Yehoshua Sofer is also the name of a victim of the June 2010 West Bank shooting.
Sofer in 2011

Yehoshua Sofer (Hebrew: יהושע סופר) is an Israeli-Jamaican hip hop and rap artist, and a martial artist.

Biography

He was born in 1958 in Jamaica and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1963 where he studied Tang Soo Do, receiving a black belt by 1968, aged ten. He studied Kuk Sool Won from 1974, advancing to 6th dan, and worked as a trainer and bodyguard during the 1970s and 1980s.

Singing career

In the 1990s, he was a hip hop singer and rapper under the name Nigel Addmore, and was an MC on the album Humus Metamtem in 1993.[1][2] The album's track "Hummus makes you stupid" was a club hit in Israel.[3][4]

He appeared in the documentary films Awake Zion in 2005,[4] and Hummus the Movie in 2016 [5]

Martial arts career

In 2000, he ran a Kuk Sool Won school at the International Convention, Jerusalem.[6]

In 2002, he founded the Abir Warrior Arts Association of Israel, teaching his own style of “Abir-Qesheth Hebrew Warrior Arts” (אבי״ר-קשת אומנות לחימה עברית‎) in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, claiming it to be a tradition of his family dating to Israelite antiquity[7] preserved by an underground school of "Bani Abir" in Habban, Yemen, and styling himself Aluf Abir אלוף אבי״ר‎ "Grandmaster of Abir". Sofer perceives this style of martial arts training to be a continuation of the practices of the Jewish people prior to the Second Temple period.[8]

The word אביר‎ abir in Modern Hebrew means "knight". The style takes inspiration from the Hebrew alphabet, basing moves and stances on Hebrew letters.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Leibovitz, Liel (12 November 2012). "Fat Man Saves Israeli Hip-Hop". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Goldsmith, Melissa U.D.; Fonseca, Anthony J., eds. (2018). Hip Hop around the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 353. ISBN 978-0313357596.
  3. ↑ Siwek, Daniel (March 2005). "Zion Riddims". Tikkun. 2 (2): 75. ProQuest 212205595.
  4. 1 2 Fox, Michael (6 May 2005). "Rastafarians and Jews rock steady in 'Awake Zion'". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. ProQuest 367643580.
  5. ↑ Spiro, Amy (14 August 2016). "The silver screen on a silver platter". Jerusalem Post. ProQuest 1814463003.
  6. ↑ Schechter, Erik (24 April 2000). "The Flying Breslav Chasid". Jerusalem Report. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  7. ↑ Sofer, Yehoshua; et al. "The History of Abir". Abir Hebrew Warrior Arts. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Hakak, Yohai (2012). Young Men in Israeli Haredi Yeshiva Education: The Scholars' Enclave in Unrest. BRILL. p. 123. ISBN 978-9004234697.
  9. ↑ Kamisher, Eliyahu (17 August 2015). "Self-defense, King David-style?". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
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