Orthodox Jewish Beatboxers Surprise Judges on "America's Got Talent"

Two Orthodox Jewish boys got a big ovation from the audience attending auditions for "America's Got Talent" last month. Their beatboxing performance was praised as cute and unusual. Unfortunately they were eliminated in the next round.

As Jesse Bernstein wrote in Tablet,

Beatboxing duo and friends Ilan Swartz-Brownstein and Joshua Shlomo Mendel Leviton made a smart choice to call themselves “Ilan and Josh,” because their full names are a mouthful even for members of the Tribe, let alone Gentiles.

Though they “don’t look like your typical beatboxers,” as stated during the duo’s audition on America’s Got Talent, make no mistake: these young men can flat-out spit. Tuesday’s performance was received with thunderous applause from the audience and four “yes” votes from the celebrity judges.

Based in New York, Ilan and Josh met a few years ago at the Kotel. From there, they hit it off. Leviton, who also calls himself “The Orthobox,” provides the beat (he’s even performed with The Maccabeats); meanwhile, Brownstein (aka “The Aleph Bass”), an aspiring religious singer, spits the tune to their creations.

You may find their sound familiar because they previously provided beatbox background sounds for the Maccabeats and the Y-Studs, two a cappella groups that we have featured on Jewish Humor Central.

Enjoy!

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