Bieber Cover: ‘Rebbe, Rebbe, Rebbe, Oh!’
Among the 34,000 YouTube covers of Justin Bieber’s hit single “Baby” — including one by the original crooner himself, “Baby, baby, Haiti”, to show support for the Help Haiti Telethon — is a ridiculously adorable (and adorably ridiculous) cover called “Rabbi.” by a group called Shepsalach.
Shepsalach, which means sheep in Yiddish, is a baby-faced trio armed with only the requisite shaggy haircut, a candle adorned keyboard and a shofar. The group was put together by Yuval Nobelman, a film student and television writer shooting a comedy about a Jewish Orthodox boy band.
On the film’s fundraising page, Nobelman explains the idea behind the film:
Growing up, I wanted to be the lead in a boy band like many other children. Unfortunally, I never got to be one. I started writing the script for “The Shepsalach” about a year ago with my brother Dror. This short film, is a comedy, a biography, a little boys’ dream.
The Israel-based crew wants to show the “lighter and funnier side of orthodox Jewish life” and is still trying to raise $2,500 to realize the project. A $50 donation gets you a surprise gift: band poster, signed dreidel, etc. It’s a hilarious little parody — and fits right in with the recent rash of Jewish Biebers, like Edon Pinchot of America’s Got Talent.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO