Funky Philosophical ... Thoughts
Anyway, the other day, my mom gave me an article about the Hassidic Reggae Superstar, Matisyahu. It was in the local newspaper -The Herald Dispatch- under the section where they cover new musicians and arts and stuff like that. However, before she gave it to me, she had talked to me about it a bit and I thought she was talking about Etan G, the Jewish rapper I raved about last night. I got some of his songs and ... they were good. But I still hadn't read the article.
Later that evening, when we were having family time, she gave me the article, which I later found online. Most of it was very ... normal and not really all that interesting ... but there was one quote by the artist in question that I thought was quite ... interesting ... and tied into something that my pastor had been talking about as well. The quote follows:
"People are looking for something that's eternal and something that's solid in a world of chaos. So they're turning toward their roots and their culture and looking toward religion and to God."
-Matisyahu, to the Gannett News Service[1]
The part that I'm going to pull out of that quote is that first sentence. The part about people looking for something eternal and solid in a world of chaos. My pastor said something quite along those lines not a few months ago - people are looking for something that is genuine now. Something that they can feel and experience and know. But the real thing that they're looking for is something genuine. It's something that is quite lacking in the post-modern world that most of you are living in.[2]
This, to me, partially explains the explosion of what I'm going to call Pop Judaism in the last few years.[3] In the song "Be Good, Be Cool, Be Jewish," it states that "Judaism has been around for thousands of years" and "have made more of an impact than anyone."[4] These are earmarks of something genuine. And this is very attractive, especially to the disillusioned Gen-Xers. They're able to attach themselves to something strong, something enduring, something bigger than themselves in Judaism and that's what they are crying for.
Later that evening, when we were having family time, she gave me the article, which I later found online. Most of it was very ... normal and not really all that interesting ... but there was one quote by the artist in question that I thought was quite ... interesting ... and tied into something that my pastor had been talking about as well. The quote follows:
"People are looking for something that's eternal and something that's solid in a world of chaos. So they're turning toward their roots and their culture and looking toward religion and to God."
-Matisyahu, to the Gannett News Service[1]
The part that I'm going to pull out of that quote is that first sentence. The part about people looking for something eternal and solid in a world of chaos. My pastor said something quite along those lines not a few months ago - people are looking for something that is genuine now. Something that they can feel and experience and know. But the real thing that they're looking for is something genuine. It's something that is quite lacking in the post-modern world that most of you are living in.[2]
This, to me, partially explains the explosion of what I'm going to call Pop Judaism in the last few years.[3] In the song "Be Good, Be Cool, Be Jewish," it states that "Judaism has been around for thousands of years" and "have made more of an impact than anyone."[4] These are earmarks of something genuine. And this is very attractive, especially to the disillusioned Gen-Xers. They're able to attach themselves to something strong, something enduring, something bigger than themselves in Judaism and that's what they are crying for.
posted by Editor at 8:28 AM
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