When it comes to making controversial Jewish music videos, The Groggers take the cake.
Los Angeles resident and lead singer L.E. Staiman heard a friend complain about being self conscious before going into the water of the mikvah because he felt his lack of size did matter. This was a thought that Staiman said he recently had when a friend confided that his lack of size did matter when it came to self-image before disrobing for the ritual bath. Staiman decided to act out the role of his friend in the new music video “Tiniest Man In The Mikvah.”
“I was in Israel over Sukkot and people were asking me whether there was going to be another video,” Staiman told The Journal. “People had an itch for it. We haven’t put one out in seven or eight years, so we threw some ideas around and this seemed to work.”
The video starts with a cameo by veteran comedian Elon Gold as a therapist leading a support group that at first appears to be for guys who’ve had their hearts broken. He asks Staiman’s character (Eli) if he wants to share.
In the chorus, Staiman sings that he “got the short end of the stick” and leaves his shorts on when he takes a dip.
Staiman, 34, said his father told him the video was “in poor taste” but shared it with some business associates, anyway.
Guitarist Ari Friedman, 36, who lives in Baltimore, said he took preventative action.
“I told my wife’s family to marry everyone off before the video comes out Wednesday,” he said. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s chance for a shiitach.”
The Groggers, who took their name from the noise making device used on Purim when Haman’s name is chanted, made noise with their video “Get” in 2010. The punchy chorus “Ya gotta get, get, get, get give her a get,” or a rabbinically recognized divorce, had not before been a topic for a music video for a popular group.
“We definitely did it tongue-incheek,” Staiman said. “But in all seriousness, it’s a problem and men should give their wives who want a divorce the freedom to be free and go on.”
Both said they are admirers of Gold and enjoyed his performance on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
“If Larry David wanted to go to the mikvah, I’d definitely go with him,” Staiman said.
Like many other pop/punk bands, the Groggers push the envelope to stand out. “If you look at a lot of Orthodox Jewish music, a lot of it is boring and the same, and we always wanted to put out something different,” Staiman said. Sometimes, you gotta shock people. Sometimes you have to be outrageous. Sometimes, you gotta poke the bear.”
He added that the group’s next video will be more controversial.
“A lot of people hope their music appeals to everybody,” Staiman said. “You could say our music is for nobody, or really a small niche of people who know Orthodoxy and love wild songs that have a great sense of humor.”
Haven’t seen this word before, but given the context, could he mean “shidduch”?
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