Arts & Entertainment
A Puzzlement
Will the Jewish cultural connection of today's youth sustain itself?
Leaving Lubavitch?
Matisyahu says he feels "boxed in."
Debra Nussbaum Cohen
The Jewish Week
C
Matisyahu: Man of the moment.
T
Chanan Tigay
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Imes are flush if you're a young,
culturally minded Jew. The last few
years have seen an explosion in
artistic and cultural activity by and for Jews.
Witness Matisyahu, the 28-year-old
Chasidic rising star who combines Jewish
themes with reggae and rock sounds and
opens for rap/rock impresarios 311 at 6:30
p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, at DTE Energy Music
Theatre.
Born Matthew Miller and raised as a
Reconstructionist Jew in a New York City
suburb, Matisyahu, a baal teshuvah follower
of Chabad-Lubavitch, has sold more than
500,000 albums. His 2006 release Youth
peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's 200 Top-
Selling Albums chart, earning him the 2007
Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.
Then there is Heeb, a Jewish magazine
aimed at young, hip Jews that has been
the subject of much chatter and numerous
articles in the mainstream media.
"There's a mammoth market for this; said
Roger Bennett, publisher of Guilt & Pleasure,
which defines itself as "a magazine for Jews
and the people who love them" and which
sold out its first issue in November 2005.
With intermarriage rampant, synagogue
membership among young Jews on the
decline and a general sense that younger
Jews are less connected to Judaism, Jewish
communal leaders are on the lookout for
ways to get the younger generation to con-
nect and to engage in a conversation about
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August 2 2007
Jewish identity, community and meaning.
Some of these young people and, increas-
ingly, some of their elders say that the way to
their hearts — and minds and pocketbooks
— is through artistic and cultural exchange:
Jewish music, books, movies and art.
But along with the explosion of Jewish arts
come many questions. At its 2006 confer-
ence in Denver, the Jewish Funders Network
offered several panels and discussions on the
place of arts and culture in today's Jewish
milieu. At the conference and beyond, Jewish
thinkers are asking whether the arts should
be viewed as a gateway to further Jewish
involvement or as a valuable destination in
and of themselves.
The debate may be meaningless to a group
of Jews dancing at a Matisyahu concert,
but it has practical applications in terms of
funding for Jewish culture. Artistic endeav-
ors cost money, and the people with the
money tend not to be the same young people
attracted to reggae music, even if it is being
sung by a guy in a long beard and black hat.
"There is no easy way to quantify the
value of art;' Connie Wolf, director of the
Contemporary Jewish Museum in San
Francisco, said during one such panel at the
gathering of Jewish foundations. "When it
comes to art, there are always more ques-
tions than answers."
But others, while acknowledging culture's
appeal, wonder whether such pursuits are
likely to produce committed Jews or are apt
to fizzle out.
"I think everything that we've learned
in the last hundred years teaches us that
ould it be that Matisyahu
– the genre-bending
poster boy for all that
is cool and kosher – is off the
derech (path)? At least the Chabad
derech?
It sure looks that way after the
Chasidic reggae star told the Miami
New Times two weeks ago before a
concert, "I felt boxed in."
"My initial ties were through the
Lubavitch sect.... At this point,
I don't necessarily identify with
it any more," Matisyahu told the
Miami weekly. "I'm really religious,
but the more I'm learning about
other types of Jews, I don't want to
exclude myself."
The news that Matisyahu appears
to be distancing himself from
Chabad, the outreach-oriented
group that helped transform him
from a Reconstructionist-affiliated
suburban kid to the chart-topping
hipster he's become, lit up the
Orthodox blogosphere.
Some bloggers even expressed
fear that the 28-year-old Crown
Heights resident and father of
two – who last year was crowned
Billboard's top reggae artist and
was referenced in the hit film
Knocked Up – would lead young
people away from religious life.
"I am and have always been
concerned with his effect on frum
(religious) teenagers. Especially
kids who may already be on a bad
derech, Matisyahu is something
that could lead them further down
that wrong path," writes Chaim
Rubin, a blogging father and mar-
keting consultant (life-of-rubin.
blogspot.com ) who lives in Crown
Heights, Brooklyn.
Matisyahu's work has been that
rare combination of hip and frum
for Chasidic consumption. He mar-
ries the Lubavitch man's uniform –
dark pants, white shirt, long beard
and tzitzit hanging out – with reg-
gae's spiritually and socially con-
scious lyrics (some of them weaving
in Chasidic-inflected Hebrew) and
dance-hall rhythm into a powerful
message for young Jews.
Perhaps unwittingly, the singer
has become a role model for young
Lubavitchers who themselves feel
"boxed in" by family and commu-
nity expectations.
"He's someone who me and
hundreds of guys look up to. He's
out there, he's with it, and it's a
real powerful image of being proud
of who you are," said Yossi B.,
an 18-year-old Lubavitch blogger
with a site called Chablog (chablo-
glubavitch.blogspot.com ).
On Chablog, Yossi wrote, "To me
Matisyahu is a shaliach (emissary).
Hell, a head shaliach, just without
the politics. I have spoken to count-
less amounts of people who have
actually changed their lives for
the better after hearing Matisyahu
sing."
"I see that people are scared that
he might totally lose it. I would sort
of flip out if he decides he doesn't
want to be frum anymore. A lot of
guys would flip out," said Yossi,
whose room is decorated with
Matisyahu posters. Matisyahu could
not be reached for comment.
Others write that Matisyahu's
statement has brought their sup-
port to an end.
"I am admitting that I was wrong
to ever promote Matisyahu," writes
Rabbi Levi Brackman of Evergreen,
Colo., on his blog (levibrackman.
blogspot.com ), which was reprinted
on a central Lubavitch news site,
Shturem.net , and later removed.
"It is my hope that he keeps his
faith," continued the rabbi, "and
does not go off the deep end and
thus take others with him."