HipHopShabbat Prayer Services

These original music-based prayer services last about one hour and are inspirational, engaging, and new! The HipHopShabbat Crew leads a modernized version of the Jewish Shabbat (or weekday) service, combining traditional prayers with hip-hop and reggae music.

The services are half performance/half participation and get the energy going. Each community has the opportunity to interact with the service in whichever way they feel comfortable. Songs are a mix of Hebrew prayers with poetic English commentary. Lyric sheets can be passed out as supplements to prayerbooks so that the audience can connect with the music in a more intellectual way. The overall message behind the music is love for humanity and the Divine, so HipHopShabbat is not just a performance, it is a collective prayer experience which brings people closer to G-d.

Previous HipHopShabbat Locations

The group has performed HipHopShabbat temple services at various locations in California and even across the country, reviving reform Judaism by bringing spirituality to the hip-hop generation and a love of hip-hop to the older generations before them. People of all ages have enjoyed the Hip Hop Shabbat performance because of the high energy level and amount of joy that the OJGs express with their music. Don’t let the name fool you, the Original Jewish Gangsters are full of love and positivity that is changing the way people are relating to traditional Jewish music as well as hip-hop.

Synagogues

Chico Havurah, Chico, CA
Temple Sholom, Burlingame, CA
Temple Beth El, San Mateo, CA
Temple Beth El, Berkeley, CA
Chochmat Halev, Berkeley, CA
Temple Sinai, Oakland, CA
Kehilla Synagogue, Oakland, CA
Temple Beth Abraham, Oakland, CA
Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, CA
Temple Isaiah, Los Angeles, CA
Stephen S. Weiss Temple. Los Angeles, CA
Bet Haverim, Davis, CA


Hillels

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Silicon Valley Hillel, Santa Clara, CA
San Francisco State, San Francisco, CA
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
USC, Los Angeles, CA

Schools

Tehiyah Day School, El Cerrito, CA
Brandeis-Hillel, San Rafael, CA
Sinai Akiba Academy, Los Angeles, CA

Summer Camps

BBCamp, Lincoln City, OR
Camp Alonim, Brandeis, CA

Youth Group Conventions

BBYO International - Clayton, GA
BBYO M.A.R. - Rocky Mount, MO

Jewish Community Centers

Berkeley-Richmond JCC
San Francisco JCC
Walnut Creek JCC