I was in the gym, on the exercise bicycle, reading Rolling Stone when I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my bike. The article was about Matisyahu – the reggae, pop, hip-hop, beatboxing orthodox Jewish fellow who is currently blowing up the circuit. This article, like everything else written about Matisyahu, explored the lingering question that follows him everywhere he goes. That question is this: How does an orthodox Jew front a reggae, hip-hop, pop band without contradicting his orthodoxy?
Anyone who knows anything about Hasidism knows it has a lot of rules. It’s a religion chock full of rules, many of which would make being in a hip-hop, pop reggae outfit highly complicated. For instance, according to Hasidic law, Matisyahu (born Mathew Miller) must not have contact with women to whom he is not related, which means he can’t even shake their hands when they want his autograph.
“It’s hard to [say no] to every other person who comes up to you,” he complained in the RS interview. “It can come off as disrespectful.”
When I read that quote, I laughed so hard my left foot actually careened off the pedal and my body sharply tilted left-ways as I thought to myself, Did he really say that? “Come off as”? It can come off as disrespectful? As if it’s not actually disrespectful; it just sort of appears that way. Well I have news for you Matis. When you refuse to shake someone’s hand simply because she is a woman – that’s what disrespectful is, you twit. That is the essence of disrespectful. It is the poster-encounter for disrespect. If you were to look up “disrespectful” in the dictionary there would be a picture of Matisyahu lurching back in horror at a woman’s outstretched hand.
Come off as?
Picture the scene: It was a great show. You rocked the house. You just finished shaking the hands of 35 filthy rasta-wonks, when this adoring post-pubescent female approaches you – tells you how much she loves you, how your music changed her, and how, maybe, it even saved her life. Then she extends her hand to you for some gorgeous human-to-human contact and you actually, unbelievably, somehow have the brick-like balls to tell her no.
Come off as my ass.
At best, Hasidic Jews treat women like second class citizens - at worst, like diseased whorehouse gerbils that were once stowed in certain customer’s assholes. Can you imagine what that must do to the collective psyche of Jewish women? That and all these other execrable tenets such as how females must sit in the back seat of the car when other males are present, or how they’re generally not allowed to speak unless spoken to, and how they must cut their hair when they marry so as not to risk attracting other men – it’s a fucking institution of disrespect man, and so far from come off as that I almost laughed myself right off an exercise bike.
Do you know how hard it is to fall of a stationary bike?!
I know what you’re thinking Matis. You’re thinking it’s not your fault. You’re thinking that these are the rules of your religion which you must obey. But you weren’t born into Hasidism. You adopted it when you were 20 years old. I would understand more if you were born into it, or brainwashed at birth to believe that all this misogynistic rooster-shit you abide somehow brings you closer to Hashem. But you weren’t born into it. You chose Hasidism. You observed it. You researched it. You saw how they treated women and still said, “Yup, this is the religion for me. You even read The Talmud, with its embarrassingly vulgar regard for women: Such as Shabbat 33b which states women are “light minded,” or Swidler, 3 which claims, “A woman is a pitcher of filth with its mouth full of blood,” or Kiddushin 49b which says, “Ten measures of speech descended to the world; women took nine,” which means in lay terms – they talk too goddamn much – leaving you with little doubt that this was a culture that did not respect women and why your disrespect for them is not incidental. So please, please please Matisyahu would you stick your "come off as" right up the place where the gefilte fish don’t swim.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a line in the RS story that I found telling: “In accordance with Jewish law [Matisyahu] has had to stop stage-diving at shows so as to avoid the risk of contact with women he is not related to.”
The part of that sentence that interests me is, “has had to stop," because it means that, at least for a while, he had been stage diving. So why all of the sudden did this become an issue? My guess is somewhere along the road he received a phone call from one of the elders telling him to stop.
Imagine that phone call. . .
Brring
“Hello.”
“Hello Mathew, it is I, the Grand Exalted Imperial Highness of Hasid. Do you have a minute?"
“Of course your greatness."
“This thing you do, where you leap into the crowd and then body surf across it. You must stop immediately.”
“But why, Your Imperialness?”
“Because there are women out there that are not related to you, you schmendrick! Some of them are menstruating fer crissake!"
“Yeech!”
“That’s right ‘Yeech.’ Oh and also, Mathew?”
“Yes.”
“Do you do that, 'Roof is on fire' bit?”
“Yes your eminence.”
“What are you on the crack?! You can’t say that. Thou shalt never let thy neighbor’s roof burn freely. You must fetch pail and help extinguish the fire. Nor shall we compare roofs to incestuous fornicators. What were you thinking? I’m just so disappointed in you Mathew. Reggae? Really!? Why couldn’t you play the klezmer music like a nice Jewish boy? Klezmer is a great music Mathew. I never tire of ‘Hava Nagila.’ Why won’t you play ‘Hava Nagila?!’
This article originally ran in San Diego CityBeat Magazine on March 8, 2007.
- Click here to read the angry responses sent to CityBeat letters department.
- Click here to read my follow up column in response to the angry letters.
- Click here to read the Jewish Sightseeing story about this column.
- Click here to read the Jewish Sightseeing interview with me about my column.
- Click here to read a multiple-post, message board attack on me and this column including my comments near the bottom.
- Click here to read a blogger deconstruct my posts on the previous board.
EJD
03/08/06
Comments (2)
You know, I am not too sure, but if I had to face this guy and ask him who he was for real, (I mean: "How did you make the transition from Mathew Miller(the person) into Matisyaho (the reaggae-jew-jah-trustafari-hebe-ass-rat)) that he would probably reply by speaking in tounges and go running off into the corner to eat some holy kosher cheese by himself, or grab the mic on full volume and start speaking some gibberish with a lot of reverb and delay bouncing around into infinite. No, thanks, I don't buy it bro.
I mean just because you call yourself Jewish doesn't mean you can exploit yourself, your religious philosophy, other religious philosophies, the money you make doing it, and then insult your contemporaries intelligence with this holier than thou bullshit. Fuck that. What a fucking elitist-extremist bunch of bullshit. I really cannot believe people buy this shit. Not that human beings are supposed to be rational or anything, but this guy strikes me as a genuine rat.
I've seen a few impersonators "faking Jamaican" but most who do don't take it as their own dialect, or take themselves very seriously like they were Bob Marley or something. Most of them do it because it is just "cool", and that is completely fine with me. Just be real and give respect where respect is due.
Then there are those who "Jah Bless" all over the place. Most of the "Jah Bless(ers)" really do not know a thing about Rastahfari, and if they did know about Rastahfari they wouldn't be smoking so much weed. Most of these "Jah Bless" types take up the philosophy because they just enjoy the dready-seperatist-elitist hemp-wearing-status, and the holier-than-now-my daddy has a trust fund for me so i am better than you and i don't have to work and i have a lot of free time on my hands and i don't like you because you're not wearing enough hemp-babby-hat-bubble. Or maybe they are rebelling against the status quo, but that's all fine and good (although be it a bit confusing for me).
But really, what I would bet, is that what Matisyaho is is just another trust funded Jew turned artist extraordinaire (through connections he made at church, back in the day when his mommy made him go). Hey! turns out God really does exist, see look, I’m living proof!!!.....What a crock of bullshit dude, how does one arrive at Jewish-Jamaican? What holy land are you standing on? This guy is an idiot, or I am totally confused. Would Bob Marley not be rolling over in his grave right about now, along with a whole suite of other good dead genuine artists (artists who did not really ever attempt to exploit their personal beliefs in their music because they were not necessarily separatist-extremists, but may have been consciously outside of the status quo during their time, and as a result may have experienced REAL suppression)?... Such is NOT the case with Matisyaho, I would bet on it, but whatever….
So, to Matisyaho, his fans, and ilk in kind:
Just be yourself and stop claiming uniqueness through religious philosophies, race, and, or skin color. Try being influenced by different cultures by just being a human being who lives on this earth. You really cannot be Jesus Christ by being like Matisyaho, or even by trying to be Jesus Christ. But nice try Mr. Yahoo, some people are foolish enough to enjoy your apparent self-righteousness, and self-indulgence. Who do you thik you are? Your music is not heart felt, by me at least, and your music is really not making any sense to me. It is kind of off. Any fan of this guy is a little misguided I am afraid. Any woman should be offended by any idea that subjugates them. Matisyaho seems like an impersonator, and a liar. Better to be Snow "the informer" than Matisyaho "the performer".
I'll be pleased to know if I am completely off here. It wouldn't be the first time. But right now I am thinking Matisyaho is off.
No offense to jews either, but if I was Jewish I would be offended by this unorthodox Jewish-Jamaican Matisyaho guy. Give me something more authentic. Give me something Gypsy. For now these are my thoughts, for better, or for worse.
Posted by sickdub | August 29, 2007 11:39 AM
Posted on August 29, 2007 11:39
Do you even know the backround behind shomer negiah? Do you know what it is for? If you'd look into it you would find out that it is actually respecting women (jewish women i'll add) to be shomer negiah. Also there is a little thing called research, that since you may or may not be lazy to do, I'll answer these questions.
The reason for shomer negiah is to not be atracted to women or men in a sexual kind of way; to not be inclined to do somthing else and to also resist the temptation which put you on a higher level of observance with G-d. Jewish women are also obligated in shomer negiah, and there for don't touch men.
Now yes it IS embaressing and some what disrespecful to refuse a hand shake to someone not aware of the law of shomer negiah. That is specifically why you are obligated to shake their hand in order not to embaress them. Now this doesn't mean you should go around shaking the oposite sex's hand all the time; don't put yourself in that position. Thus maybe Mattas yahu shouldn't go near crouds of women. In Judaism if you embarress someone it is as if you have killed them.
Posted by Sophie | June 13, 2008 7:36 PM
Posted on June 13, 2008 19:36