Korean or Hasidic— Wait, What?

Gabriela Geselowitz — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:39:03 +0000

First there was “Hasid or Hipster?” Then there was the Beyonceder. And now the latest Jewish pop cultural mashup you didn’t know you needed is “Korean or Hasidic.”

The website (Can you believe KoreanOrHasidic.com wasn’t taken yet?) is mainly there to present a single quiz: Ten clips from either Korean pop or Hasidic music. You have to figure out which it is. It’s harder than you think; the average quiz-taker gets about 6 out of 10 right. Who knew that k-pop would make such a good hora?

As you make each of your guesses, you also get fun factoids about where Korean and Jewish culture intersect (did you know you can buy kosher kimchi?). You can also, if you so desire, buy a t-shirt (or mug) with a minimalist Hasidic face that reads “Chief Rebbe of Seoul.” Sure! (Though for the record, the Chabad rabbi stationed in Seoul is one Osher Litzman.)

The mastermind behind the website is Ezra Yellin, who is neither Korean nor Hasidic (though he has since heard from academics interested in similarities between the two cultures, as well as religious Jews who have lived in South Korea— and still had trouble with the quiz).

“My brother noticed that one of the songs on a k-pop playlist he was listening to sounded surprisingly Hasidic,” he told Jewcy via email. “I thought it would be fun to put together a quiz challenging the player to distinguish between the two genres of music.”

Because the Internet is a magical, weird place, that’s just what he did. And now you, dear reader, may reap the benefits.

The post Korean or Hasidic— Wait, What? appeared first on Jewcy.

Lady Gaga-Inspired Hasidic Luddite Robot Dance

Jewcy Staff — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:29:57 +0000

Lipa Schmeltzer, a Skverer Hasidic musician who’s well known in the religious community but lacks anything like the crossover appeal of Matisyahu, has a new video out. And it’s strange. Like, Europop acid trip meets ’80s dance-techno meets Halakha—that kind of strange. There are devout men with sidelocks in silver facepaint and body armor that somehow made it off the set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (the peak of the franchise, really). There’s a scene in which Schmeltzer pulls an egg out of a freezer filled with cellphones and iPads. There’s a dance number performed in front of a wall of bone China. And of course, there’s the song’s lyrics, in which, in a mix of English and Yiddish, Schmeltzer exhorts his listeners to not be so beholden to their smartphones. This is actually a message we can all get behind—your correspondent walked into a parked bicycle several nights ago while studying his iPhone’s hypnotically glowing screen—but Schmeltzer delivers it like no other. And of course, given the recent ultra-Orthodox rally at Citi Field against Internet use, Schmeltzer must be seen as coming from a far different, more dogmatic and austere place. But you have to admire the shiny packaging—and those spin moves.

[via The Forward]

The post Lady Gaga-Inspired Hasidic Luddite Robot Dance appeared first on Jewcy.

hasidic music – Jewcy

Korean or Hasidic— Wait, What?

Lady Gaga-Inspired Hasidic Luddite Robot Dance