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to go to Israel. My son had been studying 
there before Oct. 7. He came home a week 
later, but he was sad being at home. He said 
there was an incredible unity there, which I 
saw in videos of Israelis and how they came 
together, shining through this horror. 
“I was feeling such hopelessness, like a 
lot of us. And this young generation seems 
to have no concept whatsoever. This uphill 
battle that feels so hopeless — how are we 
going to re-educate an entire generation of 
people who are soon going to be the people 
in charge,
” Matisyahu says. “So we went to 
Israel.
”
There, he performed for soldiers, listened 
to stories from families of the hostages and 
visited Hostage Square. “Seeing the kibbut-
zim firsthand, these beautiful places that 
had been destroyed. But, at the same time, it 
was hopeful. I needed that hope so I could 
come back to tour America, dealing with 
protesters. All of this was so important to 
me prior to this tour.
”
While he was there, Matisyahu visited 
the site of the Nova festival. “I had written 
a song called ‘
Ascent,
’ like ‘Shir Hamalot,
’ 

coming out in March. I wrote it after all the 
Kanye West stuff, but I shot the video in 
Israel, with the survivors of the Nova festi-
val, at the site. 
“I met with survivors and families. There 
was one young woman in a wheelchair 
that I met in the hospital. She lived in the 
kibbutz right next to a fence that was blown 
open. Hundreds of terrorists surrounded 
them. She was in her bomb shelter, holding 
the door shut, and got shot in the hand and 
the leg. Her boyfriend tells her she has to 
jump through the window. 
“There are like 50 terrorists there, laugh-
ing while they’re killing people, chopping 
limbs off of children — and they’re laugh-
ing and smoking and having a great time. 
She had no choice, she jumps out of the 
window, and they start taking target prac-
tice at her: They shoot her in the shoulder, 
she falls down, they’re laughing; she gets up 
and runs a little further, they shoot her in 
the leg, falls down. She was shot 12 times. 
She found a hole, buried herself in it and 
survived to talk about it, telling this story as 
if it was just another day.

“That kind of thing, it’s just unbelievable 
to think that happened in our lifetime, and 
will continue to happen,
” he says. “We heard 
all these stories from other young women 
who were there. One jumped into a garbage 
can, and the garbage can next to them was 
blown up by a grenade, but these women 
survived.
“People were willing to talk about it, the 
play-by-play, telling how they did it. They 
were heroes, they survived and went on 
to save other people, communicating with 
friends on their phones. Unbelievable sto-
ries of being hunted.
“But the Jewish people are resilient. We 
will hold the fire. We will not stop — I won’t 
be silenced. We will play shows, we will 
have our fans out there and keep spreading 
our message of hope.
”

DEALING WITH PROTESTERS
In 2015, a music festival in Spain bowed 
to pressure from the BDS movement to 
cancel Matisyahu’s scheduled appearance. 
Following outrage around the world, the 

“I WAS FEELING SUCH 
HOPELESSNESS, 
LIKE A LOT OF US. 
AND THIS YOUNG 
GENERATION SEEMS 
TO HAVE NO CONCEPT 
WHATSOEVER. THIS 
UPHILL BATTLE THAT 
FEELS SO HOPELESS 
— HOW ARE WE GOING 
TO RE-EDUCATE AN 
ENTIRE GENERATION 
OF PEOPLE WHO 
ARE SOON GOING 
TO BE THE PEOPLE IN 
CHARGE. SO WE WENT 
TO ISRAEL.”

continued on page 42

