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El pandillero que dejó TODO y se convirtió al JUDAÍSMO ULTRAORTODOXO | La historia de Nissim Black
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En este video exploramos la increíble historia de vida de Nissim, un reconocido y talentoso cantante judío jasídico nacido en Seattle. Hablaremos de su pasado, de su vida en un barrio lleno de drogas, armas, gángsters, crimen, y cómo finalmente encontró respuestas a sus preguntas más profundas a través de su viaje espiritual y su conversión al judaísmo ultraortodoxo. ** ÚNETE A NUESTRO GRUPO DE WHATSAPP PARA NO PERDERTE DE NINGUNA NOVEDAD! ** https://bit.ly/3FJF4G4 Síguenos también en Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/gastonyoxana/
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Nissim Black
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Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
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[Music]
my mother and my father were both
rappers it was almost as if I was born
with a microphone right and for some
reason unbeknown to me I have no idea
why but I was also very very spiritual
kid I'll ask the questions all the time
I was very interested in God however a
lot of that was silenced by uh growing
up in the neighborhood that I grew up in
and growing up in the in the sort of
lifestyle that I lived as a kid because
you need to fit in with the rest of your
surroundings and so I did naturally
became a product of my environment with
drugs violence gangs and uh music was
was an Escape right but at the same time
music also was a driving force uh to
some degree to continue the behavior you
kind of end up in a circle especially
when you're making gangster rap but if
you're asking about my journey of
spirituality had to happen after I got
into a altercation with another rapper
where a friend of mine tried to kill him
and because I had initially had the
problem with him he thought that I sent
somebody to kill him and so I was in the
killer be killed situation and I think
after I I said I can't I can't go back
to the same lifestyle that I lived
before and I didn't know where I was
going but uh you know I just I entered
into the world of spirituality very very
strong which lessons did you learn from
your parents my mother was a little
Single part from the other things she
she was very much so great listener I
think you know losing my mother she died
of an overdose
when I was I was 19. she was 37 so she
she died very young my mother taught me
a lot of a lot of things about gossip
how to choose friends
um different things like that those are
the things I remember learning from my
mother for my father
um it's very interesting because today
he he he changed his life uh
miraculously was nothing but the hands
of God for sure he is now a theologian
and professor and preacher one of the
favorite lines that he says to me that
he said to me years ago I'd never forget
he said that every every good idea ain't
a god idea you know
um and so and to see him you know live
out his life even though we have two
different religions right but to see him
he's one of the most aspiring people to
me to see that uh probably was the
biggest lesson that I've ever learned
from him is
[Music]
my childhood was uh was complexed
um
like I said I think it was more of my my
own internal and inner Wars more than it
was even the environment that I grew up
in so first I was a Muslim as a kid my
grandfather was a Sunni Muslim he came
to live with us when I was maybe
oh 809 years old my grandfather
unfortunately spent most of his life in
prison and unfortunately that's where he
he passed away also but he was out on
parole for about a year year and a half
or so and he came to live with us and
during that time he taught me Islam he
was a Sunni Muslim
he he uh prayed with them five times a
day went to the mosque with him as a kid
he would teach me lessons for the Quran
but you know my grandfather God blessed
his heart he was a gangster also so he
taught me a lot of other things all city
I won't share but uh he he he was a
interesting character very educated man
unfortunately got him in a lot of
trouble how smart he was that was the
beginning of my relationship to Islam uh
as I got older when I was around 13
years old I started to have this great
vlogging
um to get close to God in the midst of
that a friend of mine invited me to go
to a hip-hop program I was still getting
a lot of trouble but he invited me to go
to this hip-hop program that was at a
after school program that was a
Christian
Christian organization so I started
going there I fell in love with the
people there fell in love with the with
the organization and the hip-hop program
and I think it literally still to this
day I say that place saved my life
because I was uh headed nowhere fast I
was unfortunate though I would say about
about the the the role models I would
say that I had in Islam were not good
Role Models also too I love my
grandfather I love my uncle but they
both were sort of still living a double
life and so by the time I came into to
to the world of Christianity
um it was much different for me so that
that that conversion took place when I
was around 14 years old to Christianity
and I really became
um a real true Bible something Christian
I read my Bible all throughout class and
and I was in high school reading my
Bible all the time I was involved I was
given Bible study groups I was involved
in um a lot of different leadership
programs I brought a lot of kids there I
went to Mexico I built orphanages that
led to me uh studying the the the
foundation of the church which obviously
started with Jewish group and from there
just started discovering the jewishness
of Jesus and from the jewishness of
Jesus led me into Messianic Messianic
Judaism so I was there for about
two and a half years but I think it was
there
um but it didn't it didn't it didn't
help that I was still searching for more
something more authentic and I started
going to a Chabad Rabbi uh Rabbi
farakash and it happened after some time
um that uh we we you know decided you
know we want to go all the way with
Judaism we wanted to convert there are
many different reasons why but but the
the thing about Judaism was that you
couldn't you couldn't ignore was the the
Perpetual Covenant that God says that he
has with the Jewish people and looking
inside of the prophets and seeing that
you know
um there there was this Great Awakening
before the coming the the coming of the
Messiah that the the people from The
Many Nations will wake up and start to
see the the the the importance and the
and they will also recognize a special
and unique relationship between God and
the Jewish people that led me to want to
convert to Judaism and I did me and my
wife my wife's sister is married to my
best friend from kindergarten so me and
my best friend made sisters and we all
converted together and then that was 10
years ago now seven years ago we all
moved to Israel so and they live over
there is
foreign
so the first thing is now you are
obligated to some degree to be pushed
away three times they say before you
start a giver that the rabbi has to push
you away now this is very interesting
because unlike the other religions that
I participated in like Christianity or
Islam they always looking for new people
right Judaism is actually the opposite
we're not looking for new people there's
a few different reasons why now one of
the reasons is is that we don't believe
that if you're Jewish then now you have
a place in the world to come uh and if
you're not Jewish then you don't so
because of that there's no pressure
another thing is is that there's there's
no need for a person which is almost the
same thing to be considered righteous so
by you joining the Jewish Nation what
are you really trying to accomplish is
something that needs to be investigated
what would be the reason another thing
is is that if you convert to Judaism
right and let's say you don't keep the
you don't keep the Commandment well the
rabbis just brought in like more things
that are not favorable for the Jewish
people also so you can bring the nation
down if you you know so it's a lot of
different reasons so you mean they
really check your intentions they check
your intentions it's all about the
intention how do they do it so there's a
few different ways that rabbis did it I
I had what I got was is that the rabbi
sort of pushed me off Rabbi benziken uh
shout out to Rabbi Simon Vincent in
Seattle uh he was very you know
standoffish a little bit one of the
things is most people will not convert
you unless you live in the Jewish
neighborhood so you have to already be
there in the neighborhood you have to be
displaying you know a certain level of
dedication to Jewish life to shabbat to
me things like that so
um until we moved in he wouldn't even
talk to us so then after we moved in he
still didn't talk to us for a long time
about about it to see if we're really
really sincere the real uh questions
come when you have your first meeting
with the bait din which is a court the
rabbis so you go into a room
and generally there's could be anywhere
from three to eight to ten rabbis
sitting there at a table intimidating
very intimidating and you go through
basically a form of interrogation a
certain interrogating you and asking you
on your intentions why would you do this
or what you know do you know that you
can be a a bit Noah he can be a
righteous non-jew what would be the
reason it's a rabbi's interrogating you
they're asking you questions about your
intentions they want to know if you are
sincere they tell you also about content
um so our particular
um beaten uh question this more about
the sincerity of our heart uh if we but
they did ask us obviously Jewish law
questions right how familiar we were
with Jewish law certain things you're
going to need on Shabbat or cooking and
kosher but a lot of the questions really
were you know if you were stranded on an
island if you were you know I can't say
all the questions they'd asked you know
certain things about our our
allegiance to the Jewish people to the
Torah there are a few practices that
Jews make during their life right like
Bar Mitzvah britmilla all this stuff you
also have to do it yes well if you Bar
Mitzvah you don't have to do if you're
an adult already right
um however to do a uh brute Mila if a
person didn't have thank God for my
mother
um so he didn't have but there is a
certain process of where blood is still
drawn from uh from a male which they say
is the reason why more women convert
than men I can't understand why
so we like for each kid uh that we have
in the family how many kids do you have
I have seven children
um God bless all of them another thing
is this one here in the middle very
interesting
um I am a wrestler which means I follow
Rabbi nachman the wrestler uh so one of
the uh Customs was is that we started to
light a candle always to have a
remembrance of the rebbe in the home
when your wife lights Shabbat candles
she prays for for the kids she prays
what do you ask for in this time so you
ask for different things she asked for
no what do you what do I ask for
I asked the rashim to hear all of her
prayers that's what I asked uh I don't I
don't usually pray at this time I see my
wife like a lot of times so I usually
will start praying a little bit
underneath for the last week last week I
prayed for health I prayed for good
health I hadn't been feeling so good and
I prayed that uh that that Hashem should
be able to help me to to be my spirit to
increase his name into the world but my
wife is uh she she really is very very
inspiring and to see you know how much
she she's running the house and managing
the children and I'm going like you know
I was on tour last year for a hundred
days I was out of the country you know
100 days from the year you're in the
States oh yeah I was in the states yeah
and this year we're trying to get that
number down but this is her station her
her own but I think that is the most
special thing for me because in Judaism
we teach that the success of the home is
on the wife it's not on the man the man
is the outer and he seems like that but
the blessings that come forth in the
Jewish Home is through the wife as we
teach in Judaism the women are much
closer to God than the men are um
[Music]
if there's something that in your life
change from the moment of the commercial
it's the way you dress of course so how
is it going from dressing you know like
a rapper this style to this yes very
good question so it happened gradually
it wasn't so quick let it go straight to
Hasidic Garb no way so start up with
maybe a button-up shirt maybe a
different colored shirt and slacks
different things like that because this
is I was growing
um I always say that when you change on
the inside you're changing the outside
you start to see and it doesn't matter
which direction the person changes you
start to see that the clothes usually
reflect what's going on on the inside of
a person but one of the things I noticed
I thought was the most powerful was a
more or that I went out more you know
dressed up I would say
even in the same neighborhood the same
thing the the young men that will
approach me differently they would call
me sir they will call me and we do we
don't realize this that that I come from
those same neighborhoods and everything
but with the certain certain type of
clothes on you know I'm treated one way
but I have a different side type of
clothes on I was treated a different way
so I started to see how important their
clothes were
um just even in terms of avoiding
comfort from the place I came from how
the people from the hood take took it
like state it and then again they
weren't there for the process right I
and if they if they were watching or
seeing it maybe from a distance or Not
by that time I was already not
associated with anybody I wasn't there
to be able to see what people were
saying until many years later where I
already was like dressed like this and
you know everybody had you know
different jokes and different things
they say it makes some people
uncomfortable some people very
comfortable very admirable but I think
the biggest thing that reflected there
was the change that took place on the
inside when I went back to my old
neighborhood and I went back and people
it was the Insight that had changed so
much that uh I think that they found it
to be something very commendable but uh
you know it's hard for people to to not
see the person that they grew up with
and that they were around and the and
the outer appearance and the whole
everything so I think it was probably
tough for a lot of people but I'm
wearing a long coat record I haven't
seated obviously okay which I'm wearing
these were commanded by a senator that
were for if you wear for corn of garment
that you should have uh uh TT tassels
strings with the blue cord going through
them do you use keeper do something
behind the Hat there you also want to
keep underneath there yeah you still
keep a double cover they're in Shabbat
we actually wear the strimel which is
very known they know
mrimo wow which is a work of art in
itself now the story was interesting
because the stronghold they were on
Shabbat that's like hey what would you
you know what's what's with the fox tell
if you know what's going on in fact
still but it's interesting is that in
the
um olden days we'll say that uh one of
the ways that Jews were ridiculed and
mimicked as they would draw draw these
different cartoon characters of Jews
animals on their head and with long
noses and how everything and this was
the way that the society in that time in
Europe
um were
um were sort of poking fun or using
anti-semitic
um you know pictures to paint right or
propaganda different things like that so
the rabbis at that time took this as
something saying that we're not going to
allow this to be something to to bring
us out in fact we're going to we're
going to mimlich this by taking you know
the firm with animals putting it on our
head you know and we're going to wear
this as our as our shop is closed this
is going to be the high high without
return we turn victimhood into Victory
you know so that's really where the
struggle came from so the last thing I
wanted to ask you something that we see
on Hasidic Jews they were uh belt what
is this belt this is called a guard toe
the guard toe is usually worn
um for prayer this is what you're aware
to pray and the reason why you're aware
is because in Jewish law
um in the in the Norwalk says that there
needs to be a separation between the
upper and the lower it's not the actual
requirement you know because as long as
you have a regular belt any string
anything that will get the job done so
what you do usually take it put it on
and pray
and after you pray take it off some
people do I go with it a little bit
longer throughout the day I find myself
praying to God a lot when I'm walking
when I'm going or whatever so I do keep
my guard to one uh a lot of times so
there's some people who keep it on a
little longer but usually after you pray
most people take it off it's comfortable
uh yeah it can be comfortable you get
used to it you know sometimes you just
sort of get used to it
Transformations
so this is the place where all the magic
happens this is what all happens there
this is where I record the music that's
the way I do my podcast this is where I
do all my zooms and interviews or
whatever this is I do Graphics I do
editing here I do I do a lot it's really
amazing to see how you didn't gave up on
your previous life because of the
Judaism and because of the convert so
how do you see your your present life
like mixed together the Judaism with the
music and all the things that you do
well one point I did I gave up because
because I couldn't see a world in which
I could keep holding on to music
particularly rap music and like also
Judaism I did I couldn't put those two
things together but I had some some some
miraculous signs from God that this is
uh something I was supposed to do I took
it upon myself really to to start
realizing that God gave me a gift and I
need to use it obviously to to inspire
the world inspire people and what is
your favorite nigun so one of my
favorite negunim is the the nigging of
the ditch of Arabic but it goes um
foreign
[Laughter]
from the Judaism text that you would
like to make it in one of your songs in
Jewish law very much so despises the
idea of taking Jewish texts holy text
and making songs out of them
unless it's for the purpose of just pure
devotion where a person is not seeking
to
um
uh profit from it I usually write for my
own prayers as a breast lover has it one
of the things that I try to do every
single day spend an hour a day in
meditation and prayer to God so in that
time there's a lot of different topics
that I'm talking and speaking to God
within my personal prayer that I'm
talking with him alone whether it's in
the mountains which are here in Beijing
so one of the biggest things for me
yesterday like I said this I'm working
on a new album and the name of it is uh
called glory and so and the reason why
it's called Glory not for my glory but
it's for God's glory and I'm very very
um very much so trying to
um
relinquish and to get rid of my own
aspirations and my own goals and I
really want to be a vessel for for God's
light so because of that I'm praying a
lot that I should be totally removed you
know totally removed from this situation
that I will be able to inspire many
people
um to to recognize that that God loves
them this new album I'm working on now
is floated with a lot of these
conversations I have with God so I have
a song that I worked on called uh
someone else
um and uh one of the things I say in
that song is that uh you know
um and now I have to face myself after
trying to erase myself
I want me back because this is someone
else and another thing I said in that
song probably probably one of the most
powerful things is is that you know I
used to want to fit in but then now I
realized I was too big I was too big to
fit in I would like to ask you the last
question okay which really interesting
me in personally what things would you
like what one thing would you like that
the people will know about you
um it's a good question
I think one of the things that
people don't know about me is because
I'm such a outgoing person I'm all the
time I'm doing concerts in front of
people like that I'm somewhat of an
introvert a little bit more than what
people I I don't like being in large
crowds I don't like being around lots of
people uh there's a lot of people that I
really I'm not I don't get a kick out of
that I mean obviously have to be on
stage so but I'm really quiet and I I
enjoy you know a lot of times I'm when
I'm not on tour I'm back home I have my
own little corner In in my synagogue
that I go and learn throughout the day
and that's like I can't wait to just get
back to my little corner over there
where nobody's bothering me I like my
candles over there and into my place but
I'm I'm really into
um alone time and spending time with God
like more than what people know so I'm
not a very as outgoing as I am I'm still
very like I enjoy not being out more
than what people would know
Mundo
[Music]