Dec 25 2024 35 mins
The holiday of Hannukah is here! We often remember it for the 8 nights of gift-giving, latkes, donuts, and dreidels. However, there's so much more to the holiday and honestly, it's essential you understand this because non-Jews love to appropriate Jewish holidays into their own movements.
SO... "How is Hannukah Zionist?" highlights the hard facts around the strong Jewish ties to Zionism while staying authentic to Jewish values and tradition. Ari Lesser, a slam poet and hip hop artist, jumps on to the podcast to discuss and rap about the beloved holiday of Hannukah. Chaz Volk, host of Bad Jew, learns lessons about tradition and authenticity around the holiday that often gets thrown into the same category as Christmas.
00:00 Introduction to Ari Lesser
07:11 Zionism: Indigenous Jewish rights
10:25 Non-Jews rewriting Jewish history
12:19 Proving the Pro-Palestinian "movement" wrong
15:32 Ari's talents
19:26 Maccabees' resistance to oppression
23:19 Embracing Jewish authenticity
25:17 Gifts vs. money
29:24 Teaching Jewish values to family
31:37 Jews are indigenous to the Middle East
34:23 Conclusion
About Ari Lesser:
Ari Lesser is a singer, songwriter, rapper, and spoken word artist from Cleveland, Ohio. He has a degree in Political Science from the University of Oregon and also spent time in Israel studying at Yeshivot in Tzfat and Jerusalem. He has performed around the world, and written hundreds of songs on a wide range of subjects. Ari’s repertoire is expansive, touching on everything from modern politics, to ancient Jewish mysticism. He can step into character and rap from the perspectives of hundreds of different personalities living and dead, real and fictional, human and animal. He has also created rhymed translations of dozens of Psalms and other traditional prayers, bringing their powerful timeless message back into the realm of song. Ari’s performance gives life to words in a way that is inspirational, accurate, educational, and very entertaining for English speaking audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Connect with Ari Lesser:
YouTube @arilesser
Ig and TikTok @ariblesser
Spotify: Ari Lesser - https://open.spotify.com/artist/6rxfyBJGSo932qG8Ssk138?si=oGB69U79Q_OrmhF0iMkbsA
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SPONSOR OF THIS EPISODE:
JEWISH BIG BROTHERS AND BIG SISTERS OF LOS ANGELES!
Become a big today! JBBBSLA.org/mentorship
Connect with Bad Jew:
BadJew.co
https://linktr.ee/badjew
Ig @BadJewPod
TikTok @BadJewPod