Take a few rap lines from the song, “Bim Bomb”:
“Love all men and women, that is my religion,
A free will decision to increase my vision,
We’ve risen from the prison of time/space-ism,
With Shabbat Shalom as the home of our wisdom,
Bim Bomb – “
That’s a taste of what the Original Jewish Gangsters hip-hop group is all about.
The popular group will perform its hip-hop Shabbat service today at 6 p.m. at the Oregon Hillel.
Hip-Hop Shabbat is a modernized version of the Jewish Shabbat service, which combines the traditional Friday night prayers with rapping and dancing, backed up by pre-recorded hip-hop, reggae, electronica and dub beats.
“Usually the first time people hear our music, they think it’s kind of funny,” said performer Judah “Butter” Maceo Ritterman, 25. “Then people listen to our lyrics and are like, ‘Wow, this is really good.’”
All born and raised in Oakland, Calif., OJG’s members – Ritterman, Jonathan “Doctor J Money” Gudstadt and Elana Jagoda – created the group after combining their talents and love for hip-hop with their traditions.
“What we’re really about, at our core as a group and in our own lives, is to connect people with spirituality and build communities,” Ritterman said. “Our music is an opportunity for people to connect with Shabbat and to connect with Judaism.”
Gutstadt, 26, founded the Bay Area group during spring break 2003, when the University graduate recorded his first Jewish rap track, “Go Down Moses, Let My People Flow,” adapted from a traditional Jewish song. Gutstadt then shared it with Ritterman, who became the band’s co-founder.
“We’re very excited to have Jonathan back at Hillel,” said Oregon Hillel Executive Director Hal Applebaum. “He was very involved with Hillel and when we discovered what he was doing with Hip-Hop Shabbat, we invited him to come up and perform.”
As a regular at Shabbat services, Gutstadt credits his Hillel experience as the foundation for the group’s album.
OJG’s album includes the prayers from an entire Shabbat service, additional songs and some “Passover bonus tracks.” The group performs at Hillels, synagogues and Jewish community centers in the Bay Area and has also played in Houston, Los Angeles and Oregon.
All OJG members have lived in Israel for an extended period of time to get in touch with their roots and traditions, said Ritterman.
“People from all generations can come out to see us,” Ritterman said. “Some of the most positive feedback we’ve received has come from people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. It’s not unusual to see everyone out of their seats shaking, dancing and moving.”
OJG members have encountered their share of people who weren’t as receptive to their adaptations of traditional prayers.
“We were at a (Reform Judaism) summer camp in Oregon and some people were offended and walked out,” Ritterman said. “We’re actually learning as we go and singing these songs, we need to be careful of how we sing it.”
For more information or to listen to the group’s music, go to www.hiphopshabbat.com.

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