concerts are hugely successful. To name a few: Yishai Ribo, the Razel brothers, and Yaakov Shwekey.
As someone who grew up another variation of Haredi of the Sephardic Syrian variety (although certainly not as reactionary a version of how you grew up) it's cool to see the similarities in culture we've adopted just by being tangential to Ashkenazi Haredim.
@@FriedaVizelBrooklyn Well, since we became Haredi in the first place by way of the influence of the Litvaks (in the case of the Syrians, because of the Litvish in Jerusalem and because of the students of the Chofez Chaim and Meir making their own Kollels by way of Haham Raful Harari which is a really convuluted story with basically no historical research on the whole story besides from a Hamodia article talking about it but it's okay) We adopted the Litvish-Yeshivish religious culture without really the Yiddish culture itself. Well, there is a certain familiarity with Yiddish here, particularly when it comes to music, do you know Abie Rotenberg? people here have at least enough of familiarity with Yiddish to sing the Yiddish parts of Mame Rochelle on Shabaht generally. Syrian Jewish music basically just adopted the same modality of Ashkenazi Jewish American pop music without really any Sephardic influences, if you want a good example I'd recommend checking out Ya'akov Shwecky, some of his music takes a more Arabic Sephardic style but most of his music is sung in the Ashkenazic general American Jewish pronunciation and when he doesn't, he relies on the standard israeli hebrew pronunciation because our community has a pretty different relationship with Zionism than yours, for the most part of course. We have our fully Yeshivishized end with the typical Rav Shachian concerns against Zionism but we mostly relate more with Israeli Jews than with American Jews as a whole.
@@FriedaVizelBrooklyn The only people who basically still produce music in the Arabic Sephardic style are our Minhag purists who oppose the Haredicization happening in the community, there are a couple really good videos on youtube ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2SYxTzpEle4.html - A wonderful playlist of the greatest Pizmonim (folk songs/poetry of Aram Tzoba-what Jews always called Allepo) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hO10i9Z2J7s.html (a video which explores the history of Syrian Jewish pizmonim)
@@FriedaVizelBrooklyn What's most ironic is that our Minhag purists typically have been in America for far longer, and have quite American accents and mannerisms. While our Haredi end is for obvious reasons the least Americanized.
To people like me who are confused by Jewish music being a thing: Reactionary Sephardic Judaism =/= Chasidic Judaism. In fact: both groups are frequently at each other's throats, especially during elections. We litteraly don't speak each other's languages. That's why this comment is in English. Both Amnon Yitzhaq and his teacher Rabbi Benzion Mutzafi are against all forms of music. This is due to several laws forbidding the act of making music. (See KSA: Mourning the Temple) Rabbi Ben Tzion Mutzafi who is a prominent Rabbi going against music, grew up in Iraq. Which is a Muslim country. Under Islamic law Jews and Christians are denied certain privelieges. Playing music is one of said privelieges, blowing the shofar is another. Trauma plays a huge role in how Halakha is being interpreted.
This is an amazing video.Good explanation re as to why the performers are all men. For sure women have place in music and they have found their place. Do the research, listen and you will find your way to present women in Jewish music and bring it to us. I love this music and your choices on this video are SPECTACULAR.
Magnificent video. I have some new options for my Yiddish music playlist! It’s one area that closes the gaps between different Chasidic sects. How about adding Benny Friedman to your next music compilation? Matisyahu? I think Lipa’s Hang Up the Phone video is fabulous and very culturally interesting. Would love to hear more about his story. Thanks again for all you do to illuminate the Yiddishe Veld.
I offer on my ch original klezmer yiddish 60s isr folk chassidic moditzer rabbis cantorial swing bdway bundist material so please try and tune into that as well ok? I think its terribly unfortunate that THIS style gets so much attention its just pop music and leaves much of its original roots behind people need to be exposed to the history thats what I offer
Another great video ! I was surprised to see that I follow a few of these talented singers. I enjoy your videos very much. Thank you for the many hours you put into your videos. We see such a small % of the time spent. I appreciate your dedication to the content of your youtube channel.
Yes, I've been trying to re-learn piano and clarinet, instruments I had learnt how to play as a child, but then I got "too busy" to practice after high school which was many years ago. I want to get back into learning at least one of them, and listening to klezmer music is helping me make time to re-learn and practice.
Very nice selection of songs. As a non-Hasidic Jew, among the hardest things for me to understand are all the different sects, what distinguishes them and how much they interact with one another. You and many others who comment on Hasidic culture tend to lump them all together, as if they were one community, which is very confusing. Given that the groups don’t even speak the same dialect of Yiddish, and have strongly divergent views on liturgy, Zionism, education, dress, roles of women, interaction with outsiders and much more, you do both your subjects and your audience a disservice whenever you say “Hasidic” when you mean “Satmar.” (And I would love for you to do a video on what now distinguishes the Satmars of Williamsburg from those of Kiryas Joel and the history of their schism.) Avraham Fried, I know, is a Lubavitcher (as are his nephews Benny Friedman and the Marcuses of 8th Day, popular performers you didn’t mention). Since this is the most outreaching and worldly Hasidic group, often disapproved of by other Hasids (and some other Jewish factions), that may be a reason more insular sects would not accept Fried’s music. What kinds of Hasids are the other performers you describe and how does that affect their popularity? Meanwhile, since you didn’t mention it, you may not know that Lipa Schmeltzer’s “Abi m’bleibt” is a flat-out parody of a very famous secular song first recorded in Zulu in 1939 by Solomon Linda as “Mbube,” which was a top-10 hit by The Weavers as “Wimoweh” in 1951. The English language-version, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," was a number-one hit in the U.S. and Canada by The Tokens in 1961 and in the UK by Tight Fit in 1982. It was further popularized as part of the soundtrack track of the Disney film "The Lion King" in 1994, and has been extensively covered in many languages. Schmeltzer’s lyrics are also a nod to the well-known Yiddish song, "Abi gezunt" ("As Long As You’re Healthy"), introduced by Molly Picon in the 1938 Yiddish film "Mamale," and widely covered ever since.
The issue with sects is very complicated. I cover, mostly, Williamsburg Hasidim. Only some 60% are Satmar. It would not be fair to describe them as a Satmar community. Williamsburg has a very large contingent of Klausenberg, Pupa, Viznitz, Skver and more. Williamsburg does not have a Chabad, Belz, Bobov or sizeable Rachmistrivsk community. So the issue is that I don’t cover ALL sects but I also can’t say I cover any particular sect. For instance, I often put up “Hasidic ads” I don’t know which sect they are from. There is no way to know. They are probably actors from several sects. So because some sects are so similar they practically mesh into one, I have to lump them together (because I can’t describe a ad with some Pupa Hasidim as a Satmar ad) I have no choice but to use the word Hasidic, even though it causes a lot of confusion. I am working on a video to try to clarify a bit of this but I don’t know if it will be helpful because in the end of the day, the lines between groups is extremely blurred and gets complicated by location of the sect. As for the Schmeltzer song, thanks so much for the comment. Very interesting!
Favorites discovered online: Shulem Lemmer + Shira, What a beautiful voice!, Beri Weber, Like his lyrics, Eighth Day, Just Fun, Like their story style videos as well.
This video was wonderful. I could watch the videos with your commentary every week. Such a treat. Please do not laugh at me, but I loved Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men. So fun.
B"H True! Chasidic music has gone from "Raising the Sparks" of East European Gentile music to ,today the singers and musicians are really Torah teachers, Shulem one of them (Shira Choir is full of them) who are more like the talmidim of the Ba'al Shem Tov. The musicians are teaching inner Torah
Thank you for this great selection of songs, You missed 2 singers. 1: Shlomo Carlibach who greatly influenced Jewish music. 2: Benny Friedman who has the most youtube views on his videos. Otherwise you nailed it.
Great video as always. Im wondering why you think its hard to find the women singers. They're all over the internet these days. Bracha Jaffe, Devorah Schwartz, Shaindy Plotzker, Chaya Kogan, Dobbie Baum, Chanala Felig. Also worth mentioning there are plenty of women composers that even the men use for their albums. Chayala Neuhaus, Miriam Israeli come to mind.
Nicely done, sh'koach! Mention should be made for those pioneers who've passed. Dedi, a'h and Yossi Piamenta, a'h, both come to mind. At a simcha in Monsey I was once asked if I was Dedi, as I evidently resembled him. Fortunately I was familiar with him so laughed and said 'no'.
How do Hasidic Jews hear secular music? Isn’t it forbidden? Organized religion is so strange as Southern Baptists aren’t allowed to drink or dance and it appears the Jews haVe no problems doing so
Thank you for this video. I love hearing other's music. I am curious about the eyeglassess. Most everyone seems to be wearing round frameless or wireframe glasses. Is there a cultural preference for this style? I've noticed a similar choice among Buddhist monastics. They choose the frame because it is seen as more modest.
Interesting. There are some nuances involving men’s glasses. There are traditional styles and some more funky styles. It seems the latest trend is to wear round wire frames. I think it’s a style. Lipa loves to experiment with glasses.
not sure how it is in other communities, but women's music scene is quite active in Chabad. Perhaps it's because there are many baal teshuvah's who come into religion with formal musical education, or maybe it's because I just happen to have friends who are musicians. Therefore female only gatherings to play and sing private concerts at someone's house would not be uncommon. I wish I were more interested in popular music to know more, the only two popular female performers that I know of are Bulletproof Stockings band and Morah Music =)
@@donnashimshi4093 haha, spelled stockings wrong... but yeah, I think they fell apart a while ago, but I'm pretty sure that Pearl still writes music, maybe not for public
Would love to see what you say on Shulem Lemmer video “unity” very nice song about the Jews not being different and us coming together as people Good message in the times of war now
Motty Steinmetz and Avraham Fried; my favorites. This is one of your best videos; you are amazing Ms. Vizel. I'm sorry that I cannot write it in Hebrew but Simonei Yisroel by Avraham Fried is amazing. Also, any song by Motty Steinmetz is amazing.
These are some very good picks. And yes, I'm going to give you a hard time for picking "Light 'Em Up" over "Yachad"! I would definitely include Ben Snof on my list; Tehilim 121 and 'Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim' make me tear up every time I hear them. Ari Goldwag's 'Am Echad' always brings a huge smile to my face. Yosef Karduner's 'Shir Lamaalot' is a classic I listen to very often, as is 'V'afilu B'hastara.' (Although to be honest, I love everything he sings). If you ever do a video on female Haredi singers, please include Victoria Hanna! 'The Aleph Bet Song,' 'Ani Yeshena' and 'Orayta' are amazing -- although I acknowledge her music isn't for everyone. It's really "performance art," in a way.
I've been listening to your recommendations. Love them. Thanks for turning me on to them. They are not part of the Yiddish Hasidic music scene, so they are outside of the scope of this video, but they are absolutely breathtaking Jewish music. I am planning to try to do something on Hasidic female singers but not sure about casting the net as wide as haredi. LOVE Victoria Hanna. Is she Haredi? I wouldn't have guessed she is.
Very nicely done! Thank you! Regarding Motti Ilowitz I see him as a gifted poet, selecting his words with subtlety and nuance and art. Gramen are very nice but I feel he is closer to being an actual poet, a natural poet who thinks for himself and addresses social and political issues. Actually developing and dipping into the Yiddish language and turning it slowly into a more literary form ( always heart), despite his occasional use of English.( that's his independence as a poet -- poetic licence). Thank you!
Hi Frieda, this is such a cool and interesting compilation, thank you! I noticed that there are women playing in the orchestra with Avraham Fried, and I was wondering if kol isha also applies to women playing instruments in public? Would this contribute to it being considered not kosher in a Hasidic context, along with the mixed audience? And do women in the Hasidic community play instruments for their own pleasure or at women-only gatherings? Thanks again for all your wonderful and informative research and videos!
Wow, great catch. I don’t think instruments is the same as the singing voice. There’s a famous biblical story of Miriam of the Bible playing instruments because she wasn’t allowed to sing. I am still surprised to see women in the orchestra. You’ll never see it at a Yiddish speaking Hasidic wedding.
