‘It’s a tribal thing’
Jonathan Gutstadt remembers it as the defining moment. It was the first night of Chanukah in the early 1990s. The Oakland 12-year-old, who had already developed more than a passing interest in hip-hop, saw something that would forever alter his destiny: There, on television, was a white man rapping.
It’s only after a bit of coaxing that Gutstadt admits it was the one-hit wonder Vanilla Ice, who later became the subject of ridicule for too many reasons to mention here. But at the time, the young Gutstadt realized that the genre was not necessarily off-limits to a Jewish boy like him.
“I started dancing in front of the door,” Gutstadt recalled. “And then, I began rapping the prayers. The first rap I ever did was the prayer over lighting the Chanukah candles.”
That was at age 12. Now, at age 25, Gutstadt has just released a CD called “Hip-Hop Shabbat.”
Born and raised in Oakland, Gutstadt attended Temple Sinai, where he had a bar mitzvah. Some of his earliest memories are of playing in the redwood trees at the now-defunct Oakland Piedmont Jewish Community Center.
He comes from a long line of rabbis and Jewish educators, he said, and his mother was the first woman to have a bat mitzvah in Israel.
“My mom had three rules: Play sports, take piano lessons and have a bar mitzvah,” he said.
But even so, like so many young Jews, post-bar mitzvah, he sort of drifted away from Judaism.
Though he felt some spiritual connection, “I left it like most people do. I came back to it in college. I was always into my Jewish identity though, even if I wasn’t into the religious aspects.”
At the University of Oregon, Gutstadt became a regular at Shabbat services. “I love the Jewish people so much and the culture,” he said, adding, “How could you not be into your own culture?” Additionally, because attendance at Shabbat services was low, he always felt his presence was appreciated.
“My Hillel experience was the foundation for … the album,” he said.
Gutstadt’s first attempt at Jewish rap was a single he did last year, called “Go Down Moses, Let My People Flow.”
“That beat was so phat,” he said. “We spread it around to a few people on the East Coast, and they loved it so much, but I didn’t have time to pursue the album.”
Then, earlier this year, he was vacationing in Mexico. He was engrossed in a book about a Mayan shaman, when he came across a passage saying that if people can sing the songs of their ancestors, there can be peace.
“I said to myself, ‘That’s it, I’m making the album.’ I was really inspired by that book.”
The CD features the prayers from an entire Shabbat service, plus additional songs and “some Passover bonus tracks.”
Some sample lyrics from the opening song, Gutstadt’s version of “Bim Bam”:
“Bim Bam Bim Bam, my song when the time comes,
“It’s the seventh night, son, grab the mic with the minyan
“Bringing in the Sabbath with an ancient niggun
“Remembering my tribe when I vibe a Chassidic tune”
While the project was really Gutstadt’s baby, he had a lot of help. Backing him up on the CD are friends he’s known since childhood, known as the Original Jewish Gangsters, or OJGs. The Web site photograph shows the group on the shore of Lake Merritt.
“It’s all Oaktown Jews,” he explained. “It’s a tribal thing.”
He founded the group when he was a kid, explaining that “it was my response to wanting to be proud to be Jewish.”
And now, he’s hoping that the CD will be a vehicle for kids to feel that same sense of pride. “I want to give to all kids a strong sense of Jewish identity, that it’s cool to be Jewish,” said Gudstadt, whose hip-hop name is Dr. J. “They shouldn’t feel that there’s something wrong with being different.”
Gutstadt said early reaction to the CD is overwhelmingly positive.
Certainly Cantor Brian Reich is a fan. Upon hearing the CD, he booked Dr. J. and friends to conduct the entire Shabbat service on the third night of Chanukah. The cantor of Congregation Beth-El in Berkeley said he has grown up with hip-hop, through his daughters.
“This is so surprising because with hip-hop, I often have to cringe at the words. But this is a group of young people with a totally positive, exciting perspective about their Judaism.”
Reich has played the CD for many students, and the reaction is the same every time, he says. First the listener thinks it’s funny. Then, after a bit more time, the listener thinks it’s really good.
“I didn’t train any of them for their bar mitzvah but I’m so proud of them,” Reich said of the singers. “Whoever did train them should have a big smile on their face because they did a really good job.”
The group is giving 10 percent of its profits to tzedakah, including to We Are Freestyle Productions, a nonprofit record label providing free music lessons and education for children, and to the New Israel Fund.
And Gudstadt is hoping the CD will be a hit for old and young alike. “This album will get grandparents into hip-hop and Jewish kids into Judaism.”
‘Hip-Hop Shabbat’ is available at www.hiphopshabbat.com. Cost is $15 plus $5 shipping and handling. Dr. J. and the OJGs will be conducting a hip-hop Shabbat service at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10 at Congregation Beth-El, 2301 Vine St., Berkeley. Information: (510) 848-3988.