matisyahu-1

Reggae singer Matisyahu (Hebrew, for ‘Mattathias’) was born Matt Paul Miller, to a secular Jewish family in Pennsylvania. As a teenager, he began taking drugs, and dropped out of high school.

In 1995, he traveled in Israel, and began studying about his Jewish heritage. He returned to the U.S., and settled in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, joining, for a time, with the Chabad Hasidic sect. He began to blend reggae music with Jewish themes, and was known as the “American Jewish Hasidic Reggae Rapper.”

Although no longer part of the Hasidic sect, he strongly identifies as Jewish.

Matisyahu was scheduled to appear at the Reggae Rototom Sunsplash Festival in Spain this week. But, in typical fashion, the anti- Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement reared its ugly head, and demanded that Matisyahu should be banned from the festival, because he supports Israel, which, they claim, is an “apartheid State that engages in ethnic cleansing.”

And so, the festival canceled his appearance.

Meanwhile, Jew-hating BDS supporters seem to have no problem with reggae singer Capleton, whose songs contain viciously anti-gay lyrics.

In the latest update, the Festival has now apologized to Matisyahu and has reinvited him to perform.

Here is Matisyahu, while still in his Hasidic mode, singing one of his hits, “One Day:”

Lyrics: “All my life I’ve been waiting for / I’ve been praying for / For the people to say / That we don’t wanna fight no more…”

Related:

Algemeiner: Wall Street Journal: Matisyahu Debacle Highlights ‘Anti-Jewish Bigotry’ of BDS in Europe

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7 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Alain41 says:

    You would think that Spain would be a little careful with religious exclusion considering its inquisition history.

    Does Matisyahu do a reggae Hava Nagila? That could be cool.

    Wikip:
    [Hava Nagila] was composed in 1920s in the British Mandate of Palestine, at a time when Hebrew was first being revived as a spoken language for the first time in 2,000 years (since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE)….

    Supporters of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur commonly refer to themselves as Yids and are strongly associated with Jewish symbolism and culture. The song “Hava Nagila” has been adopted as an anthem of sorts by the club, and is one of the most frequently sung songs at White Hart Lane.

    Supporters of the Dutch association football club AFC Ajax, although not an official Jewish club, commonly use Jewish imagery. A central part of Ajax fans’ culture, the song Hava Nagila can often be heard sung in the Stadium by the teams supporters, and at one point ringtones of “Hava Nagila”, could even be downloaded from the club’s official website.

    (There was a riot/fight at an Ajax game in the last year. I believe that this was a main cause. (Ajax pronounced eye-yaks))

  2. Dave says:

    This guy is terrific. People don’t realize that Jesus Christ was a practicing Jew or that Gentiles who believe Jesus as Savior are grafted in Jews. God’s chosen pure and simple.

  3. Kitten says:

    Thanks for turning me on to Matisyahu, Shifra. This is a very smooth track, mon. Loved it. I listen to a lot of Christian reggae, but admittedly, I don’t always understand dem words, mon. 🙂

    Who knew there was an “American Jewish Hasidic Reggae Rapper.” Only in America. Gotta love us.

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