A Surprise at the Polls: American Rapper Inspires in Beit Shemesh

Ruth Afroni volunteered yesterday at a polling station in Charedi Beit Shemesh when she noticed a well-known guest—Chasidic rapper Nissim Black, there to cast his vote, although she had no idea who he was. "A while ago, a Jewish man came in to vote," she wrote, "a Chasidic man, in a kapote, krembo hat, with payot—and the election committee couldn't contain their excitement. 'Your honor,' someone called out to him, reaching to shake his hand. The supervisor, wearing a knitted kippa like me, not from around here, asks, 'Who are you, sir, that everyone gets so excited?' The man says, 'I'm Nissim Black.' 'Blatt?' asks the supervisor, not catching the name. 'Black,' he clarifies, 'like my skin.'"

Afroni recounts a woman next to her whispering, "You have no idea who this is, his voice—people from Africa have such voices, but his is something special. 'Shas' explains to me that Nissim is a rapper who converted and is now a superstar. He does Chasidic hip-hop that's taking over. He converted under the toughest circumstances, in Me'ah She'arim, and no one will say he's not Jewish. What a life he had, and look where he is now."

"'Where are you from, Nissim?’ I ask. 'I'm from Seattle,' Nissim replies without looking at me. Nissim receives an envelope and steps behind the curtain. 'Shas' tells 'Machal' he's dying to get a blessing from Nissim Black, a filmed one for his wife. She's six months pregnant and this is the first time she's been able to carry this long. I tell him, 'Shas, come on, he’s here for a reason today. Ask him when he comes out; he’ll surely agree.'"

"When Nissim comes out from the curtain, 'Shas' approaches him and explains the situation. Nissim says, 'Sure man, just capture a second with the envelope.' 'Shas' ceremoniously takes a picture. Then he asks 'Machal' to film the blessing. Nissim does one take and isn't satisfied. He asks for a retake. 'Shas' is glowing."

"When Nissim leaves, 'Shas' tells me, 'You know, I wrote to Nissim a few years back that the hardest part for me in becoming more religious was losing the music I loved. Then he came along with his rap, but with lyrics I'm allowed to hear, and my soul opened up; I felt like he gave me back what I had lost.'"

Afroni posted the blessing video of Black, where he blesses the couple and then says, "May we all stop voting with Hashem’s help."