I am not a great fan of rap in general, but Jewish rap is another story. Joel Moss is not only Jewish, he raps about the Jewish life with a ton of Hebrew/Yiddish words thrown in. He is the best artist in the Jewish rap genre in the industry today. Listening to him brings back a lot of memories of the rap I heard while waiting to have meetings with the Stepfather in different prisons across the globe.
Link to the the rap and glossary after the Jump
To hear Joel’s bissel rap – check it out here
The Glossary for the Hebrew and Yiddish
Bayit: house (Hebrew)
Bissel: a little (Yiddish)
Blintz: Delicious dough wrapped treat
Borscht: Cold beet soup
Bubbe: Grandma (Yiddish)
Challah: Egg Bread eaten every week for the Sabbath
Clipa: Protective emotional layer
Cohen: member of the priestly class
Crohn’s: An intestinal disease Jews are particularly prone to
Dina Demalchutah Dina: Your King’s Law is Your Law (Aramaic) The law telling us to respect the laws of the country we live in. Even if it’s something ridiculous, like prohibiting polygamy.
ghetto: originally, the area of Rome to which Jews were restricted, later any Jewish or minority section of a city
Halachah: Jewish law
Haman: Villian from the holiday of Purim
Isro: Afro on a Jew, also known as a Jewfro
J-Date: Jewish dating website
JNF: The Jewish National Fund
Keepah: Yarmulkah, skullcap
Kishkes: Stuffed cow intestines
Maftir: final portion of torah read each week, the part the bar mitzvah boy reads
Matzoh: Unleavened bread eaten during the holiday of Passover
Menorah: A Jewish candelabra
Methusaleh: A Jewish patriarch who lived for nearly 1,000 years
Mikvah: Ritual bath used to purify women after menstruation and men after semen flow
Minyan: A quorum of ten Jewish men
Mitzvah: One of the 613 commandments
Mooksah: an activity which violates the sabbath
Nes Gadol Hayah Joel: A Great Miracle Was Joel (Hebrew)
Mordechai: Hero from the holiday of Purim
Perke Avos: Literally, the lessons of the fathers. The most famous book of the mishnah, the oral torah
Sheygetz: Non-Jewish man
Shiksah: Non-Jewish woman
Shtetl: A small Jewish town or village formerly found throughout Eastern Europe
Shlamazel: Man with no luck
Shlugging Kaporos: A method of removing sins by swinging a living chicken around your head, and then killing and eating it. (really works!)
Shmuck: Diseased penis
Shochet: A kosher butcher
Sitting Shiva: Observing a week of mourning following the death of a close relative
Sukkah: A temporary shelter used during the harvest holiday
Tay-Sachs: A disease that occurs in Eastern European Jews resulting in still-born children
Torahs: How Bibles kick it old (testament) school