Matisyahu – a beacon of truth in a world of bull.

An answer to a disturbing article.

Today Shturem.net posted an interview with the world-renowned superstar, and Chassidic Jew, Matisyahu, from the Miami New Times. They also posted Rabbi Levi Brackman’s response. My first thought when I read the article was I wanted to get a flight to bloody England and kick this Rabbi’s … But after checking my paypal account and seeing that a flight to England was totally out of the question I decided to just blog about it.

“This is my journey. My initial ties were through the Lubavitch sect... I went to a Hasidic school for two years in Brooklyn. At this point, I don’t necessarily identify with it any more. I’m really religious, but the more I’m learning about other types of Jews, I don’t want to exclude myself. I felt boxed in.” - Matisyahu.

I have heard Matisyahu talk like this personally and I wasn’t “surprised” and I defiantly did not look at Matis as “breaking off” from Lubavitch when I read this. So why did someone as smart as Rabbi Brackman badmouth and shun Matisyahu publicly? Matisyahu was speaking what he felt in his heart. For some Lubavitchers speaking from your heart is going against the system and Kabalas O’l. I add that to my long list of Lubavitch BS. Matis is a fresh Bal Tshuvah. He jumped into a frum lifestyle so fast he probably never knew what hit him. It’s a miracle that someone who went from soul-searching dreadlock dude, to a fully religious Jew, to a Hollywood star, in a matter of months did not have a serious relapse.

My father became frum years ago. At the time when he was already rocking a beard and black hat he insisted his younger stepbrother, who was not religious, to go to Yeshiva and check it out. He did. He was in Morristown for no longer then a month when he was already wearing a hat, growing his beard and putting on Teffilin. Until one morning he got up, looked at himself in the mirror and proclaimed that he made a mistake. He instantly dropped it all and to this day, over 20 years later, never came back.

Matisyahu on the other hand has been a fully religious Jew for over five years now. He jumped into Chabad because they were the ones who opened their arms to him. They were cool. Their ideas were inspirational. Their Rebbe was supernatural. For a soul seeking Jewish student I can see were he might of got turned on. Now, five years later, he sees the full picture. Power. Politics. Money. And a whole lot of Chassidish BS to go along with it. Its not hard for me to understand why he feels “boxed in”. There are many other Jewish sects. Yes, for me as a devout Lubavitcher from birth, I believe that Chabad is the ultimate. But for Matisyahu, a Bal Tshuvah who went from Hadar Hatorah in Crown Heights to the red carpet in Hollywood, its not as black and white.

To me Matisyahu is a Shliach. Hell, a head Shliach, just without the politics. I have spoken to countless amounts of people who have actually changed their lives for the better after hearing Matisyahu sing. Online I have seen Matisyahu related content on facebook, my space and forums all over the web with topics ranging from “I was going to kill myself until I heard Matisyahu”, to “I want to bring Moshiach after hearing Matisyahu sing.”

What is the Rebbe doing? The Rebbe is promoting concepts of Goodness and Kindness, of Moshiach, to the entire world. Not just Jews. Not just America. The Rebbe has reached his holy hand around the entire world and rekindled a light of goodness that billions of souls were yearning for. TV, Radio, Billboards. The Rebbe had the greatest marketing campaign since coke-a-cola. Now Chabad is everywhere.

Thousands of American youth, Jewish and gentile, flock to concerts every day. The music industry is so large and so full of crap it’s impossible not to see it in our day-to-day life’s. Now to me a Jewish man, not a Lubavitcher lets say, but a fully religious orthodox Jew, gets on MTV and tells the world the message of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, that’s enough for me to be a fan of the man. To see a-hundred-thousand people wait for the concert to start because there are not three stars in the sky yet, to me is a sign of Moshiach. To hear a crowd of Jews and non-Jews screaming at the top of their lungs they want Moshiach now, and understand what they are saying because the singer on stage just told them a Chassidic story and explained what the world would be like with Moshaich, is unreal. And as I stood there at his concert and listened as he sang Tzama Lcha Nafshi and translated each word to the crowd of twelve thousand people, my heart was filled with respect for the man standing on stage, swaying back and forth, singing a Niggun of the Rebbe with such feeling that I had never seen at Farbrengens with top Mashpias. To me that man is something special. Lubavitch. Not Lubavitch. I don’t give a crap. He is bringing Moshiach. And that’s all that matters.

Now to argue Rabbi Brackman, he states: “Over the last year as his career has progressed I have grown more and more wary of Matisyahu, his music and his public statements. His lyrics no longer really reflect deep Jewish spirituality and his behavior on stage is becoming increasingly secular. Now that he has publicly distanced himself from Chabad/Lubavitch I am admitting that I was wrong to ever promote Matisyahu. It is my hope that he keeps his faith and does not go off the deep end and thus take others with him.”

First off, I don’t see how his lyrics have lost their Jewish spirituality. Actually I think they still have them, he just added a lot more practical ones also.

“Fear nobody but his majesty
My spirit you’ve retrieved
For you I wait silently
It seems that you believe in me” – Indestructible

“Rebuild the temple and the crown of glory
Years gone by, about sixty
Burned in the oven in this century
And the gas tried to choke, but it couldn’t choke me” – Jerusalem

“Half the truth is just a lie, they rub me the wrong way, they say their way or fall behind. Seven subjects disconnect, left out the concept as to why there's a spiritual emptiness, so the youth them get vexed, skip class and get wrecked fill with beer and cigarettes to fill the hole in their chest.
Young man, control in your hand
Slam your fist on the table and make your demand
Take a stand
Fan a fire for the flame of the youth
Got the freedom to choose
You better make the right move.” – Youth

“And his behavior on stage is becoming increasingly secular.”

What the hell are you talking about??? When Matis first started, and you loved him, he was doing stage dives into mixed crowds. Now when someone corrected him, he no longer stage dives, instead he has other shtick that he pulls. Dancing with kids in a circle. Doing a Chassidish dance with a hat and jacket buchor. Climbing on top of speakers. No, but your right totally secular. (Extreme sarcasm.) And you say that you were wrong to ever promote him. Why? If you thought he was good then and doing good things then why do you regret it? For all you know one of those kids in your school heard “King without a crown” got inspired, and Davened with extra kavanah that day. You regret that? Or maybe one of them logged onto youtube and instead of looking at clips of who knows what he watched Matisyahu say Havdallah in front of thirty thousand people. Hmmm.

There is a famous story of a buchor who complained about going on Mivtzoim and nothing happened. The Rebbe said, that by him walking in his hat and jacket down the street, an old woman looking out her window could have been helped. For how may years did Matisyahu perform with his hat and jacket? Hell, as he stood on the red carpet surrounded by garbage he was proudly wearing his hat and custom made kapatoeh. The effect Matisyahu had and has on the youth of America is obviously something you will never comprehend.

“However, for now I see him on the same level as I would see any other secular Jewish singer–a good Jew with secular music which in no way promotes my faith and, as a Chasidic Jew, not music I want in my house or my kids listening to.”

You know your right. Bob Dylan and Matisyahu are pretty much the same. One barely licked the edge of Torah his entire life, and one says Chitas and Davens every day, but no, your right he is like every other secular Jewish singer. Matisyahu is not made for your little kids in your house, and I hope you don’t have a problem with your teenage ones listening to him because that’s just… odd. You don’t want Matisyahu in your house because you have some perverted ideas about him fine, but to publicly badmouth him to the entire Lubavitchh? I think you need to ask yourself who is the good Jew in this situation. No disrespect intended.