Alef: The NEXT Conversation

Alef Profiles: Y-Love

By now, most of us aren’t strangers to Jewish hip-hop. Take one look at Yitz Jordan and you might not expect him to be a member of the tribe, but this convert to Orthodox Judaism is making his mark by tapping into his adopted culture and putting an interesting twist on a musical tradition.  Not on your radar yet?  Take a look at an interview with Y-Love (Yitz Jordan’s stage name) to learn about how this Jew-by-choice-of-color found his way into the American Jewish community to become one of the many voices representing the diversity of the Jewish people.

You can find Y-Love now in Punk Jews, the documentary series about individuals who express their Jewish culture in some pretty unconventional ways.

Punk Jews from Jesse Zook Mann on Vimeo.

“I think ‘Punk Jews’ is a facet of perhaps the most significant movement in Judaism in the past 100 years, that is, a generation of Jews disillusioned with the Judaism they see in their communities but determined to maintain a connection to the Jewish nation, tradition, and Judaism.  ”Punk Jews” is a documentary about a movement which is seeking to rebrand G-d and Judaism in the eyes of the future generations of Jews, a movement which I’m very happy to be a part of.  I hope that this generation sees the end of disillusioned people “leaving Judaism” and the beginning of people redefining and maintaining their own connections to it.” – Yitz Jordan aka Y-Love

Read more posts from issue #16: Diverse Jews.

Tags: Conversion, hip-hop, jewish, Music

Posted by Emily.Comisar@birthrightisraelnext.org, Friday, July 2nd, 2010, 2:09 pm, Diverse Jews.