16 Facts About Ari Lesser

Ari Benjamin Lesser is a Jewish American rapper, singer, songwriter, and spoken word artist.

Ari Lesser continues to perform and speak at events around the world.

Ari Lesser is the son of Raymond Lesser and Susan Wolpert, who co-founded the humor publication Funny Times.

Ari Lesser's family is culturally Jewish, and he had a bar mitzvah at the Reconstructionist synagogue Kol HaLev.

Ari Lesser started rapping at 17 while attending Cleveland Heights High School, and began pursuing music as a career soon after arriving at the University of Oregon in 2004.

Ari Lesser sold thousands of CDs in the parking lots and campgrounds of these events, often wearing a sign inscribed with 31 of his original song titles, labeled "Ari's 31 Flavors".

Duff offered to finance a professional studio album, and Ari Lesser agreed to participate, moving from Eugene, OR to Los Angeles, CA in 2008 to work on the project.

Ari Lesser related to King David as a songwriter, and began creating rhyming translations of the Psalms.

In 2012, Ari Lesser visited Israel for the first time on a Taglit-Birthright trip, and stayed in the country for nearly a year, studying Torah at Mayanot, in Jerusalem, and Yeshiva Temimei Darech in Safed.

Ari Lesser was relatively unknown in the Jewish community before the release of his YouTube video, "Hanukkah Hip Hop" which garnered 40,000 views in a week.

Ari Lesser used information from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to research the song.

Ari Lesser continues to be active on social media with over 7,000 subscribers on YouTube, and nearly 15,000 followers on facebook.

Ari Lesser has spoken and performed at hundreds of events for Jewish communities around the world, and done shows with Moshav Band, Nissim Black, and Zusha.

Ari Lesser took a Nazirite vow in 2009, and still considers himself a Nazir.

Ari Lesser attended Chabad yeshivas during his time in Israel and is loosely affiliated with the movement, calling himself "Lubavitch".

In 2014, Lesser and his wife married in Cleveland, OH, eventually settling in Phoenix, Arizona, where their first son was born in 2015.