Oy Vey, Y-Love is Gay

It’s been a busy month in gay news: Obama and Biden support marriage equality, John Travolta supports happy endings, Bravo’s Andy Cohen is finally looking for a boyfriend, and now (sit down girls), Y-Love, the only African-American hasidic Jewish hip hop artist comes out as gay.

In an Out.com exclusive interview, Y-Love, nee Yitz Jordan, tells the gay magazine he “wanted to tell the world that he’s [been] gay for some time, but he was concerned that his ‘public reputation’ would be tarnished and the music career he has fought so hard to carve out in a seemingly intolerant community would be ruined.”

Jordan converted to Hasidic Judaism in 2000, attended Jerusalem’s fundamentalist Ohr Somayach Yeshiva, married a woman for a brief time and lived an ultra-orthodox lifestyle while becoming a rising star in the hip hop community, even winning an award for Best Hop Hop artist at Heeb’s 2006 Jewish Music Awards.

While Y-Love has now gone down the path of Matisyahu and identifies as ex-Hasidic, it’s fascinating that Jordan lived a Hasidic lifestyle, even marrying a woman – all by choice, knowing he was gay. I can forgive marrying a woman, but chareidi-misery by choice? That’s unforgivable.

With Y-Love now focusing on finding his man-basherte, and the release of his new single “Focus on the Flair” where he can be seen in drag and vogueing, we’re curious to see how his religious Jewish audience will respond to his coming out. Time will tell, in the meanwhile, we offer Y-Love much mazel in this new journey and remember there are resources out there on teaching ex-Orthos how to date in New York!

What do you think?

About The Author

Jayson Littman

Jayson Littman is the founder of He’bro. He’bro produces and promotes events for secular and cultural gay Jews in New York City. For more information, please go to www.myhebro.com or contact Jayson at Jayson @ myhebro [dot] com. Follow him @jaysonlittman

8 Responses

  1. Molochnik

    it’s horrible. where the old good days when jewish gays would be stoned to death???? This is not acceptable.

    I personally feel bad for poor Itz, knowing him personally, but don’t excuse this gay thing. This is not anything to be proud off, this is embarasing and needs to be worked on.

    Dude, I hope you do tshuva, I really hope so. You were great guy when I knew you

    Reply
  2. David

    MOLOCHNIK is clearly an idiot and should be offered some insight on the real world. I pity you…

    Reply
  3. Mo770

    Sh*t.. We are screwed. By we I mean African American Orthodox Jews… We have it hard enough.. now this… I know Yitz, and I love him very much as a person but Jews have to think about klal yisrael and how their actions will affect others… like I said.. we are screwed.

    Reply
  4. Cosmo

    calling “good all days”when people were stoned bring you closer to fundamentalist muslims.
    It is really sad to see an orthodox, playing a character of himself in such a sully video

    Reply
  5. Michael Lederman

    Why do all the crazies and deviates want to become Jewish???? I so wish they would crawl back under the rocks the came from. Yeah, I know tolerance and all that should be my watchwords but somethings just make my skin crawl.

    Reply
  6. Jon

    This has nothing to do with being black, being a convert or being “ex-hassidic”. While hallacha forbids gay sex, we as Jews practice “loving our neighbor” and we pray for all Jews to find simcha, torah and tshuva.

    The yeshiva Ohr Sameach in Jerusalem is not fundamentalist. One could say it is traditional in that it advocates for complete torah observance. But they encourage questioning, debate and dialog. These are not the traits of a fundamentalist.

    Reply
  7. DK

    Jon, Ohr Sameach is a hardline fundamentalist place. Hardline fundamentalist Jewish places allow questions and debate, provided the questions and debate are within the ever-narrowing parameters of the haredi world of acceptable debate.

    Some examples of Ohr Sameach’s raging fundamentalism:

    Their own was the catalyst for the Internet ban and filter (Gottlieb)

    A rejection of evolution

    A promotion of transience and sloth.

    A promotion of bloodline inferiority for the “ben niddah” (son of menstrual blood defilement, i.e., the child of a woman who did not ritually dunk in the mikvah before resuming sexual relations that produced a pregnancy) that is not revealed until far into the indoctrination of the baal tshuvah (newly haredi Jew)

    Rejection of full-time secular education

    Promotion of ritual stringency to achieve maximum halachic compliance

    Promotion of leading haredi rabbis as nearly infallible

    There are many more examples, but your misinformation is just that.

    Reply

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