Oh the joys of social media. Whenever I see something that came out years ago, I always wonder why didn’t I see that? But I’m still really happy that Filipino-Jewish poet Eliyahu Enriquez posted this video on his blog. The video is a clip from the full-length documentary Naf – A Street Kid, which can be found here.

The documentary, as taken from its description, is a “shocking and revealing documentation of a homeless boy’s life over a two and a half year period. Naf (Naftali), is an ultra-orthodox boy thrown out of his parents’ home for being a “bad apple”. From the age of 14 he wanders the Jerusalem streets, and is exposed to crime, violence, and sexual assault. Only fighting keeps him alive; fighting the city council as a representative of homeless youth; fighting the man who sexually abused him through the court system, fighting the radio stations to convince them to play his music. This is a child not only fighting for life, but for self respect and a future. This is the struggle for survival experienced by all our homeless children – as seen through the eyes of NAF – a street kid.”

Naf is actually a pretty talented and prolific hip-hopper with lyrics in Hebrew and English that bring me right back to Israel and images that make me feel like I’m kickin’ it at Kikar Tzion. For more songs from Naf, check him out on Youtube.

– Farrah Fidler