What happens when the beit midrash meets the beat?
Rappers & Rabbis, a Pardes and Bible Raps collaboration, brings Torah study and hip-hop together for a lively, unconventional take on havruta learning. Hosted by rapper Matt Bar, Rabba Yaffa Epstein, Rabbi AdAm Mayer, and Rabbi Ethan Witkovsky, the series brings rabbis, rappers, Pardes alumni, and guest MCs together to explore some very big Jewish questions.
And the questions really are big. Why did God create the snake? Why did Cain kill Abel? What was so wrong with the Tower of Babel? Why is idol worship bad? And what happens when Jewish prayer itself becomes material for rap?
Episodes move freely between biblical and rabbinic texts, contemporary questions, conversation, humor, and hip-hop. Guests include Pardes teachers and alumni alongside Jewish artists such as Eprhyme and Eden Pearlstein, with Pardes faculty including Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield joining the conversation along the way.
Beneath the playfulness is a deeply Pardes idea: Torah comes alive when people bring themselves fully into the learning. Different voices challenge one another, texts are questioned rather than simply accepted, and ancient sources become material for new creativity.
Rappers & Rabbis is Torah learning that refuses to choose between serious and fun. It invites listeners into a beit midrash where a midrash, a beat, a difficult theological question, and a really good rhyme might all belong in the same conversation.
