Applications are open for the 2022 Rappers and Rabbis Virtual Fellowship! The fellowship has two tracks: The Beat Kenessit – for prayer/song leaders interested in Hip Hop, and The Beat Midrash – for Hip Hop artists interested in Torah. The two tracks are a playful nod to the two houses of Judaism The Beit Midrash (house of study) and the Beit Kennessit (house of Prayer). We follow this Rabbinic rubric – but to the Beat!
The 8-week Fellowship goes from March 12 – May 6 with an (optional) in-person retreat March 25-27 at a mansion in the Poconos.
Like many community-building organizations, when Corona hit, Rappers & Rabbis had to completely reimagine our community-building strategy in virtual terms. The most comprehensive of our offerings to which we pivoted, was a Hip Hop Artist Fellowship consisting of 12 Hip Hop Pedagogues. As a month of covid became six months, the 12 fellows became a tight-knit group that created content that grew in quality and focus. “It became an outlet that gave purpose in these strange times,” says New Jersey native Eric Shandroff who raps under the name Myster-E. Fellow Jersey native Spencer Frowirth elaborates; “I was worried when I first started the Fellowship because due to the months of isolation my idiosyncrasies had become idiosynCRAZIES. Fortunately, I learned that we became one another’s support system.”
The 2022 Fellows will be announced on March 5th, 9pm at our album release party featuring the fellows from the 2021 fellowship! From strength to strength and cypher to cypher!
Just as prayer has been transformed, in early 19th century, by classical music and later folk music and even rock, it is time for a new watershed moment led by Hip Hop Rebbes and song leaders, drawing people back into thriving Jewish community and helping them become happier, wiser, deeper people connected to each other and their Jewish spirituality. Join Rappers and Rabbis on Facebook live any Saturday night at 9pm eastern for a Hip Hop Havdallah Service: come for the prayers, stay for the cypher!
© 2022, Seth "Digital Crates" Barmash. All rights reserved.
