Carnegie Mellon, PA — After a long day of research and lab work, Jewish students in elite universities are pumping up the volume on Matisyahu’s reggae hits and digging into the Chassidic mysteries behind the lyrics in new Chabad on-campus courses.
Rapper’s Lyrics Spawn Interest in Chasidic Texts
Carnegie Mellon, PA — After a long day of research and lab work, Jewish students in elite universities are pumping up the volume on Matisyahu’s reggae hits and digging into the Chassidic mysteries behind the lyrics in new Chabad on-campus courses.
Chabad centers at Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, UCLA and Ohio State are among those who have plumbed the blisteringly swift lyrics to fish out the Talmudic and Chassidic references. “It’s not a dry, text-based kind of class,” said Rabbi Shmuel Weinstein of Chabad House on Campus – Pittsburgh. “It will spawn a lot of conversation and discussion.”
Dartmouth’s Matisyahu course was a change from Chabad’s more overtly intellectual offerings – a lecture on intelligent design and creation drew a nice crowd – but the music course was no lightweight. “The students know he is rapping about Jewish concepts,” said Rabbi Moshe Leib Gray, “but to really understand them you need all these prerequisites.”
As a for instance, Rabbi Dovid Gurevich of Chabad House @ UCLA sliced and diced the song “Chop ‘Em Down” from Matisyahu’s Shake Off the Dust… Arise album. From the forest itself comes the handle for the ax, the opening lyric, is actually a quote from the Talmud. Rabbi Gurevich taught: “Tanya 31 uses this quote to explain how solutions can often be found within the problem itself, or the need to start solutions (or growth) from the turf of the problem (or where we are now).” Once Matisyahu mentions a concept, it sanctions mention in class and brings even more obscure topics to the table, like the Chassidic take on bittul.
Biology graduate student Michael Weinstein who can be found working in a genetics lab at UCLA attended the classes. “I have been a fan of his music for a while, and I was interested in hearing the stories behind the lyrics. It was nice to gain some insights into the meaning.” One of the benefits of hosting the class, the rabbis said, was attracting students who do not participate in other Chabad events. Digging deep into lyrics is not a distinctly Jewish obsession as those who remember spending hours probing “I am the Walrus” for clues to Paul’s well being can attest.
Back in the day, Matisyahu’s appearances at Chabad campus parties were commonplace. Purim parties, Sukkot blowouts and Saturday night events drew larger and larger crowds as Matisyahu’s fame grew. Rabbi Shmuel Weinstein of Chabad House said his Chabad House that serves Carnegie Mellon and several Pittsburgh universities was one of the first to bring the rising star out for a concert.
Playing to sold out crowds in Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York, Matisyahu’s price points are beyond most Chabad centers’ budgets. But he played when at Chabad on Campus held its massive New York Shabbat retreat, several UCLA students attending the Matisyahu course were in the audience. “It was an interesting interaction,” said Rabbi Gurevich.
In a larger sense, for Matisyahu, known to his mother as Matthew Miller, the courses on his songs are signs of a journey come full circle. After a semester in a high school in Israel, Matisyahu became more committed to his Jewish heritage through Chabad on Washington Square and Hadar Torah, a Lubavitch yeshiva. Now his lyrics are being used to help others discover what lies beneath the surface of their Jewish identity.
rock 86
i love the rappers glasses , it gives him such a cool style.
Goldstein
Wow!!! Good for you Dovid. Keep up the fantastic work. We are so proud of you. We hope to see you soon.
Love,
The Goldstein & Rubinstein Clan :)
BB
Hey Dovid….
When did u move to UCLA?Are you still inthe valley?
annoymus
weird glasses!
Great
keep it up! matisyahu rox! this is a fantastic idea.
u kno who i talkin about!!!!!
Agouraz the bomb!!!!!!!!
fbbgfdfgfd
Please do me a favor! Matisyahu used to walk around with his hat and jacket as a proud lubab. Now take a good look. Yes he still performs with a hat and jacket because that is his trade mark but he does not walk around on the street in public looking like a true lubavitcher should look.
hk
and wat exactly is a true lubab, please enlighten us!
a lubavitcher chossid!
do urself a faavor and start working on urself not other ppl…a true lubavitcher is someone hus always risin higher. we all work on ourselves we’ll all be happier ppl. but i can only talk for myself and i can proudly say thats wat im doing with the help of other ppl…like matisyahu!!!!!!
hugs not drugs
dear fbbgfdfgfd….wow that took long to type!!!!
positivity can do wonders……if you would have said something like wow dont you think lubavitch is on the rise i think you would rcieve much more respece then when you down on him like taht…hez a good guy!!!!!!
witheld
to fbbgfdlgfd:
firstly, love your name.
secondly, here you are criticizing matisyahu and holding him up for scrutiny while you are not even willing write your name!!!
lol!
thirdly, the chabad view of how we speak about jews and people in general applies to famous and non-famous alike.
please don’t make the mistake of thinking that because someone’s famous it’s open season for taking potshots at him.
this may be the style of people magazine, national enquirer and the like, but there is no basis for the notion that because someone is famous we are allowed to say whatever we want about them!!!
a not so close friend who likes him
while mat seems like a nice jewish boy fbbgfdfgfd (doesn’t take too long with copy and paste)is right
he is some kind of new hero
while its nice to see someone have financial succcess and wake up people’s neshomo at the same time, remember he is human and fallible.
it is no one else’s business other than his wife, close friends ( a good chaver should care)and his mashpia where he is beruchnius, the moment he is held up as ome kind of super hero for us then ppl are right for pointing out a failure they percieve as well.
witheld
to notsoclosefriend:
every jew is a hero, whether he wears polyester black and white, or cotton hooded sweatshirt, matisyahu will alwyas be a hero for who he is and what he does, even if he fries out, G-d forbid. every jew is a hero in the Rebbe’s eyes.
whether kids in CH should be looking up to him and modeling their behavior and dress after him — of course not! even if he’s wearing the garb, no kid in CH should be singing in a club.
so i disagree that because people look up to him the laws of loshon hora don’t apply. please show me the source for that. the only heter i know is for shiduchim and a job, so unless you’re planning to hire or marry matisyahu, it ain’t none of your bidniss! no doubt.
an actual friend
if anyone would actually speak with him and ask real questions and really listen to the answers that he gives, they would soon see that matisyahu is doing just fine b’ruchniyus, that he is devoted to G-d, on the derech, and quite frum. but, for those of you who are concerned with the style of a person’s hat and the style of their glasses, and based on those things you make judgements of their relationship with G-d, well, that’s just plain pitiful.
brb2CH
to an actual friend…… thatz really cooll….and i believe you 100 percent….keep up the work of the Rebbe!!!!! Moshiach Now!!!!!!
fbbgfdfgfd, focus on the article
What does the way he dresses have to do with the article is discussing? If I understand it correctly the article was discussing how the lyrics to Mattisyahu’s songs have deep kabbalistic references and lessons. That is amazing and that is was this was about and it is definitely worthy of nachas and praise.
fbbgfdfgfd There are many people in Crown Heights who dress appropriate, but do not act appropriate. My wife was in Kingston Pizza and a boy wearing a “Yechi” yamulke and black and white was cursing and threatening people. On Simchas Torah I saw a Chosid in black, white, and a hat flirt with a girl in front of 770. Maybe “fbbgfdfgfd” would consider these person a real Chassidim since they dress nice, but I don’t, as simply dressing the part only doesn’t make the Chosid completely
Maybe instead of criticizing Mattisyahu for how he dresses, which is not immodest, fbbgfdfgfd should actually read the article and comment on that instead