Vanessa Hidary is a "bad Jew." That's OK with her.

Martini Judaism

My friend, Vanessa Hidary.

Vanessa Hidary is a cool person. She is a spoken word artist, an educator, and an advocate. She is a trail-blazer. Her work has had a profound impact on both the Jewish community and beyond. Recently, the ADL honored her as a "Hero Against Hate."

Vanessa embodies the bravery of Queen Esther, the pride of Mordecai, and a little bit of Vashti's attitude thrown in for good measure. She is a one woman megillah.

How did we first meet? We were at a Jewish conference together – the Conversation, which was convened by the veteran Jewish journalist Gary Rosenblatt. At that conference, she did a performance of her signature poem, "Hebrew Mamita." It was a celebration of her diverse, proud, take-no-prisoners Jewish identity – as a daughter of the Syrian-Jewish diaspora. She challenged Jewish stereotypes.

I was overwhelmed.

“Hebrew Mamita” became a classic. Vanessa performed it in New York City venues, and that was how she became a pioneering voice Jewish identity in the slam poetry scene.

"Hebrew Mamita" was featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, where she openly discussed her Jewish heritage. She founded the Kaleidoscope Project, a narrative-arts initiative that amplifies the stories of Jews of color, Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews, and those with interfaith experiences.

In the podcast, we talk about our responses to the murder of the Bibas children; what it means to be a Jew in the arts community, after October 7; and what it means to be politically homeless, after October 7.

And, we talked about her spoken-word piece, "Bad Jew."