In the song “Hashem Melech 2.0,“ Gad Elbaz and Nissim rap and sing together around the original version of a song called “Hashem Melech,” which means “God is king.”
This video is set in New York City, U.S.A., which has become the cultural home to the Jewish people outside of Israel and is the perfect setting for these two to show the crossing between U.S. culture and traditional Jewish culture.
HIDDEN DIVERSITY IN JEWISH-AMERICAN CULTURE
This video shows the hidden diversities that Jewish-Americans have and how the cultures of the two societies have become crossed.
Both of these men are singers/performers that show the elements of traditional Judaism with their dress and the Hebrew verses that are sung. The elements of U.S. culture come in with the rap and the dance of the video.
The song literally means “God is king,” and then continues down this road of speaking on what God is to the Jewish people and what he will always mean to the Jews.
REFLECTING ON THE SONG
Ari Grant, a Jewish college student living in Brooklyn, N.Y., had this to say about Elbaz and his song.
“The song is a good one and it does a good job of showing the combinations of Judaism and American culture into one song that actually means something to Jewish people. The song is fun to listen to and has really cool elements in it that aren’t easy to pick out unless you understand the Jewish culture. The settings and the dress were a very accurate representation of the Jewish people that live in the areas around me, however it seems more American and Western than most Jewish songs,” said Grant.
All in all, this song does have deeper meaning than just being a song; the Hebrew words of the chorus are actually a prayer that is used to exalt God and remember his role in the world.
The song is fun to listen to and has really cool elements in it that aren’t easy to pick out unless you understand the Jewish culture.
MAKING NEIGHBORHOODS THEIR OWN
Living in New York, Grant has seen the neighborhoods of Brooklyn such as Crown Heights and Williamsburg and how the Jewish people that live there have made those neighborhoods their own Jewish centers in the heart of the city’s most populous burrow.
This song really does a good job of showing us that there are mobilities and diversities that play a part in the way people do things.
Accordingly, with all the elements that are used in the video, we see one of the best combinations of how Judaism has become ingrained in U.S. society.
In this video, we don’t see that loss and we use it as an example of how the Jewish people can live during a time where the United States is a melting pot without losing the roots of their religion and heritage.
Check out the video below.
