Kendrick Lamar and the Hebrew Israelite Movement

Hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar recently dropped his latest album DAMN. to widespread acclaim. As another artist like Chance the Rapper that integrates faith into his rap, Kendrick is a positive trend in hip-hop, while still retaining many of the characteristic themes of hip-hop. As I was listening to his album and perusing the lyrics, I noticed a theme in his poetry that I have not necessarily seen in other hip-hop. Now, to be honest, I donʼt listen to a ton of hip-hop so it would be difficult for me to tell you how common this theme is. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find it and have decided to write about it.

The theme I noticed is not just that Kendrick talks about God and faith (a lot of rap does mention God), but that the way he discussed faith was from a Hebraic orientation. For example, Kendrick used Hebrew words in his rap and also used themes drawn from the Hebrew Israelite Movement.

First, I must explain the Hebrew Israelite movement. The Hebrew Israelite movement is a trend among African Americans to identify themselves with either Judaism or the ancient Hebrew faith. The movement re-ignited in the late nineteenth century, partially with the help of Marcus Garveyʼs Pan-African movement from the 1920s-1930s. Adherents of this movement may call themselves Hebrews, Israelites, Black Israelites, or Black Jews. They claim that they are descended from the ancient Hebrew people. There are also black Jews who are adherents of normative majority-white Judaism, but they are not the exactly the same as the Hebrew Israelite movement, since, sadly, mainstream, white Judaism does not recognize that movement.

One argument the Hebrew Israelite movement uses is that the Africans sold in the Atlantic Slave Trade in the 1500s were often from Western Africa, places like Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria, and therefore the majority of African Americans are descended from those countries. It is indeed true that some modern-day inhabitants of those countries claim Jewish and Hebraic descent. Some of these indigenous people include Igbo Jews and the Lemba people.

Another African group claiming Israelite descent is that of the Beta Israel, or the Ethiopian Jews, also known as falashas. The Beta Israel were accepted by the State of Israel and allowed to make aliyah in the last few decades. Many of the Beta Israel now live in the land of Israel but still retain ties to Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has an interesting religious identity overall. The Christians of Ethiopia—the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church—have a biblical canon of 81 books, including the Book of Enoch. They also claim to have the original Ark of the Covenant in a monastery in Addis Ababa, guarded by a hand-selected monk his entire life. Additionally, Ethiopiaʼs last dynasty, which was overthrown in 1974, claimed descent from biblical King Solomon himself. In an ancient Ethiopian text called the Kebra Nagast (the glory of kings), the story is recounted how King Solomon had a baby with the Queen of Sheba, whom she named David Menyelek. The Queen of Sheba turned from idolatry and converted to Judaism under King Solomonʼs instruction and ended up taking the Ark of the Covenant from Israel at the bequest of an Israelite priest to Ethiopia. She then taught her people the worship of one God and Judaism. This story is bolstered by the fact that the Beta Israel knew of no rabbinic texts or of Hanukkah, even though they knew earlier festivals. The fact that they did not know the Talmud and Hanukkah means that they lost contact with the wider Jewish world before the Common Era, since Hanukkah was instituted in the Maccabean period (167 – 160 BCE) and the Talmud formed 200 to 600 years later. This critical point puts their origin presumably at the time of the Ten Lost Tribes or even earlier. Also intriguing is the fact that the Ark of the Covenant is not mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures after Solomon. This evidence suggests that the Beta Israel indeed did emerge at the time of Solomon and that the Ethiopian falashas and Ethiopian Church are descended from them.

The latest reigning monarch of the Solomonic dynasty was Ras Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, who ruled from 2 April 1930 – 12 September 1974. (Ras was the title for young Ethiopian nobility.) The Tewahedo Church coronated Tafari with the regnal title, By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Elect of God. They also gave him the imperial name Haile Selassie, meaning the power of the holy trinity. His coronated title was the traditional title for Ethiopian monarchs to hold. Because of this elaborate title, some diaspora blacks in Jamaica and Ethiopian citizens began seeing Haile Selassie as literally the power of the trinity—they believed he was the incarnation of the second coming of Jesus. These worshippers were called Ras-tafari, after Makonnenʼs pre-coronation name, Ras Tafari.

Rastafari believe that Haile Selassie is the incarnation of Jesus, and therefore the visible manifestation of the Trinity, whom they call Jah, or Jah, Jah, or I and I. They also follow some of the Torah laws and they believe that Haile Selassie (who is dead now) will return them to Zion, which to Rastafari is not Israel, but the ancient capitals of Ethiopia known as New Jerusalem (such as the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela associated with the history of the Eastern Orthodox Tewahedo Church). Rastafari follow a kosher diet and keep to biblical morality.

All this to show the Jewish-African connection, which has some very interesting manifestations, whether itʼs indigenous African groups claiming Hebrew ancestry, African Americans claiming Israelite identity, or Rastafari basing their faith on the Jewish faith. Kendrick Lamar, in his albums, is not afraid to discuss such matters and makes many references to them.

In the second track, DNA, Kendrick discusses the stereotype of how some people think that blacks are innately aggressive, itʼs in their DNA. In the track, he references Jesus, but he uses his Hebrew name, Yeshuaʿ. He seems to be saying that Jesusʼs confidence in his bloodline—i.e., being the son of God and the virgin-born of the blessed virgin Mary—is what allowed him to be successful (being born in that miraculous manner was Yeshuaʼs weapon).

I was born like this, since one like this
Immaculate conception
I transform like this, perform like this
Was Yeshuaʼs new weapon

Kendrick sees Yeshuaʿ on his side, that they are in the same fight. Later in the song, Kendrick raps

And Nazareth gonna plead his case
The reason my powerʼs here on earth
Salute the truth, when the prophet say

Kendrick seems to be saying that the people of Yeshuaʼs time did not accept the truth, but Kendrick is continuing his prophetic message.

In the next track, Kendrick says that heʼs an Israelite and that they will be punished for not following the Torah. The track is called, Yah, a shortened form of Godʼs divine, four-letter name, the Tetragrammaton.

Iʼm not a politician, Iʼm not ʼbout a religion
Iʼm a Israelite, donʼt call me Black no moʼ
That word is only a color, it ainʼt facts no moʼ
My cousin called, my cousin Carl Duckworth
Said know my worth
And Deuteronomy say that we all been cursed

Although Lamar does not identify with religion, he still has strong socio-religious ties to the Israelite movement, of which heʼs a part. He considers this identity more important than his black identity even. His cousin, Carl Duckworth, whom he mentions later, was the one that introduced him to his royal Israelite heritage (know my worth), but the flipside of that it entails responsibilities—follow the Torah laws of Deuteronomy or experience the curse, which he mentions in another song.

In the song Lust, Kendrick says that a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

Lately, in James 4:4 says
Friend of the world is enemy of the Lord

In the track Fear, Kendrick again references his cousin and mentor Carl Duckworth. Lamar plays a recording of Duckworth leaving a message on the telephone. Duckworthʼs message is about how Lamar needs to return to the Lord and follow his statutes.

Whatʼs up, family? Yeah, itʼs yo cousin Carl, man, just givinʼ you a call, man. I know you been havinʼ a lot on yo mind lately, and I know you feel like, you know, people ainʼt been prayinʼ for you. But you have to understand this, man, that we are a cursed people. Deuteronomy 28:28 says, The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart. See, family, thatʼs why you feel like you feel like you got a chip on your shoulder. Until you finally get the memo, you will always feel that way…

The reference to a chip on the shoulder and feeling that way is his song Feel, where Kendrick says that no one is praying for him.

At the outro of the track, Lamar plays more of Duckworthʼs recording:

Verse two says, You only have I known of all the families of the Earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. So until we come back to these commandments, until you come back to these commandments, weʼre gonna feel this way, weʼre gonna be under this curse. Because He said Heʼs gonna punish us, the so-called Blacks, Hispanics, and Native American Indians, are the true children of Israel. We are the Israelites, according to the Bible. The children of Israel, Heʼs gonna punish us for our iniquities, for our disobedience, because we chose to follow other gods that arenʼt His son, so the Lord, thy God, chasten thee. So, just like you chasten your own son, Heʼs gonna chastise you because He loves you. So thatʼs why we get chastised, thatʼs why weʼre in the position weʼre in. Until we come back to these laws, statutes, and commandments, and do what the Lord said, these curses are gonna be upon us. Weʼre gonna be at a lower state in this life that we live here in today, in the United States of America. I love you, son, and I pray for you. God bless you, shalom.

In sum, Lamar considers himself an Israelite and feels he needs to repent of his sins and return to the Lordʼs statutes outlined in the Torah, the five books of Moses that begin the Bible. He cites Jesusʼs Hebrew name, Yeshua, and also calls God by his Hebrew name, Yah.

In a collaboration track with DJ Khaled, Kendrick Lamar also uses Jesusʼs Hebrew name. In Holy Key, Lamar raps:

I donʼt wear crosses no more, Yeshuaʼs coming back
I ainʼt scared of losses no more, I see life in that

So even though he is personally religious in his devotion to Yeshua, he does not identify with religion as a whole.

Finally, in his song i, from his 2015 album to pimp a butterfly, Kendrick explicitly connects himself to his Ethiopian royal heritage. In the track, he has a man speaking about his Solomonic heritage.

Well, this is my explanation straight from Ethiopia
N-E-G-U-S definition: royalty; King royalty – wait listen
N-E-G-U-S description: Black emperor, King, ruler, now let me finish
The history books overlook the word and hide it
America tried to make it to a house divided
The homies donʼt recognize we been using it wrong
So Iʼma break it down and put my game in a song
N-E-G-U-S, say it with me
Or say no more. Black stars can come and get me
Take it from Oprah Winfrey, tell her she right on time
Kendrick Lamar, by far, realest Negus alive

As I mentioned before, negus is the Ethiopian word for monarch or king, and is the word used in the title of the ancient Solomonic work Kebra Nagast. With this track, Kendrick shows that he identifies with Ethiopian-Israelite royal Solomonic heritage. Heʼs the realest negus alive.

In total, I was surprised to see this imagery and content in Kendrick Lamarʼs album. I had heard he had faith, but I didnʼt know that he identified with the Israelite movement. As an historian and a scholar of religion, this association is very interesting to me. Not being very versed in rap music, I was intrigued to see such connections. So I donʼt know if Kendrick is one of the only vocal Israelites or if it is very or fairly common in rap music. Have you seen this theme and imagery in other rap and hip-hop music? Shalom.

Listen to his album here.

Hebrew and Arabic Lyrics in Aaron Weiss' Songs

The music of post-hardcore and indie rock band mewithoutYou has both haunted and intrigued me. The frontman's shouted slam poetry delivery can be hard for some listeners to become accustomed to, but once gotten used to, can become addictive and polarizing. People either hate it or love it. The lyrics, dealing with depression, suicide, self-confession, spiders (yes, spiders), talking vegetables and other talking animals can be too bizarre for some people to take. For others, they are magical. Additionally, the frontman's former vocal lifestyle of extreme pacifism, freeganism, and dumpster diving can stand in opposition to the mainstream American life. And finally, the frontman's religious identity (or lack of identity!) is a thorn in the side of those who desire clean categories. The frontman is a member of the three world religions: He is Muslim. And Jewish. And Christian. All at the same time. mewithoutYou, and its frenetic frontman Aaron Weiss, can be a bit much for some people to handle.

Aaron Weiss, along with his brother Michael, were born to parents Elliott and Elizabeth Weiss of Philadelphia. Elliott Weiss, born Jewish, converted to the mystical form of Islam known as Sufism. In addition to holding to the general Islamic tenets (there is no god but God and Mohammad is the prophet of God, prayer five times a day, giving to charity, etc.), Sufi holds that individuals can have an ecstatic and mystical relationship with God through prayer, study, and dancing. One might have heard of the so-called Twirling Dervishes. These dancing Turks were actually Sufi Muslims, and they dance in order to encounter and then become one with God. Sufi is not much different from the historical mystical strain within Christianity and also modern evangelical's emphasis on having a personal relationship with God and Jesus.

Elliott Weiss subsequently joined the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia, which was a Sufi center that sought to follow the teachings of a particular Sufi teacher, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. Elliott met and married Elizabeth, who was raised Episcopal but subsequently had converted to Sufi by the time she met Elliott. Elizabeth, the former Christian, and Elliott, the Jewish Muslim (or Muslim Jew!), raised their children under the tutelage and auspices of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship. Since their mother was not Jewish, the Weiss brothers, Aaron and Michael, are not halakhically Jewish, but Jewish influence from their father still shines through. Bawa liked to use parables of talking animals and vegetables in his teachings, and since the Weiss brothers were raised that way, that influence has shown in their lyrics.

In high school, Aaron Weiss was very shy and self-conscious and felt like he couldn't do a lot. He often thought of suicide, yet found solace in the poetry of the Sufi poet Rumi and in hardcore music. He was introduced to Jesus and evangelical Christianity through his longtime Christian friend Greg Jehanian. Aaron started going to a church where they taught you'll burn in hell if you don't believe in Jesus. One thing Aaron could do okay was to play music. So he and his brother started playing together.

Aaron played drums. But soon he realized that he didn't want to be sitting in the back hammering on the drumset—he wanted to get up, flail around, and dance. After screaming in a joke hardcore song gifted to a friend's sister, Aaron realized he could scream okay. So he decided to become the frontman and vocalist. Spiritually, he realized that the Christianity he was introduced to was manipulative by pressuring people to make decisions based on fear of hell. He also realized that it was hurtful to his relationship with his parents, as he would argue with them.

Aaron had a truly revolutionary encounter with Jesus—one that wasn't coerced—when he witnessed the Anabaptist Bruderhof community in Pennsylvania. These radical, peace-loving, pacifist Christians loved Jesus and followed him too. He decided that he wanted that sort of community or nothing. So he became a sort of Jesus hippie—sleeping under the stars on park benches, feeding homeless people, eating the wasted food from dumpsters, preaching against American materialism and consumerism, and the Iraq war. He taught to love each other and to seek God alone and not to listen to what he said because he was trying to figure it out too and he'll lead you astray, but to trust God alone and to pursue peace and never to resort to violence.

mewithoutYou became largely popular in the Christian rock scene in the mid-2000s. Aaron found it hard to reconcile his fronting a band with living a Christian life because he felt that he was glorifying himself and not God, and keeping people distracted on petty things like CDs, shows, shirts when they should be focusing on God. He was eventually able to come to some peace with his position, but not until he quit spouting off his views after talking to a teacher who reprimanded him for blabbing his mind at concerts and with fans. He now sees himself as simply an entertainer and is enjoying doing so. After many years struggling with single living and vacillating between committing himself to a celibate lifestyle and finding a wife, he recently married a beautiful young woman and has a young child.

An intriguing aspect of Aaron Weiss' paradoxical life is his use of biblical, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim imagery. As I said, he has Jewish heritage, a Muslim upbringing, and a Christian faith—and he allows all three to influence his current life, including his lyrics. He does not see any of it as contradictory (although he has stated that he does not recite the Islamic prayers in the mosque that say that God does not beget nor is he begotten, in deference to the Christian theology of Christ's sonship). He sees all truth as God's truth.

In this article, I would like to specifically highlight the Hebraic and Arabic lyrics in his songs.

Arabic Lyrics

The first song of his I heard is also one that included Arabic lyrics, probably in 2007 or 2008. Due to my upbringing in America, I associated Islam with terrorism, Satan, and the devil. So when I heard the song I immediately thought that this band played devil music. The song is called The Dryness and the Rain from their 2006 album Brother, Sister, the album title being a reference to St. Francis of Assissi's poem.

At the end of the song, a Muslim voice sings in an intimidating manner:

Isa ruhu-lah 'aliahis-salat was-salam

nastagh-firuka ya Hakam
ya-Dhal-Jalali wal-Ikram

Isa ruhu-lah 'alaihis-salat was-salam

ya Halim, ya Qahhar
ya Muntaqim, ya Ghaffar!
la Ilaha ilallahu, Allahu Akbar!

The rough meaning of the lyrics is

Jesus, o spirit of God, peace, we pray, be upon you.

We ask for your forgiveness, o Judge
o Lord of Majesty and Generosity

Jesus, o spirit of God, peace, we pray, be upon you

The Forbearer, The Subduer
The Avenger, The Forgiving
There is no god but God, God is greater!

These lyrics can be understandably frightening, disturbing, and even offensive to American listeners. In fact, the last words of the song are Allahu Akbar (God is greater!) which are the exact words that many radical Muslims use when they decapitate infidels! In another provocative lyric off of their newest LP, Pale Horses, Aaron Weiss sings, I was the ISIS flag design (lyrics). In reference to that song, Aaron humorously wondered whether it would put him on the FBI watch list.

The litany of names at the end of the song The Dryness and the Rain are some of the ninety-nine names, or titles, of God in Islam. Aaron is clearly a Muslim, but he also has a strong attachment to Jesus, as evinced by his reverent mention of Jesus and lyrics about Jesus in other songs. In fact, the Jesus lyric from this song is a quote from the Qu'ran, but Muslims interpret the line differently because different interpretations have different theological implications. The traditional interpretation is asking the spirit of God to bless the prophet Jesus. Another is equating Jesus with the spirit of God, which few Muslims would do, as it impinges on God's tawhid, or oneness.

In case any of their fans did not believe that Aaron was Muslim, in their next album, the connection to Islam is even stronger and more explicit. The last song on the album is called Allah, Allah, Allah. Consequently, many Christian bookstores banned this album it's all crazy, it's all false, it's all a dream! it's alright! because of that song title.

The first song on it's all crazy contains Arabic lyrics, Every Thought a Thought of You, which is a prayerful hymn to God:

Kul-anaya fir minh ka
Abadan ahatman enna ajab
Hayya'alal falal qad qamadis alah
Haqq: la illaha il allah

which means,

All my thoughts concern You
Never care for our being
Let's live our lives the way God intended
It’s true: God is the only one

These lyrics direct our attention away from ourselves to the Only One who deserves our worship. We should not care for our own being, but we should care to follow God's commandments as to how we live life.

Other lyrics in the album reference the incarnation of Christ, seeing God in every blade of grass and in other humans, and avoiding premarital sex. The song, A Stick, a Carrot, and a String, holds a veiled reference to Jesus as the defeater of the serpent, or devil, in Christian theology. Intriguingly, this lyric portrays Jesus in the line of sages and mystics who renounce desire in order to become one with the divine:

And the snake who'd held the world
A stick, a carrot and a string
Was crushed beneath the foot
Of your not wanting anything

Although his theology may be heterodox, his reverence and devotion is genuine.

Another Arabic lyric sings in the song Bullet to Binary, Pt. ii

Ya subhannallah
Hayyul Qayyum
Subhannallahi Amma Yassifun
Sallalah wallah Muhammad (Sal.)
Ya Rabbi sali alaihi wa salim

Glory be to Allah
The Provider of All
Glory be to Allah
May Allah send blessings and peace upon the Prophet
My teacher May Allah send blessings and peace upon the Prophet

This song clearly references the Prophet Muhammad, and is clearly Muslim. But for Aaron Weiss, none of these things are contradictory. He finds the truth in everything, just as God is in every blade of grass and reveals himself as the light within my brother's eyes.

Hebrew Lyrics

As for Hebrew lyrics, Aaron includes those as well. In a b-track from their fifth album, Four Fires, Aaron shouts his own lyrics amidst a choir singing the Jewish prayer Ein Keloheinu.

Ein kelohenu, ein kadonenu,
ein kemalkenu, ein kemoshi'enu.
Mi chelohenu, mi chadonenu,
mi chemalkenu, mi chemoshi'enu.
Node lelohenu, node ladonenu,
node lemalkenu, node lemoshi'enu,
Baruch Elohenu, baruch Adonenu,
baruch Malkenu, baruch Moshi'enu.
Atah hu Elohenu, atah hu Adonenu,
atah hu Malkenu,
atah hu Moshi'enu.

There is none like our God, There is none like our Lord,
There is none like our King, There is none like our Savior.
Who is like our God? Who is like our Lord?
Who is like our King? Who is like our Savior?
Let us thank our God, Let us thank our Lord,
Let us thank our King, Let us thank our Savior.
Blessed be our God, Blessed be our Lord,
Blessed be our King, Blessed be our Savior.
You are our God, You are our Lord,
You are our King,
You are our Savior.

while Aaron himself sings

Mama, sing my favorite hymn
As I sink deep into the grass
And the night birds beat me with their wings
With horrid laughter as they pass
The stage goes dim, its pageants finished
Fleeting worlds to which I've clung with a now extinguished longing

Mama, sing my favorite hymn
Where we make ploughshares from our swords
And the mason's barber trim our Christmas tree
In the Oneness of the Lord
What grace surrounds! what strange perfection!
Mamma, sing my favorite hymn
Remind me
Everyone is him

Aaron refers to the Ein Keloheinu as his favorite hymn, which, when mewithoutYou performs it, becomes a very catchy one indeed. I have found myself listening to this song on repeat many times, due to the catchy nature of the remake. The last line deviates from Jewish and Christian orthodoxy in that it espouses a pantheistic or panentheistic worldview—but orthodoxy is not something to which Aaron seems to care to hold fast.

Interestingly, the last song that mewithoutYou has wrote and performed so far (the last song on their latest album) contains both Hebrew and Arabic lyrics together, cementing Aaron's dual identity. mewithoutYou's latest album, the highly anticipated LP 6 of their corpus, is Pale Horses, which deals with apocalpytic issues and has disturbing and destructive album artwork. One member of a mewithoutYou Facebook fan group to which I belong said that, after hearing this album for the first time, he sat there for a half hour in stunned silence, not able to move due to the majesty and weight of the album. Most of that owes to the intense nature of the final song of the album, Rainbow Signs.

The title Rainbow Signs is a reference to the rainbow with which God covered the skies after the Flood of Noah as a sign that he would not destroy the earth through water again. Due to that promise on God's behalf, Aaron sings, G-d gave Noah the rainbow sign / No more water, is the H-bomb next time? He wonders what medium humanity's final destruction will employ. The song begins with a mid-tempo, melancholy sound with similar sentiments to the above-quoted, and the first section ends with, Cloud gave no one rainbow sign—Six-point starred ink flag next time? This flag is the Israeli flag, in contradistinction to the ISIS flag mentioned in another song. Aaron wonders whether we will die due to Muslim radical terrorists or radical Zionists.

Aaron then sings the most sacred words of Judaism and Islam, respectively:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ ה' אֶחָד قل هو الله احد الله الصمد

The Hebrew words read Shema Yisra'el, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad. This is the Shema, the Jewish profession of faith recited every day or more by observant Jews. Its words mean, "Hear, O Israel! YHWH is our god! YHWH is one!" It is a call to unity in the unitary and unique God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Weiss sings the Shemaaccording to the traditional melody of the synagogue, bringing us back to fond memories as children.

The Arabic words from the Qu'ran read Qul Huwa-llahu Ahad Allah hus-Samad, meaning, He is Allah, One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge. Both prayers in Arabic and Hebrew have the cognate one, ahad and echad, respectively. These prayers reveal Aaron's devotion to God. And the fact that he quotes both side-by-side shows that Aaron can no more choose one over the other. They are both equally true and equally part of his identity.

The song, after these uplighting prayers of faith from its melancholy beginnings, lead directly into the chaos of hardcore rifts, as the listener is ushered into the presence of the Almighty Judge as he begins his wrath upon the world. Wielding the sanctified sword, Aaron screams, For the army of the Scarecrow Lord. The imgary is quite haunting.

The sky, I'd been told
Would roll up like a scroll
As the mountains and islands moved from their place
And the sun would turn black
As a dead raven's back
But there'd be nowhere hide
From the Judge's face

Then the song returns, like nothing ever happened, to a college dream that Aaron had, to a simple lilting melody. His father

started on the Abrahamic joke we knew
About apostrophes and pronouns and you-remember-who
But let's keep that silly punchline between me and you
Little Haroon
And the man in the moon.

The album ends with these simple yet emotionally moving words about the sacred relationship between a father and his son. Aaron chose not to end the album with the bombastic vision of the end-times, but with a seemingly inane, yet deeply profound, night-time conversation. The last song, sweeping through both ends of catharsis, captures the dual Jewish and Muslim nature of its profound lyricist, Aaron Weiss.

Listen to mewithoutYou music here.

Purchase my friend's biography of Aaron Weiss, which influenced some of this content, here.