WATCH: Hasidic Hitmaker Covers Justin Bieber Smash — in Yiddish

Image by YouTube

By Rukhl Schaechter July 13, 2016

Last November, Israeli Hasidic singer Chaim Shlomo Mayesz’s Yiddish music video of his newly released album Bas Kol went viral, garnering more than 400,000 hits. The video, which was shot at his brother’s Hasidic wedding in Borough Park, featured Mayesz rapping to the tune of Fifth Harmony’s hip hop track “Worth It”.

The song and video surprised many for openly defying stereotypes about the supposedly secluded culture of the Hasidic community.

Now Mayesz, together with music producer Sruli Broncher, has released a Yiddish adaptation of Justin Bieber’s hit song “Love Yourself”. The song, called “Mayn Mame” [my mother], lyrics by Chaim Alter Panet, is similar to the original, with one major difference: instead of describing the breakup of a romantic relationship, it portrays the dissolution of an old friendship.

You don’t have to speak Yiddish to enjoy it.

Watch the video below:

Rukhl Schaechter is the Yiddish editor of the Forward and the producer of the YouTube series, “Yiddish Word of the Day.” She loves cooking, Israeli folk-dancing and talking to her grandchildren.

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