Identity crisis doesn’t mean a thing to Vanessa Hidary, whose journey to her eclectically-gathered Jewish roots took her through the world of hip-hop and spoken word. A self-described “culture bandit,” she does not want you to tell her that she doesn’t look Jewish, because this Syrian-American Nuyorican-reppin’ Jewess most certainly is Jewish. She’ll even go to Harlem Def Poetry Jam to tell you personally. Mixing old-school Hebrew vibes with a multi-culti sensibility and street smarts, Vanessa’s message is simple: be proud of who you are.

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1 Comment

  • This is truly remarkable and I am so fond of seeing a Jewish woman, or any Jew to be proud of their roots! For thousands of years, the Jewish people has been given a bad reputation and suffered tragedy with the events such as Nazi Germany and even to the present day, I have seen first hand the discrimination of the Jewish people, not to mention hate from Neo-Nazi white supremacist, etc

    I’ve heard and seen Jewish people being called lots of things and I’ve even seen Jewish women on certain websites to be called inferior, ugly and “atrocious” to other women. I’m not a Jewish woman, I am a Biracial woman of African-American and European descent, however, I find Jewish women to be one of the most gorgeous and exotic women out there and the only people that I’ve seen mocking Jewish women are BIGOTS!!!

    So with that being said, I am really glad that this woman is taking pride into her heritage because with all the racism out there I am surprised that anyone would feel so powerful. There is beauty in every race, that includes Jewish people!