Matisyahu Miller has been getting lots of press these days, especially on Mentalblog. One comment that came from our friend Schneur hit home somewhat for me.
He questioned whether or not the Rebbe would've approved of what Matisyahu is doing, however good his intentions may be. He compares him to the late Shlomo Carlebach who asked the Rebbe if he can perform for mixed crowds, and the answer was NO. According to what Shlomo said they then parted ways, the Rebbe and Shlomo did. It seems a little too simplistic, that Shlomo only left for that reason, but that's a little beside the point. The point remains, he says, that the Rebbe was totally against the idea of a singer performing for mixed audiences.
Schneur continues: (paraphrasing)
Shlomo only sang in Loshon Kodesh (he did speak and sing in English, but his compositions were for the most part in Loshon HaKodesh) and sang in a very mellow way,no jumping or hip-hopping, yet he was forever banished from Chabad. Our friend Matisyahu goes further than any frum singer has ever gone, and then some, including performing on live TV and in nightclubs. I know all about him wearing the hat and jacket at his performances, and the sometimes removal of his glasses while performing, but what does that do? How much can a hat and jacket help for his own observance, and how does that change the content of his music?
I have been told and made to understand that there is one clear-cut difference here, namely that of Marriage. Shlomo was a Bochur and remained either a bachelor or single for most of his singing career. He also encouraged sing-along, especially the women, and mingled heavily with the attendees of his concerts. MM is married and does have somewhat of a set of guidelines as far as mingling is concerned. Do the dissimilarities end there? I'm not quite sure that they don't.
If it were only him performing in out of the way clubs, וואלט געווען א האלבע צרה , but now we've got so-called Shluchim going "mit di veib" to hear him perform as a night out on the town. Every Lubavitcher has a pure "heter" now to listen to the music because "er iz an unzerer" and even sings something that sounds like "Kol BaYaar" and "Tzomoh Lecho Nafshi"! hooray!
Mistama iz er vayler bocher and asked his Mashpiyim in HaDar Hatorah if he can continue and make this his career. What they were thinking, if they did give him the OK, is beyond me.
And you thought I couldn't be objective.
27 comments:
Hirshel,
Is it known what the Rebbe thought of MBD, Avrohom Fried, Piamanta, etc?
Was Shlomo, perhaps, an exception to the rule?
Just asking...
well, they would tell you that they passed by "dollars" and the rebbe wished them luck. So there, a full-fledged endorsement!
HT,
I have seen clips of some of those dollar receiving endorsements, and I think that the Rebbe's encouragement was a little more thank "wishing them luck."
Also, the Rebbe was supportive of baalei teshuva (Tzvi Freidman for example) who, like Matisyahu, feel a need to express themselves artistically in this way - whereas Shlomo is a whole other story (...talmid chochom goes bad)
זעזמיר
וואס מישסטו אריין דא צבי פרימאן? Is he a performer? no.
Fried(man) is a yeshiva bocher, the grandson of a choshuve pre-war Rov, who decided he needs to shake his posterior in front of large crowds.
Carlebach was a Talmud Chochom, true, but an amateur could've recognized his need to express himself. How much more so the Rebbe, who encouraged even FFBs to follow their artistic urges, how much more so Baalei Tshuvah.However, the conditions were as long as it coincided with the Torah.
I saw a clip on the intervesh, "in s'iz mir nisht git gevorin" he grabs his whatchamacallit he jumps into the crowd vchuli.
Whoever gave him a "heter" needs his head examined at best.
BigMak
Fried was ever told that it's OK to sing for mixed crowds, or he decided that himself?
what about the musical influence on Frum kids, is that Ok too?
Matisyahu is still far better than the Iron Lion guy...
I'm sorry, I'm not familiar witht the Iron Lion, care to fill me in?
Yasher keyach.
I am certain that Mathisyahu is a fine person and a growing Jew. But there are times when people's actions although within the range of halacha can impact negatively on other Jews.
I think in this case we are allowing a window of opportunity for teens of all orthodox stripes to enter a world that it would be best not to know of.
Sounds like you and Tzemach have buried the hatchet. Perhaps it's time to change your URL?
bigmak
nu, zol zein yiddish, but who says that everything "Yiddish"is Kosher?
so let's say that it's ok for him to perform because of what he "tut uyf", but what about the music? Do our children need to listen to it?
I see the grayse Chassidim here have lost any of the hergesh that was once part and parcel of a Chossid's way of thinking. Sad.
on the subject of music being jewish or not, I once heard that the Skulener rebbe ( I'm not sure if the Heinteger Or freierdige) disapproved of the "hora" music played at chasunes. The vort was, & don't quote me, "the nefesh ha'bhamis lebt uf ven m'shpielt hora". I think that the way the dance goes proves shyesh emes badovor.
Lav Davka that wild dancing shtamt fun di nefesh habehamis, Just look at places like KARLIN where dancing, and not controlled foot-dragging, is very much encouraged. The Horah maybe was disliked because it stemmed from Chalutzim who left the derech and then made it into the Israeli National tentzel.
vus iz mir dir tziggaleh?! 1) horah is arabic in origin. 2)can't u see the difference between the karliner dance & the horah?!
Horah clearly features the body... karliner dance is just plain "chayus".
It may be Arabic in origin, although I've never seen an Arab dance like that. However, the point remains that it has become like the Mogen Dovid, posul because of "Tziyoynim".
I know that horah differs from Karlin style, but the common denominator is that seemingly with both of them the guf has chayos, so that can't be the root of the problem with the horah.
here is possible proof. Ver tantzt a karliner tantz, in ver tantzt (bderech clal) the horah?
here is the link. "yareh hakohol v'yishpoyt"
http://www.mtvu.com/music/video_premiere/matisyahu/
Oich mir
are you saying that all the Yeshivishe Bocherim and even the Satmarer Bocherim, and anyone in between, are epes veiniger vi di Karliner:)?
Nah! my point is the difference bet chasidishe tantz & horah (& i don't mean the zionistic part of it)
Help! the economic indicators are dipping! everybody back to work now or we will have to go "shnorr" in israel to marry off our kids.
Ho-ra reminds of me of hoo-ra (hu ra) - the post recently about who killed Stalin.
I just saw that there was a Satmarer ban and posters in New Square against a new release of Lipa Schmelzer now, by the way.
did anybody see the letter to the editor in this week's English Algemeiner regarding this issue? They even used the same picture!
B"H
Shalom Hirshel !
Shalom everyone!
During my lecture tour in Milwaukee in October I became aquanted with a young Jewish man who is a musician. He mentioned that he has a Russian friend who was an anti-semite (hated Jews in general except my friend) this friend of his once took Matisyahu's CD and played it for himself after taking LSD. During the LSD induced halucination he saw a vision of hundreds of Jews standing in front of him telling him that they had to burn during holocaust for him to exist...
He stopped being an anti-semite became a friend of the Jewish people...
I met many other people in Portland , Milwaukee Chicago and online who are being inspired and uplifted by his music.
I'm sure the A-mighty has much nachas from him and since you know that he got permission from his mashpiim at Hadar Hatorah who as everyone knows are in general strict in their rulings you should ask them what their reasons are instead of writing such an article or at least in addition to it.
Have a Gut Shabbos everybody!
Sorry Ariel, but I needed to edit your heretical comment.
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