An Exhortation to US Jews

Rapper Nissim Black: Jews Must Study Hebrew Prophets, Make Aliyah Amid Rising Antisemitism

In a blunt appeal that has gained widespread attention, American-Israeli rapper and podcast host Nissim Black has issued an urgent call for American Jews to consider immigration to Israel in response to what he describes as escalating antisemitism in the United States.

Black, whose YouTube channel has garnered over 26 million views worldwide, delivered the message during a recent episode of his podcast, combining his perspective as both an American-born artist and Israeli resident to address what he sees as a critical moment for the Jewish diaspora. “It’s time for the Yidden (Jews) to come home. It’s time for Jews to wake up and to move back to Israel. It just is what it is,” Black declared. “When you live in a place like America where many of us never thought something like this was possible, never thought something like this would happen—and I’m not talking about this isolated incident, we’re talking about the rise of antisemitism that’s happening in the United States—once you see this, when do we start saying that we recognize the writing is on the wall?”

The Seattle native, who has built a global following through his musical style spanning rap, pop, and world music, referenced biblical prophecy in making his case for Jewish return to Israel. Drawing on eschatological themes, Black pointed to the uncertainty surrounding end-times prophecies about various nations while emphasizing Israel’s assured future.

“When you look at the prophets, even I don’t know what the future is for all these other nations,” Black explained. “We don’t really know who all these other nations are. We don’t know who Gog is. We don’t know who’s coming from Tarshish, and we don’t know who all these other nations are, so we can’t really say that we know for sure.”

Black’s reference to Gog alludes to the biblical prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39, which describes a final apocalyptic battle involving a coalition of nations led by “Gog of the land of Magog” against Israel. Jewish and Christian interpreters have long debated the identity of these nations and the timing of this prophetic confrontation.