For a Singer and a Sect: A Rift Amid the Riffs?

By ALEX MINDLIN

OVER the last three years, the most visible adherent of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Hasidic Judaism has been a strapping 20-something reggae singing star named Matisyahu.
After joining the sect around 2001, Matisyahu became a regular guest and performer at Chabad’s outposts around the world. In songs and interviews, he frequently mentioned Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the movement’s revered spiritual leader. “Youth,” the title track of his second studio album, quotes Rabbi Schneerson’s dictum that “youth is the engine of the world.”
Chabad, which is based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, is unique among Hasidic sects for its emphasis on the recruitment of non-Orthodox Jews, and Matisyahu, who goes by a single name, has come to be a sort of unofficial ambassador.
That is why some observers have been shocked over the past few months to see the singer distancing himself from Chabad in a series of public statements.
In an interview in July with The Miami New Times, an alternative weekly, Matisyahu said that he did not “necessarily identify” with Chabad and that he felt “boxed in” by being labeled an adherent. In October, he told the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz that he was “no longer identified with Chabad.” And late last month, he told The Jewish Week that his affiliation with Chabad “was about becoming part of this machine and feeling like it was taking away from my service of God, not adding to it.”
According to The Jewish Week, Matisyahu has begun praying with the Karlin Hasidic sect, a group based in Israel that screams its prayers to God. Although he still lives in the Lubavitch stronghold Crown Heights, he commutes on many mornings to a synagogue in Borough Park to pray, the newspaper said.
Through his publicist, Matisyahu declined to comment on the matter.
The news of his shifting allegiances has provoked a furious response among some Lubavitch bloggers, who accuse Matisyahu of betraying a movement that nurtured him. But among Lubavitch rabbis in New York, many of whom know Matisyahu personally, reaction has been considerably gentler.
“Some people come to Lubavitch to stay, and some don’t,” said Rabbi Shea Hecht, executive director of a Lubavitch yeshiva in Crown Heights where Matisyahu studied for several years. “We’re happy if we can bring any Jew closer to yiddishkeit,” or Jewishness.
In part, the tempered reaction of Lubavitch leaders reflects a paradox. Though the mainstream public may see Matisyahu as a representative Hasidic Jew, many traditional Lubavitch adherents do not listen to his music, and thus his departure from the sect is not the soul-shaking challenge it might seem.
“I see him in the neighborhood, on the street and in synagogue, and people don’t even know who he is,” Rabbi Hecht said. “He wasn’t really appreciated from the inside of Chabad. He was more of a bridge to the outside.”
Rabbi Jacob Goldstein, the longtime head of Community Board 9, agreed. “No one’s ever called me over in shul and said, ‘Hey, Goldstein, did you hear Matisyahu bailed out?’” he said. “He’s looking elsewhere, and that’s that.”

The fascinating Matisyahu

Last night, my friend Bennett and I went to see Matisyahu play at The Catalyst here in Santa Cruz. The Catalyst is a fairly small club, so it is always fun to go to shows there as you can pretty easily walk up close to the stage even when it is a sold out show like it was last night. The photos here are ones I took last night at the show.

Matisyahu is a member of Chabad-Lubavitch, a chassidic group of Judaism and he wears the clothing and Hasidic look. You could see the prayer tassels he was wearing last night. The music is sort of blend of reggae and pop/rock - mainly reggae. I am not really a reggae fan, but the unusualness of Matisyahu has caused me to like his music and he does some very cool and beautiful vocal arrangements and some beat box sounds as well. He also interests me seeing how popular he is getting and it is such an odd visual and musical mix seeing a Hasidic-dressed fellow singing reggae and dancing around.

Prayer_candle_6 What is even more fascinating to me, is how biblically themed so many of his lyrics are to his songs. It isn't just a gimmick or show, he takes his faith very seriously. He doesn't ever have a concert on the Sabbath. Last night was Saturday night so the Sabbath was ending and he started the show by coming out with a large candle-torch and what looked like a prayer book of sorts and began singing a prayer. He was singing the prayer in Hebrew so I don't know what he was singing, but it felt like it was possibly a prayer about the ending of the Sabbath or something like that.

He then went into a really great set of music and played most of the songs I am familiar with. The place was totally packed and it was sold out. So it was really intriguing having all these people hearing all these lyrics.

Standing_2 Some of the lyrics of a few songs are:


"Jerusalem, if I forget you,
let my right hand forget what it's supposed to do."

"Exaltation, my G-d of salvation
The field and there in will be filled with jubilation
The lord's name will be proclaimed amongst the Nations
We don't have no time for patience."

"Open up my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise
Open up my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise."

"My soul thirsts for you
My flesh longs for you
In a land parched and weary
With no water

So too in the sanctuary
To have beheld you
Your might
And your glory."

Stage_4 It was a very positive environment for a concert, and the whole concert felt very uplifting. I can't imagine people aren't at least a little taking in the seriousness of some of the lyrics being sung. Yet as much as I was fascinated with everyone listening to the lyrics - I believe Matisyahu is still waiting for Messiah - and I so badly wish he would then sing "Jesus" recognized as the Messiah he is waiting for. So as I think of it, I shall pray and at least be glad that people were hearing biblical themes and verses and my prayer is that they will be fulfilled in understanding Jesus as Messiah. But it was quite a concert and I would certainly see him again if he comes back to town. Very fascinating.

leaving Chabad Lubavitch

And Matisyahu is leaving Chabad Lubavitch. I hate to say it, but he rode the Chassidic pony to stardom. His marginal beatboxing and atonal (at times music) needed some kind of hook. Unfortunately, he's the kind of BT that makes the rest of us BTs look bad. BTs have a tendency, I know I've said it a thousand times, to be more Jewish than Jewish, to make up for lost time, to fit in with the frum-from-birth crowd. Of course, any FFB with misgivings about the sincerity of BTs just had their wariness validated by Matisyahu. In a culture that promulgates fad after fad, Matisyahu fits in with an established tradition of floating from one idea to the next, never wholly committing to any of them. He'd have been better off remaining Mr. Miller from the get-go.I hope Lubavitch critics such as our friends over at FailedMessiah.com recognize this as telling of Matisyahu, not so much Chabad. We've heard the cultish horror stories, but many of us have positive experiences with Chabad. No institution founded by men and maintained by men, even with a rebbe at the helm, can be without blemish. All we can hope is that our groups get it right more than they get it wrong.

Matisyahu to Perform Two Shows in Israel

11 Nisan 5767, 30 March 07 11:39

by Benyamin Bresky

(IsraelNN.com) “Check for your chometz [leavened products that must be disposed of before Passover –ed.] and then come party.” So says popular singer Matisyahu who will be playing two shows this week in Israel right before the start of Passover. The singer spoke on Israel National Radio’s 'The Beat.'

Click here for an mp3 download of the exclusive audio interview

The singer’s latest release is a CD and DVD combination, which includes seven new songs and concert footage from his first concert series in Israel from December 2005. The singer is looking forward to his return to the stage in Israel and is even in the process of making Israel his permanent home.


His tour continues to other nations after Israel. “In different countries there’s somewhat of a different reaction,” says Matisyahu, “but there’s definitely a universal thing that happens with music probably more than anything else in people, where those lines get crossed and some human thing in them just comes out.”

Born Mathew Miller in New York, Matisyahu first broke onto the scene performing ‘Hasidic reggae.’ His 2004 release Shake off the Dust... Arise contained roots-style Jamaican reggae with lyrics based on the Torah, Hasidic teachings and other Jewish subjects. The novelty led to appearances on national TV shows in the United States where he told the story of his love for reggae and his return to a Jewish traditional lifestyle through the Chabad movement.

The image of the tall, bearded man in a black hat singing rapid-fire rap and reggae made him an underground sensation. His second album, Live at Stubb’s shot up the Top 40 Billboard charts earning him an unprecedented Billboard Top Reggae Artist.

In 2006 Matisyahu released Youth which also topped the Billboard charts and earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Reggae Artist. He lost to Ziggy Markey, the son of reggae legend Bob Marley, however another Jewish group, The Klezmatics won the award for Best Contemporary World Music Album. Before the Matisyahu phenomenon, the only time a Jewish oriented song received mainstream airplay was Tzena Tzena Tzena by The Weavers with Gordon Jenkins in the early 1950s.

Although Matisyahu is seen as a reggae artist, he doesn’t necessarily stick to a strict interpretation of it. “Hopefully my sound is developing,” said Matisyahu in a phone call on the road in Israel. “Hopefully I am able to put together different sounds. The music that I make is not based on any one specific line of music. I love and I hear so many different interesting sounds. That’s what I’ve tried to do in the past and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”

Matisyahu is already writing material for his next album. “There will be sounds ranging from electronic music to African music to reggae to hip hop to rock. So it will be a real combination,” he says.

Matisyahu is also experimenting lyrically and expanding his citations of Jewish philosophy to include other hassidic masters aside from the late Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson. He says future lyrics will include the teaching of the 19th century Hasidic leader Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Rabbi Nachman is a popular source of inspiration for musicians in Israel due to his focus on music, folk tales and meditation.

“I don’t know if I want to put it out there yet,” says Matisyahu of his future projects. “There was a dream that Rebbe Nachman had and he said that all of his teachings are based on this dream. I have also been particularly interested in The Story of the Seven Beggars since I have been here in Israel.”

Matisyahu also performed briefly this week with Israeli Hadag Nahash whom he met previously in the United States. Hadag Nahash performs a self-described mix of hip-hop, funk and jazz and often uses bitingly sarcastic lyrics from a liberal and secular point of view.

“A couple of years ago they had a show at the Knitting Factory [a prominent concert club in New York],” related Matisyahu. “My manager at the time wanted to bring me there. I asked them if I could get on stage and they were probably like, “who’s this Hasidic guy?” They had never really heard of me before. I got up there with them and it was really cool. It’s was a real powerful moment. And now two years later after my success to come back and collaborate is nice. I like doing that in different countries where I am collaborating with different artists.”

In addition, Matisyahu has also joined international pop star Sting on stage in Israel and participated in an impromptu street performance in Jerusalem with the popular reggae/world-music group Aharit HaYamim.

“I was eating at Big Apple Pizza on Yaffo Street,” recalls Matisyahu. “It sounded really cool. I had a concert that night at [Jerusalem concert club] The Lab.” Minutes after Matisyahu left the microphone, he was surrounded by enthusiastic fans. Today his popularity has only increased.

Other recent projects have been the annual benefit concert for HASC - The Hebrew Academy for Special Children. Although visually, Matisyahu has the same black hat and button-down white shirt as the other performers, his mix of rock guitars and Caribbean rhythm is a stark contrast to the other artists.

“If a Jewish person is making music with some roots and some foundation within Judaism, that’s what I would consider Jewish music,” comments the singer on the subject. “The ideas behind the music and the meaning behind it – that’s what would make it Jewish.”

Joining Matisyahu in concert this week will be Daniel Zamir, an old friend from the New School, a university in New York City attended by Matisyahu and his fellow band members. Zamir’s Jewish jazz, particularly his newly released album Amen is becoming increasingly popular in Israel.

“He was a young guy in music school and known to be this protégé,” says Matisyahu of his friend. “John Zorn, the famous saxophone player [and founder of Tzadik Records] was his mentor. He and I were both doing teshuvah. We started hanging out a little bit. After yeshiva, we came back for the graduation. I look down the hallway and see this fully religious Jew. And he sees me now with a beard and everything. He went through some pretty intense changes. And that, I think, is a good thing. I think it’s a good thing to always be changing.”

Matisyahu will be performing Saturday night at 9 p.m. on March 31, 2007 at Binyanei HaUmah, the Jerusalem International Convention Center, with opening act Daniel Zamir as well as on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on April 1, 2007 at Hanger 11 in Tel Aviv with opening acts Tomer Yosef of Balkan Beat Box and DJ Yaron Lidur. For ticket information visit MatisyahuWorld.com


Benyamin Bresky is the host of The Beat on Israel National Radio. He maintains a journal on Jewish and Israeli music at israelbeat.blogspot.com

Arutz 7 - Israel National Radio features daily email news briefs, Torah podcasts, live call-in political talk shows, streaming video and more, broadcasting live from the heartland of Israel. For more information visit IsraelNationalRadio.com
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Matisyayu interview 2004

That's not matzoh balls! Here's the original interview with Hasidic Reggae/Beatbox artist Matisyahu, featuring Matisyahu talking about reggae music, becoming a chasid, and more. Featuring music from the upcoming record and some very special freestylin'.

This interview was recorded in June 2004. We caught up with Matisyahu again in San Francisco in February 2005 -- he's famous now! -- and hope to post that soon.