This Pardes Life Season 3 Episode 4: Rapper Matt Bar

Introduction

Matt Bar is a poet, rapper, Jewish educator and a student of Torah. In this episode of This Pardes Life, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield and Matt explore how Jewish texts and Jewish wisdom inform his art and how he pursues both his artistic, creative truth along with his ongoing commitment to finding meaning and inspiration in Torah. Matt’s humor, insight and excitement come through in this Rapper-Rabbi havruta.


This Pardes Life sees Pardes teacher Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield gets up close and personal with fellow teachers and alumni talking about life, texts and Pardes. See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

Zvi Hirschfield

Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield teaches Talmud, Halakha and Jewish Thought at Pardes. He is also deeply involved in Pardes’s programs for Jewish educators, with a focus on tefilah in educational settings, modern Jewish thought, and Israel education. Zvi holds a B.A. in History from Columbia University, pursued graduate studies at Harvard University in Medieval and Modern Jewish Thought, studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion, and received rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Before joining Pardes, Zvi served as Director of Judaica at the JCC of Cleveland and taught at the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies. He also works as a curriculum writer and staff trainer for the Nesiya Institute. Zvi lives in Israel with his wife, Dina, and their four children.