Yosef Gutman

About Yosef Gutman

Yosef Gutman is a musician on Lehallel — the filtered YouTube platform. 141+ of his recordings can be watched here, with no ads and no comments.

Yosef Gutman Levitt makes music from the niggunim - the wordless melodies the Chassidic masters left to their followers - and from the words of Shabbat and the prayers. His recordings carry the old names beside new ones: "Nigun Tzemach Tzedek", "Nigun Lubavitch", "Shamil", "Daar Oved", "Ech Du", "Nyet Nyet Nikavo", "Stav Ya Pitu", "Poltova", "Lechatchila Ariber", "Tuvya Noam", "Sar HaMemunim" and "Tal Yasis", and a niggun of the Yehudi HaKadosh.

Many of his niggunim are named by their spirit or their number: the melodies of the heart, of the mind, of devotion and of gathering; niggunim of emunah, bitachon, simcha, hachana and hitva'adut; Nigun 303, Nigun 400 and Nigun 551 - composed by Rav Ginsburgh, which he plays with Gilad Hekselman and Ofri Nehemya - and "Nigun Meyuchas" with Yagel Haroush.

For Shabbat he plays "Lecha Dodi", "Shalom Aleichem", "Yedid Nefesh" (with Raz Hartman), "Asader LiSeudasa", "Azamer BiShvachin", "Bnei Heichala" (composed by Tal Nae) and "Anim Zemiros"; from the prayers and the Jewish year come "Adon Olam", "Ki Anu Amecha", "Adon HaSelichos", "HaAderet VeHaEmunah", Birkat Kohanim, "Kave El Hashem", "Dirshu Hashem VeUzo", "Atah Takum", "Rachamana", Shirat HaYam, "Bar Yochai", "Chai Elul", "Purim Lanu", "Zol Shoyn Kumen Di Geule", and pieces named for the Akeidah, teshuvah and the life of Sarah.

His albums gather friends from Israel and around the world: "Amud Anan - Pillar of Cloud", "Kol Dodi", "Chai Elul" and "Soul Song" with Lionel Loueke; "Melodies of Light", a full album with Omri Mor; "Kumi Lach" with Omri Mor, Itamar Doari, Tal Yahalom and Yoed Nir; "Ya Lach Nafshi" with Yagel Harush, Yonathan Avishai and Yshai Afterman; the Shir Yedidot concert; "Shir HaMaalos" with Yosef Karduner; and "Nigun Ga'aguim" with Itay Sher.

His own melodies carry their pictures in their names - "Desert Roads", "Route 90", "The Farm of Nerya", "David's Harp", "The Shepherd", "Morning Star", "Hashkama - Up Early", "Walking in Simplicity", "From Darkness to Light", "My Soul Thirsts", a wedding song, "Time With Abba", and "Venice" in memory of Steve Eliovson. An interview lets him tell the story himself.

Several of his pieces take their names from the verses of the Torah: "Amud Anan", the pillar of cloud that led Israel through the desert; "Shirat HaYam", the song Moshe and Israel sang at the sea; "Kol Dodi", the voice of the beloved in Shir HaShirim; "The Tender Eyes of Leah", from the Torah's description of Leah; and pieces named for the Akeidah and for Chayei Sarah. Others name an inner work - "Teshuva", "Tikun", "Devotion", "Soul Spark", "Awakening" - and "Me'ein Olam Haba", a taste of the World to Come, the words the zemiros use for Shabbos.

Some of the niggunim carry their history in their names. "Nyet Nyet Nikavo" keeps its Russian words - there is nothing but the One G-d. "Shamil" is the niggun the Chabad tradition ties to a mountain leader held captive, a song of the soul longing to go free. "Lechatchila Ariber" takes its name from the words of the Rebbe Rashab: from the start, go over the obstacle, not around it. "Nigun Tzemach Tzedek" is named for the third Rebbe of Chabad, and the niggun of the Yehudi HaKadosh for the Rebbe of Peshischa. Melodies such as these were sung at a farbrengen without words, and on these recordings they are heard again in his arrangements, each a full recording rather than a short clip. Every recording opens on its own page, with no ads and no comments around it.

You can search inside the songs by what was said, play the whole catalog back to back, or follow Yosef Gutman to be told when something new comes in.