12 | MARCH 16 • 2023
emotional way.
I recently listened to an
album by a band called
Scarcity. It caught my
attention because it was
called Aveilut, the Hebrew
word for morning.
The lead musician is a
Jewish person from West
Virginia. I emailed him
about how much it meant to
me during my own periods
of mourning. He responded
in a very kind way, which I
found to be the norm with
most of the extreme metal
musicians I reached out to.
One of the reasons I reach
out to these musicians is not
just to tell them how much
I enjoy their work, but also
to figure out whether they
are racist or antisemitic or
antisemitic adjacent, which
brings me to the most
complicated of extreme
metal, which is black metal.
Black metal is raw,
shrieking, lo-fi and often
based in mythology and
folklore, but which can
often be about national
pride or nationalism. It can
be the deepest of all the
kinds of metal, and most
emotional, but also the most
problematic.
I have had some cringy
conversations with
musicians who came
from the same region
as my father, but whose
grandfathers were on
very different sides of the
Holocaust. It was interesting
and often horrifying to hear
their viewpoints. Let’s just
say I did not buy the albums.
Some of this black metal is
among the most beautifully
cathartic music I have ever
heard, and some of it is
like the Richard Wagner
of metal, brilliant and
powerful, but best avoided.
One of the odd quirks
about black metal is how
many bands use Kabbalistic
imagery in their music.
There are bands called
Gevurah and Azazel,
neither of which is Jewish,
but whose members are
fascinated by Jewish arcana.
Israel has a thriving metal
scene and has bands that
deal with the Holocaust, the
Middle East and the Torah.
Some of the more prominent
are Orphaned Land, Arallu,
Melechesh and Betzefer.
One of my favorite metal
blogs is written by an Israeli
academic and is called
Machine Music. Other
excellent ones are Angry
Metal Guy and Heavy Blog
is Heavy.
One of my favorite metal
experiences was going with
Hazzan Daniel Gross to see
Rammstein in concert at
the Palace in Auburn Hills.
I am pretty sure we were
the only Jewish clergy there.
Rammstein is a band from
Germany that wrestles with
what it means to be German
today and only sings in
German. They are incredibly
loud and even more skilled,
and it was fantastic. It was
also the only concert I went
to that started exactly on
time.
I have found so many
people in the extreme metal
world to be thoughtful,
kind, broken, helpful and
just lovely. Very few of them
even cover their expenses
and almost all of them work
full-time jobs. They do it for
connection and community.
I am too old for the mosh
pit, but there is something
in this music that lifts me
out my sadness by making
me sit fully in my emotions
until my soul lifts, and for
that I am grateful.
Rabbi Aaron Bergman is a spiritual
leader at Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills.
JONAS ROGOWSKI/WIKIPEDIA
Rammstein
performing in
August 2013
letters
Paul Gross Is a
Mensch
I have known Paul Gross
for many years. We first met
when we worked together at
WDIV-TV in the late ’80s.
This was a time before the
internet, phone weather apps
and 24/7 access to weather
radar. At that time, people
depended on television and
radio for their weather fore-
casts. Viewers had no idea
how talented a meteorologist
Paul Gross was. Channel 4
had a great weather team,
and Paul was the substance
behind their weather fore-
casting on both sides of the
camera.
At that time, many of the
on-camera weather presenters
were not meteorologists. Paul
ably backed them up each day
and was at his best in severe
weather situations. Paul was
an invaluable member of the
WDIV-TV and outlasted
hundreds of other people over
the past 40 years.
He also organized our sta-
tion’s bowling and softball
teams. He has a great sense
of humor and would always
answer an anxious parent’s
question with aplomb about
the weather forecast for their
child’s bar mitzvah date five
years in the future.
As an attorney, I have
worked with Paul as an
expert, and he brings the
same ebullience and compe-
tence he has brought to view-
ers for the past 40 years on
air. I look forward to working
with him for many years in
the future.
— Joshua Lerner
Huntington Woods
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