On my way to LimmudLA, I flew in 2 days early to meet with Rabbi David Levin-Kruss (DLK) my mentor from the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, DLK and I worked on many ways to use Bible Raps to teach the tradition to adults. We've taught over 30 times in Jerusalem but this was the first time we brought it to the States for gigs for Hillels in San Diego. Then, on to LimmudLA we went.

When I arrived, my partner in rhyme Ori Salzberg (I met him at Presentense) was waiting for me in the lobby;  the people all around looked psyched to get the day started.  While there, the number of my sessions went from 4 (the formal limit) to 7.

Day 1

"How gangsta can Bible Raps get?" Ori and I performed a few songs and got feedback and reaction as to pedagogical import and appropriateness as well as dopeness

What's a Rapper? What's a Jew? This session was Ori, Rabbi DLK and me: it was the highlight of my teaching career. With the very intelligent, young audience, we took a closer look at identity and Judaism. DLK made it all come together like ribbons tied into a bow. All participants took home a Torah present. That is how DLK does.

ROI/Friends of Innovation party - That night I hung out with a lot of ROIers. Talked Nietzsche and Judaism with Alan Grabinsky and about his Jewish Salon project. We are currently talking about an ongoing collaboration concerning our philosophical discussion. If it gets done, you won't hear about it for a few years. But it was great to find a mind tuned into and turned on to a great passion of mine: Nietzsche and Judaism and how they can both inform the other. I admit it, at 3 AM some of us got thrown out of the whirlpool. But there was a whirlpool and I had the time and i was there...!

Day 2

Talk Show - On a panel with Esther Kustanowitz from ROI. It was led by Kevin Sefton from England who did a hip, late-night talk-show format. One guest who was great to chat with (on stage or otherwise) was Howard Rosenman, a Hollywood director who was also in the film Milk.

Shabbat - rested and chilled.

Day 3

After Shabbat we entertained people who were aged one-year-old and up. It was great to see Yoni Gordis there and rockin' to it as well.

Midnight: Went to a jam session. Man, there were some ridiculously talented musicians all gettin' down together. Lior Kaminetsky, a violinist, inspired me to close my eyes and drift away on his song. And that takes a lot because I'm self-conscious. If you can ever see him play you should. Also, Dov Rosenblatt sang a song with a chorus that I kept singing through the conferenece. I got up there and rapped with them and it was so much fun.  The Jewish Journal called it "magic." But they were all Merlins up there so all I had to do was flow like spilled potion. 

Got kicked out of the whirlpool again! Just kidding!

Day 4

Bible Raps workshop - We made a music video for and by young and old about the Limmud conference using its slogan "Learn baby learn" as our chorus (see embed below). While they were showing that aforementioned video during LimmudLA's final ceremonies, Ori and I were upstairs finishing a grant. Gotta eat before you can learn Torah, let alone celebrate your success. Thus, we are extra grateful for getting our tickets paid for by ROI and Limmud.

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Bible Raps Concert - Pretty standard show. You know how we do!

Post-LimmudLA

After Limmud we did some gigs in the area and took in some meetings.  Shout out to Maital Guttman (another ROIer) who totally hooked up the hospitality at the Moishe House in LA. It was mad fun with synergistic conversations through the night.

Let's work together. Check our tour schedule and if we are rolling into town, let's kick it. Follow us on Facebook and all that and peace to all my other ROIers.

Matt Bar, the Bible rapper, attended LimmudLA with assistance from the ROI Speakers' Bureau fund. He has been featured on MTV’s “The Real World” and NBC’s “Hip Hop Nation: Notes from the Underground.” He has opened for the Grammy-winning group Outkast as well as for Hasidic Jewish reggae musician Matisyahu. The Bible Raps Project is an outgrowth of the success and excitement he discovered when he introduced Bible raps into his classroom. Matt was a fellow at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies (2009) and the Presentense Institute in Jerusalem (2007). A Bible Rap is found on shma.com as well as on Bibleraps.com and biblerapsnation.com (kids only).

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