rabbijaffe

There are a ton of stereotypes out there about the Jews. They range from violent and aggressive to passive and wimpy, from filthy rich to just plain old filthy.

Some stereotypes insult, while others flatter.

And some just seem to just come from out of nowhere.

* * *  

So, I’m sitting in my car when this song pops on the radio:

Here you have a catchy hip-hop song with zero connection to anything within the vicinity of Judaism, and they’re semi-randomly tossing in words like “mazal tov” and “l’chaim”. (starts around the 2 minute mark)

The theme of the song is an all-night, out of control, super fun party… something I am not used to the world associating with Judaism.

Depraved, immoral Mossad agents, deceptive diamond dealers, and overly righteous religious fanatics, this stuff wouldn’t surprise me a bit.

Black Eyed Peas shouting “mazal tov”, this caught me off guard.

But I’ll tell you, it caught me off guard in a good way.

You see, I spent much of my life (as I suspect many a Jew does) thinking of my religion and people as a tad dull. It wasn’t until adulthood that I discovered how not only meaningful and fulfilling, not to mention just downright fun, Judaism could really be.

I heard this song and got nostalgic for my college days, singing and dancing (and drinking) at the Chabad House at SUNY Albany. Most of my best college memories came out of that house. And I forsook all the parties in the world to spend as much time as possible in the place where the real fun was happening.

Maybe the Black Eyed Peas know more about the “real Judaism” than the average Jew does.

Thank you for the memories!   

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