Brooklyn, NY – Shauly Grossman didn’t plan on being an Internet rock star.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
But that is exactly what happened to the 21-year-old self-identified Sanzer Hasid when a satirical song he recorded poking fun at the allegedly rock-star-like lifestyles of some Hasidic rebbes resurfaced as a hotly debated video on YouTube.
Grossman’s song, set to the tune of “Rockstar” by the popular band Nickelback, focuses on the alleged proclivities of some leaders of Hasidic sects — from lavish houses to expensive clothes.
to listen to the song click below
“I want a private caretaker with three attendants to make place and to scat away the crazies, and if necessary to bring me a tray of beer,” Grossman sings in a distinctly Hasidic mix of Yiddish and English. “I want to open charity boxes with no alarm, and a private mikveh that’s always warm, with a Jacuzzi right near my indoor pool.”
Despite the biting lyrics, Grossman says the song was not meant as an attack on rabbinic authority in general.
“It was just a phenomenon that we sometimes see, meaning that there is a certain percent of rebbes who aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do and are just doing it for… the fame and the money and stuff,” Grossman, who lives in the heavily Orthodox town of Monsey, N.Y., told the Forward. “I didn’t make it specifically against anybody.”
But the video — which has circulated on the Internet for several weeks under the title, “I Want To Be a Rebbe” — juxtaposes Grossman’s song with images of widely known rebbes. Grossman said he does not know who created the video, explaining that he recorded the song a year ago and that it was not intended for public consumption.
Even so, the video and Grossman’s lyrics have stirred up a fierce debate on blogs frequented by ultra-Orthodox Jews — a population better known for reverence for rabbinic authority than for irreverent song-writing.
One commenter on the Orthodox blog Chaptzem wrote: “you gotta see the funny side of this version!” Another responded: “In the name of humor, one can compose and sing such a disrespecful [sic] song, and we have people here who actually think it is funny. How tragic.” Still another called the song “despicable.”
Grossman, for his part, sent a public apology to Chaptzem. “I’m sorry if I offended anybody,” he wrote. “It was meant for my own private fun.”
Fans of the song describe it as a witty critique of the shift from an older generation of Hasidic rebbes, who were held in great esteem, to a new generation, some of whom inherited their positions without first earning respect and trust.
“It’s a community where there are some rabbis universally acknowledged among the masses that they don’t view them as deserving of being a rabbi,” said the author of a leading Orthodox music blog, BloginDM, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for the ultra-Orthodox organization Agudath Israel of America, however, was not amused.
“He’s immensely talented, the singer and the writer,” Shafran said, but “impressive in a technical sense, not in a moral one.”
“I certainly know that some of the people I recognized in the video live selfless and austere lives and for all I know, all of them do,” he said.
The brouhaha over Grossman’s song comes amid wider controversy over the infiltration of contemporary music into the ultra-Orthodox world. Earlier this year, a planned charity concert in New York featuring popular Hasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer was canceled following a decree from a number of leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis. The concert, the rabbis warned, was likely to cause “ribaldry and light-headedness.” Grossman, incidentally, wrote the title track on Schmeltzer’s latest album.
The debate over the video also highlights the growing significance of the Internet in the ultra-Orthodox world. While some ultra-Orthodox leaders have attempted to limit Internet use among their followers, the Web has nevertheless emerged as an outlet for discontent.
“The people who are talking about it in the blogosphere, some of them are probably alienated and marginalized and of course in the blogosphere, you can say whatever you want because nobody knows who you are,” said City University of New York sociologist Samuel Heilman, author of a scholarly book on ultra-Orthodox Jewry.
Communal critics, though, have no monopoly on the Internet. The “I Want to Be a Rebbe” video has been removed repeatedly from YouTube as a result of complaints alleging copyright violations, including one filed under the name “Chofetz Chaim” — the renowned Orthodox sage who died in 1933. The video was re-posted on December 1, tallying nearly 2,000 views in 17 days.
I hope your sanzer rebbe is really proud of you
its great and so true the SOME rabbis today got took there position as rabbi cause there father was righteous that doent make them qualify
VIN PLS TAKE THIS SHMUTZ ARTICLE OFF!! ITS DISRESPECTFULL AND OFFENSIVE TO ALL OF US ,YOURE SUPPORTERS TO POST SUCH HEADLINE ARTICLES OF SOME SCREWED UP LOWLIFE BUM FROM MONSEY!!!!!
actualy his rebbe is his reason for his song
What’s interesting about this guy is not what he likes (and has all the time in the world) to discuss -Lipa, Shauli Grossman, Sheitels, Big Event etc- but the stuff he does NOT like to discuss or address.
And to the song, its nothing new – all chasidish badchonim (Yankel Miller, Yoli Lebowitz, Velvel Goldshtein, and the great Hilly Hill) have used the “Rebbe” spoof for years and years now – but the YouTube video put faces to it – that’s a shame, cause it gives the wrong message.
This so so funny,I love it
just because some rebbe’s don’t deserve to be rebbes doesnt mean that you should publish this shmutz from that anti-semitic paper “the forward”
nothing to be proud of….
Great music and words. I never was aware of ths before. There is a lot of truth in these words. Some of the BP rebbis live a lavish lifestyle while their chassidim live like shnorrers. This obscenity must be stopped and this is the perfect vehicle to accomplish that. Kudos Shauly Grossman.
Even though many rebbes deserve is and caused a song/video like this to be produced.
We: frum yiddin should have a major problem with this because;
First of all i can understans that VIN Post only the Audio and not the video some bad parts in it.
#2 true there are some rabbis are no good but Torah is transmited via the gedolim the poskim and talmidei chachumim (call it Torah shebaal peh or the mesorah) when we poke fun at rebbes Many of us or of our children surly mistake that with poking fun at real gedolim, Poskim, Talmidei chachumim. and therefore the gemara in sanhedrin and other places state that anyone poking fun at rabbis is an apikores.
with out the mesorah or torah shebaal peh we dont even have the Alef Bet right (See Meseches brachos with the story of hillel and the ger)
What a shame that today very few undestand the problem of this. and no one stands up against apikerses like this
if he made a such a kind song shows this person does not believe in anything not even in the ribono shel haolam when u will need a broucho from a rebbe do not go to him
VIN is to be applauded for the news it posts. The selection of news is absolutely unbiased and unlike other, “yeshiva” news sources in the “world” doesn’t filter the news like I am some 5 year old baby who can’t handle the truth and reality in today’s world.
Simply put, VIN news is cutting edge. If you can’t handle it, YOU LEAVE, and don’t tell VIN what to do while the door is closing behind you.
Thank You Shauly For this song! You really cheered me up! Tizku L’mitzvos
Missing some very big fraudster rabbis though. Saw only a few on this video who swept the big scandals under the carpet. Why?
The problem I personally had with this, was the images of a few real Tzadikim as if they are on the same level like some low life Rebbe’s, when I saw among others an image of the holy Skulener Rebbe which only a real nut case can say anything bad on this real Tzadik this made me sick, and the same with some other true tzadikim that you see in the video, however there are plenty so called Rabbis who are seeking only Kovod & Gelt and nothing more, and some of them can literally be labeled as real “Mesisim Umadichim” for causing Chilul Hashem and by giving their stupid followers examples how to behave, so don’t put Skulen, Tosh, Viznitz, Rachmestrivke, Kosov etc. on same level with some bums.. b”h, Klal Yisroel still has true Tzadikim both in Israel & in the US so just ignore all those fake Rebelech and don’t look their way.
As long as you include your own rabbi shauly,sing what you want!
it’s a bitter EMES theý have whatever they want the biggest luxury winter – florida, hotsprings summer – catskill a few times a year israel , europe ,etc .. chufferd cadilacs – lavish wedding every child a paid up condo with all luxeries and what not from O. P. M. (other pepoles money) and then they stand up and say misser derushes for the real erliche yiden who’re living a modest live ,not to spend (only to give them the money) it’s high time to uncover their faces openly which every knows and stop this life style as chszal say KE’SHOID ATZMOCH and then…..
Excellent voice…Excellent diction…good production value…
please come out with some more stuf like that
The truth really hurts.
a piece of garbage
I wonder in which Yeshive he learned and where he saw all of these……. by which REBBE and which TISH………… he should be ashamed that by thinking he has seen something by one its all over the same
“#2 true there are some rabbis are no good but Torah is transmited via the gedolim the poskim and talmidei chachumim”
You are spesking with hebrew words but what you are describing is Christianity.
We don’t have priests or any other buffer between us in our relationship with the Ribbono Shel Olam. That’s what catholics have. That’s why they confess to a priest and not the way we confess. Torah is not transmitted to the masses through anybody.
It is transmitted from d’or to d’or – vshinantom lvanecha…not from the gedolim to the masses.
True, if you have a question you seek an eitzah, or a psak, or a mehalech, from a rav or rebbe. And in no way should a lack of kvod rav be tolerated.
I’m not sure the intent of this video – I don’t know the songwriter / singer / video producer. But I think it was nothing more than young adults humoring themselves. And truth be told, our gedolim, individually and collectively as the Agudah, the RCA, OU, etc… have fallen terribly short in recent years. Not that their faults rationalize this, but I don’t believe it should be made more of than what it really is.
This is a great way to publicise a serious problem in our community.The title of rebbe has no qualification requirements, only a beard and a few foolish followers. This is more like a cult than a religion. People think that if your father, father-in-law, uncle was a rebbe it automatically gives you entitlement to the same position.
Its about time we administer a test. We might find out that some of these guys dont even know the aleph-bais
I am a good friend of him and know him very well.
He is not a bum he is an earlicher yingerman and he does a lot of chased for other people, He did not make the song to hurt anyone or against any rebbe, He likes to sing as a hobby and gave it to a friend to listen and he published it on the web.
So all of you go and ask him forgiveness.
very well sung!!! compliments to the litvitsh WE CANT SING THE SAME SONG ABOUT OUR ROSH YESHIVAS!! they live erlach and in modistey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great video, I think it’s ok to laugh at oneself occasionally
shauly grossman is a wonderful guy!! No matter what you will say. i agree that we totally did it for fun ‘for ourself’. n for what we did ourself nobody has ‘any rights’ to criticize cuz this is ‘our’ lives n b4 you say somthing, go first n correct ‘ur’ life. u have alot what to correct out there b4 u go to’yenem’.. Now!! For those who love music n understand what music is all about..Wait. cuz music is about to get on a higher standard (im not talkin about fun stuff. m talkin about real music n things nobody will get hurt n stuff that ”everyone is ganna like” sit locked n see whats ganna happen! alot of surprises for those who are hungry for good music!!
How dare Agudah’s Avi Shaffran say such loshon hora about Grossman.
The video posted on YouTube was made by someone else, unknown to Grossman. Grossman says he recorded the song one year ago for private use.
A public apology is in order.
(Of course, it will not come.)
I can’t stop watching the video
Hello everyone, lets all take a deep breath and relax here. To the extent that the song will serve to wise up the masses to the fraud being perpetuated daily by their “leaders” , it is a blessing. There is no mitzvah in the torah to follow blindly without using our brains. I think most people are smart enough to be able to distinguish between real erliche yidden and between people who happened to be born into a dynasty, and thus suddenly find themselves drunk with adoration, bathing in other peoples hard earned money, and living the good life. As the saying goes, sarcasm is only an unpleasant way of telling the truth. And in our society unfortunately truth telling is not in vogue right now and no one has the guts nor the power to stand up and say the truth like it needs to be said, so its not half bad that the composer found a way to bring a point across with humor and entertainment……………. Lets think about it, maybe there is a reason this has spread like wildfire, maybe the little people or “pushite yidden” are sick and tired of being trampled by the elites and of supporting our rebbes and their kids lidoirai doirois, hmmmmmmmmmmm, perhaps there is a reason for the knowing smiles of yungerleit sitting at their computers and listening to the song over and over again, but no, its much easier to say , ay dee shvache doires, nisht kan trup eminas tzadikim huben zai, ay der internet hut inz avekgeharget, damm right it did because it exposed what is going on…………….
This is so sad..YET so true. Emes L’amitoh. Do you have any idea how many shvense died so these clowns can wear a shtreimel? These comedians are corrupting yiddishkiet, destroying our children, and raisng havoc with our world.
The holocaust was a boom for these guys. Vey few REAL Rebbes survived so this opened up a new cottage industry. There are MORE “Rebbes” now than there were shteytlach in ALL of Europe. They are perpertrating a massive fraud and we are to stupid to notice.
PS: Alot of the Litvishe ‘Roshei Hayeshiva are no different.
AH GITTEN SHABBOS and AH FRAYLACHIN CHANUKAH
I don’t know him personally but my brother is very good friends with him and as I understand he made the sung privately for him self and one disgraceful guy went and put it on the net with all these pictures shauli is really a tzadik from what I hear from my brother the guy that put it on the net without permission will pay an expensive price for that
Every yid has there own neshama .Therfore when they feel a bit holly that is a part of there neshama that feels at that time the need to be a rebbe that simply means in that case to rise in hollieness
Tragically, the song AND video are a reflection of our ( lack of qualified )leadership. It hits a raw nerve because even those who are against it know that it is accurate.
its just as an insult the way these rabonim act az the way this song potrays them … midah keneged midah
another piece of trash from the forward, that we never see read or care about what they are saying….
as to the song itself, I don’t have access to You tube, because JNET blocks it, so I didnt see the video with the faces, I only got the Audio version, and I admit I had a good laugh on it, because unfortunately with some of todays rebbe’s its true, most rebbes and rabbonim are very hard working selfless individuals big in Torah Avoda and Chesed who really give themselves away for the community.
But again nisht ales voos men zugt darf men shreiben, un nisht ales vus men shreibt darf men driken, amusing one self in private, or even at a purim tish or wedding, where heimish people take it with a grain of salt, is not the same as putting it out in the public.
Heimish people know to value and make a difference between the true rebbes and the very few selfish fake ones, putting this out to the general public is a total different story,
and the worst part of it, is creating a video and adding photos of well respected hard working rebbes who give their time and lives fr the community and chasidim.
That’s a despicable terrible crime and aveiroh, for which even Teshuva doesn’t help, not even Yum Kipur, because its bein odem l’chaveiru.
And I beg VIN to rethink their policy, and STOP quoting the sinking forward, that nobody ever cared what they wrote and said, oother then a few “alta kakers” (pun intended) poshei yisroel who eat treifos dont keep shabbos yet speak all the miese verter if yiddish.
Respect should be earned! The song was a very well done parody. If someone took it and turned it into something disrespectful thats not Shauly’s fault.
The point however remains, if certain people want respect,, LET THEM EARN IT!
The song might be a spoof but the message is very true.
BFlat
The Jewish HOLY religion is based on the truth – trust, so how can I read a newspaper who controls the news – they don’t trust me, so thank you VIN.
if you read closely shauli clearly says he had nothing to do with the video. hes very talented and did a great job with the lyrics. he did not poke fun at ayone specific, and as far as the BIG EVENT goes, that was a sham and should never have been cancelled. its a shame that its so easy to run and “tell” rabanim something either because your jealous or just cant fargin someone success, and they automatically believe you. the situatuation should have been looked into before banning the concert. many people lost parnasa because of that. SHAME!
Great Job Shauli, now take a calculator and a scale and begin weighing and calculating how many people (leitzim) you put a smile on and how many people got disgusted, not to forget the misery your children will go through when they will have to get in to a yeshiva and make a cheshbon. Shauli “YOU CAN NEVER TAKE THESE WORDS BACK”
I agrre 100 % with the song! this song is not meant for the rabbis from the last generation it meant for this rabbis from today that have 4-5 family houses (chassidim of course are paying the mortgage) nice cars, 2 maids every day of the week, etc….., look at the rabbis from the previous generations, all they had was nothing, and the money they had they gave it to their chassidim,
Shauli Grossman, don’t let this ppl. bring you down you did a Great job.
P.S. by the way thanks for the song you made for my brother in law with the 2 schwarts brother’s
YOU ROCK!
II am over the 40, and and my controls which newspaper stores should sell! order by mail the NYtims, and they send me a warning, so thank you VIN of opening the window of the g-d,s world.
i heard this song a year ago from shoily he didnt made it for public. so What do you want from the guys life. he was just having fun and expressing his feelings. shoily your the best ~G~
Talent and Mussar combined!
one needs to internalize the message, of course one has to be a worthy messenger as well.
i have listened to the words and music (not the video).
in the yeshiva world the minhag on purim was to give tochacha in such a manner. to the point via the medium of mockery. albeit not in a nasty belittling manner.
and i believe the problem is not the concept its the proliferation, however once one knows the power of the web in reaching all corners of the world one must be vigilant in not sharing or posting that which can be a chilul hashem by getting in to the wrong hands.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK WE LOVED IT. I GUESS THE TRUTH HURTS.
Why does Haashem tell us at the end of Mishnaos Sotah:
“On whom is their to rely? On Our Father Who is in Heaven”?
At the end of Sefer Devarim, Hashem tells us to listen to the leaders of the generation, the rabbis. Why doesn’t the mishna tell us to rely on the rabbis?
Why? Because Hashem knew what the rabbis would be like just before Moshiach comes. That’s why Hashem tells us to rely on Him alone.
I grew up on Masa Bichlech which wrote tales of previous generations, when children of deceased Rebbes had to be ‘begged’ ‘cajoled’, ‘forced’ to take on the mantle of their fathers position; sometimes it took years for some Rebbe to be succeded; in some instances, no one took the chair of the Bardichever, Lizensker, Sanzer, etc. Nowadays, when a Rebbe pases on there are rivals claiming the right of succession. There are at least 2 to 3 Rebbelech for each Rebbe, all claiming to be the rightful heir to the throne. Some of these are known to have been lowlifes in their youth. Now it is all about Koved and Gelt.
i thought it was very funny, the song and the video. a giten shabbes.
I think that it is hysterical. The only people offended by it should take a look at themselves. How many “holy” rebbeim out there are actually really this way? I know of several. So, deal with life, deal with the fact that the song, while perhaps inappropriate, is hysterically funny, and if you don’t like it, don’t listen. Besides, how would you have found it if you weren’t listening or watching the ‘net?