Updated on August 29th, 2006
First, let me welcome you to YUTOPIA – The Sometimes Updated Blog of Rabbi Josh Yuter. If you’re reading this entry, you’re probably looking for some more information about who I am and what I’m doing here.
As you might have guessed, my name is Joshua Yuter, and among other things, an ordained rabbi from Yeshiva University. After bouncing around for years, I’m currently landed in Washington Heights New York and employed as a computer programmer.
I started blogging primarily to improve my writing skills with minimal accountability. Meaning, I felt I needed a non-threatening public forum where I could speak my mind and not get villified. (yet). The short answer to my general hashkafa is is ashkenazi guf, non-kabbalistic sepharadi neshama. Long answer is…well, you’ll just have to come back here more often to figure that out, but in terms of halakha check out this series for starters. Of course you should read everything in the archives – not that it’s all gold, but some interesting things in there…somewhere.
The significance of the name YUTOPIA is often misattributed to my connections with Yeshiva University (YU). This is a reasonable guess considering I spent 7 years there, but I’ve moved on some time ago. Really, YUTOPIA is based off of my last name. The name first came to me way back when I was tinkering with RedHat Linux and needed a domain name. As with most things in college, it seemed clever at the time.
Initially, YUTOPIA was running on Blogger, but thanks to Shaya Potter’s uprgading of YUCS it was time to move on. At the time of the move, YUTOPIA had over 4,000 hits – mostly thanks to Protocols R.I.P.) – and a few other very odd poogle links. On October 20, 2003, YUTOPIA moved to YUCS where it has remained since. Since that time we’ve gone through a few redesigns and some other improvements.
YUTOPIA is a small sample of the many thoughts which run through my head on any given day. I may get intellectual, personal, or shticky. My general attitude has been that there is a lot of stupidity on the internet and I don’t really need to add to that. However, I usually bring a unique perspective on things which some people find interesting. I realize not everyone will agree with everything on here, if they leave here thinking a little more than they did previously, I’m happy.
So that’s the scoop. Take a look around, stay as long as you like, and feel free to comment – we’ve had some great flame-free discussions in the past, e-mail or IM anytime.
Enjoy!
Welcome to the club, Josh!
Bo’achem L’Shalom
May you and your YUCS-hosted blog know nothing but simchas together od meah v’esrim.
trying to link into Kaluach calendar – from
2003-08-03 without success…can you help?
thanks
in: TLC
Jeff
Welcome to the Blogosphere. When did you work at IBI? I heard that you were here, and wanted to meet you, but I never saw you at mincha, and then you were gone, apparently to Chicago. What did you do here?
Have fun with your blog, this is the first time I ever looked up one, but I heard you had one so I had to try it. Hopefully, I’ll get to see you Pesach when your father comes out to visit your grandmother
Have fun with your blog, this is the first time I ever looked up one, but I heard you had one so I had to try it. Hopefully, I’ll get to see you Pesach when your father comes out to visit your grandmother
Josh, I am Hallie Swichkows sister (I met you at Thanksgiving at Bubs last year). I found this site on bangitout.com, and I have to say, Wow, you rock! Thanks for the tabs, with chords that I know, and or, can play! (aka, not a whole lot of F stuff! Ewww.)GOod shobbos, and thanks again, Brooke
Hi, Rabbi Josh!
I am your cousin, Jill. I haven’t seen you since you were a little kid. My dad was your Uncle Morris. Tonight while I was fooling with Google and the name Yuter I fell upon your site. It’s pretty cool. Tell your parents and grandmother I say, “Hi.” Much success!
Jill Yuter Max
hi rabbi
a good friend turned me on (generational giveawy) to your web site.
first impression
Impressed!
any way, i am looking for a good recording of shlomo’s (doesnt have to be by him, but that would be nice) “ki va moed”
or lead sheet olf the same
thanx
steve
Hi Josh! Erm, I mean Rabbi Yuter.
We haven’t spoken for way too long. (not since the Sandler wedding – I think.) I am sad.
Good luck with the Blog and all…
I am looking forward to reading everything on it.
KIT.
BTW if I have to call you Rav, you have to call me Prof.
Hi Josh,
I don’t believe we’ve met, but I am the son of Martin Yuter, and grandson of the late Julius Yuter. My wife and I currently live on South Eastern PA ( Near Philadelphia) and we’re expecting our first baby in a few weeks. His name will be Aaron Lawernce.
Both Dawn and I are in the computer field, but slowly transitioning out into Real Estate.
I happened to find your site when i was searching on the last name Yuter and thought I’d introduce myself.
Best of luck!
Regards,
Greg Yuter
Hi Josh —
I noticed a few postings from various cousins (Jill, Greg, etc.). We are all united by our common ancestor: Moshe Yuter (b. 1775 in Lithuania). I’ve done an extensive tracing of our family tree and have amassed several hundred names spanning 9 generations and many different countries. If you or any other cousins are interested in a copy of our tree, I’ll be happy to send it via PDF. Just e-mail me at jonnifer3@yahoo.com.
–Jonathan
if anyone knows where i can find notes for a mandolin please write to me. i already know chords! thanx
Wow! You are an impressive writer. What a refreshing way to get your words out. Thanks for sharing with the world!
Sara
This is for the Reb Shlomo Carelebach Chords;
The Good Shabbas Nigun ? Moishele ?Good Shabbas?
Dm Am G
Good Shabbas Good Shabbas oy Good Shabbas Good
Am
Shabbas *2(repeat)
C G Dm
Oy Good Shabbas Good Shabbas Good
Am
Shaaaa——bas!! Repeat as many times as you want to!!!!!!!!!!
Dm Am G Am C G Dm Am
Shema Yisroel Hashem Echad Hasheeeee—–mm Echad —-Repeat
Hi Josh, This is a wonderful blog. I’m a frum therapist in Chicago and I started an advice column for frum kids and adults. The community does come to me for help, but I thought it was time to give back for free. I have to stay anonymous, but will gladly link to you. Would you want to add me to your links? Keep on shtaiging. T.D.
I noticed (in your chabad guitar cord section) that you were unsure of the background of the niggun hupp cossak. well the following is the story behind this niggun.
please respond. THANK YOU!
It was a beautiful autumn day in the Ukraine. The open fields were in blossom, the warm sun was illuminating the distant mountains, the winter was still weeks away, and the weather was perfect for a stroll or a picnic.
But Shlomo the innkeeper was preparing to die.
Tomorrow night they would take him out of his one-man dungeon and hundreds of drunken barbarians would stab him to death when he fell down in the ?Dance of the Bears?.
He was so sick and depressed he wished it were over right now, that he would just die in his sleep tonight. ?Oy, Hashem? he whispered to himself ?Please do something, please help me!?
For almost a year, since he had been thrown into the pit for not paying his rent, he?d been saying the same prayer in a hundred different variations, but now he understood that it must be that G-d wants another martyr.
He thought about his wife and six children, what would become of them? And he began crying again for the thousandth time. ?Oy! Rebono-Shel-Olom, help me!! Ratavet! (Save me) Have mercy!? But the only reply he heard were the crickets outside and the drunken guard singing near the hole above him in the still night.
?They will come down to get me tomorrow night from that hole.? He thought to himself and he shuddered from cold fear, huddled up on his straw and tried to close his eyes.
Maybe he slept, suddenly he heard someone open the lock above him, slide away the bars covering the hole, throw down the rope ladder and begin to descend. He noticed that the singing had stopped, and his eyes were glued to the man descending.
Gevalt!!! It was a Jew! Maybe it was an angel! It was an old Jew, maybe sixty, maybe ninety years old, with a long white beard and a shining face climbing down the ladder!
When he had finally descended he brushed himself off saying, ?Don?t worry, the guard is good and drunk! I told him it was my birthday and wanted to drink with him, after two bottles and all the singing and dancing he did, he?ll sleep soundly for a while.?
Shlomo?s heart was pounding with excitement, he recognized the old man! It was none other than the great Tzadik, the Shpola Zaide (Grandpa of Shpola). They say that this holy man received a blessing from the Baal Shem Tov when he was just days old for warmth and enthusiasm in serving G-d and to be ?A Grandfather (Zaide) in Israel?. From then on he was called ?Zaide? and was renowned for his wisdom and Joy.
He was also famous for his dancing and sometimes on Motze Shabbos (Saturday night) he would call the musicians and dance for hours. (Some said that with each step and graceful turn he was really fighting spiritual battles and fixing unseen problems, all according to deep Kabalistic secrets.)
?Now,? continued the Tzadik to poor Shlomo ?I?ve come here tonight to come to teach you how to dance. Tomorrow night they will take you out, dress you in a bearskin and force you to dance in a contest against a strong Cossack.
Whoever doesn?t perform gets jabbed with pins, and whoever falls, dies. I tried to collect money to get you out, but there is no money, as you well know.
Your only chance is to be brave, and dance as well as you can. You have to try or you are lost, and I?m here to help you. If you run away they will just take another Jew or maybe even more, in your place. So let?s begin, don?t worry I can teach you, you will win, DON?T WORRY.?
But poor Shlomo was so weak and sick that try as he would, he could barely move his feet. And after a futile half-hour the Tzadik realized that he had to think fast.
?Nu, Shlomo. Put on my coat! Good! Now take this money, climb up the ladder and run home! Take your family to Shpole the people there will care for you. Go!!! Go home!! Just remember, when you climb out of the hole, pull up the ladder and, oh yes, here is the key, pull the bars back over the hole, lock the lock and put the key in the guard?s pocket, and RUN!!!?
The bewildered man did as he was told and in minutes the Tzadik was alone. Twenty-four hours later, the next night at midnight, he was lifted out of the pit, dressed in a bearskin and lead to a macabre, torch-lit, makeshift arena. There, facing him was a huge Cossack also in a bearskin and surrounding them were several hundred noisy, drunken, red-eyed townspeople sitting on improvised stands, with the eerie flickering torchlight flashing off their knife blades and gold teeth.
They began to sing and stamp their feet with the tune. It was a known Cossack song that began slowly and gradually built up, little by little, finally reaching a maddening speed with the words ?Hup Cossack! Hup Cossack!!!?
After just a few minutes it was hard for the crowd to discern who was who. The Jew moved and danced with such agility that they were sure that it was their Cossack inside, so they randomly jabbed whichever ?bear? was slowest with long needles and roared with laughter when he screamed and quickened his pace. ?Hup Cossack! Hup Cossack!? they all chanted, clapping their hands faster and faster, and the pace of the dance increased furiously from minute to minute. The Tzaddik began spinning and his opponent had to keep up with him. He jumped agilely from foot to foot, twisted, and leapt in the air faster and faster, five minutes, ten minutes, now fifteen. ?HUP
COSSACK!!!! HUP COSSACK!!!? The crowd was screaming, clapping, on their feet; their eyes were bulging with excitement! ?HUP COSSACK!!! HUP COSSACK!!!!?
Suddenly one bear stopped?. He was dizzy, exhausted, confused and?. He fell!
OOOUUUUPPPAAAA!!!!! Screamed the crowd as they ran into the circle and pushed their knives into the fallen dancer while the other contestant, still dressed in his bearskin, made a silent, unnoticed getaway. Imagine their disappointment when they removed the bear head and revealed ?. poor Yorik.
The Tzadik had saved the Jew, himself, put awe in the hearts of the gentiles and won a bearskin to boot.
In the zchus of such ahavas yisroel between us all, may we merit the revelation of melech hamoshiach tekef umiad mamosh.
Hi Josh. I’m not sure if you’ll get this, but I am VERY new to guitar playing. I stumbled onto your blog while searching the internet for the guitar chords for the shabbat blessings. I just want to be able to accompany my wife and kids during the blessings for shabbat (candles, wine, challah, blessing the children, etc). Are these posted anywhere on your site or elsewhere on the web? Thank you so much.
David in Wynnewood, PA
hey josh,
you totally rock. this thing is awesome. ilove your blog. countinue to rock on brother!
dooye
hey josh,
we have the same awesome name! that is so freeky and so cool. anywayz, i totally love your damn good blog. yours past my high standards of a blog. and boy, they are high. so keep chilling and doing your stuff. i love it, man. totally love it.
JOSH
PS: this the awesomest blog ever.
Guitar Chords BIRKAT haMAZON
standard melody ncsy or the like,… notes and tabs… plz?! beWakasha
SHALOM SAMEACH, salomon