‘Yum Yum,’ by the invented online persona Rabbi Greenspan, and its surrealistic, AI-generated video, illustrate the overlooked internet culture among religious Jews
A horse wearing sunglasses gallops through the parted Red Sea. A bearded man in a kippah feasts on fruit in front of a partially submerged whale. Biblical Egyptian troops trot through the surf, plates of bread hovering overhead.
“We be winning like the Yidden be doing forever,” a puppet in a yellow life raft raps.
The surrealistic AI-generated images are from the video for a spoof song, “Yum Yum,” that has become a surprise Passover hit in religious Jewish communities in the US. The song and its popularity provide a window into the communities’ online culture that often goes overlooked.
The song is a collaboration between the online personality Rabbi Greenspan and Thank You Hashem, a.k.a. TYH Nation. The group is headquartered in the Five Towns area of Long Island and produces music and sells merchandise with uplifting Jewish themes.
TYH came to prominence with its first song, also called “Thank You Hashem,” by Joey Newcomb. The track became a hit; its video has more than 3 million views on YouTube.
Greenspan is an online persona created by an anonymous community member who peddles memes, satire and songs through different invented characters and under the X handle “Awkward Bachur.” Community media reports have identified Greenspan as a businessman in Lakewood, New Jersey, but in an interview with The Times of Israel, he declined to share personal information or his whereabouts.
“My location is lurking in your subconscious,” he said. “I don’t really have a location, I just lurk,” he said, speaking for his Greenspan character.
Greenspan recorded the first version of the song six months ago as a satire of other upbeat TYH tracks like Mendy Worch’s “Chi Chi Wawa,” labeling the spoof song “Mendy Worch esque.” Greenspan found a “reggae-type” beat on YouTube, plugged a microphone into his computer, and recorded the vocals with Logic Pro software.
