-Matisyahu- yet another jewish singer

Matiyahus first major TV interview – Click here

The new face of Jewish music wears a black hat and jacket and a long beard. He embeds divrei Torah in his songs, which rely heavily on Jewish and chasidic content. But his songs don`t come from the shtetl. Enter, instead, a bizarre matrimony between reggae, hip-hop, beatbox and Hasidic music. He is 25 years old and his name is Matthew Miller, aka Matisyahu. His new CD “Shake Off the Dust…Arise” derives from Isaiah 52:2, “Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion,” which readers will recognize from the Lecha Dodi of the Friday evening service.

Matisyahu`s unique blend begs the question of what sort of animal a Hasidic reggae performer might be. Can Jewish music maintain its Jewish component while diluting itself with other ethnic, traditionally secular and political music? And more importantly, how does that shed light on Jewish music and the larger world of postmodern music?

Former President Bill Clinton Backs Effort To Return The Schneerson Library

Mr. Leon Furth, National Security Adviser to former Vice President, Al Gore, has exerted 15 years of efforts on behalf of the return of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Seforim from Russia. Furth has reached a small success entailing the restoration of several seforim, which he brought to the U.S. via the private plane of President Bill Clinton – Air Force One – in the winter of 5754. In a picture of Clinton and Furth on the plane, Clinton is seen (above) putting his hand on Furth’s shoulder. When Clinton later sent the picture to Furth, he added this caption on the bottom:

“To Leon, lion of the Lubavitch Library. Congratulations on surviving to another Happy birthday. Bill Clinton “. This week, Mr. Furth is slated to testify at the Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, and to emphasize the importance of returning the Schneerson Library to the Chabad Headquarters in New York.

8thDay – The New Jewish Band

After so much un-creativity that has been displayed by so many Jewish artists, starting from the “Borrowed” music the singers sing to down to the singers singing Davening on a CD, I must say Jewish music became lame.

Now along came this brand new band, actually they have released a CD but it was a plain white label with no particular identification to it, now they seemed to have regrouped and arranged themselves quite nicely, band name, web site, pictures and all.

The fist thing I noticed was a poster of theirs which was so very different it seemed… ORIGINAL, so I took a look at the website and my my its just different so the first thing I did was went to the sample section, and listened to the available samples 3 in total and it was like a blast of fresh air. OK enough, here’s the links to the samples and to the website, it will say a lot more then I can.

Bar Yochai – Rain – Yarmulka

My8ThDay.com

Doar Sold For The Second Time

For all those of you that dont know Doar is the little store on the corner of Crown and Kingston.

As far as I rember the first owner was Yerachmiel Zalmanov about 10 years back and he sold it Sholom Ber Levitin who now himself has sold it.

What we can expect now would be longer hours and a more orderly store.

Exodus experience makes its first appearance in Arizona

After many similar presentations all over the world the exodus experience is now making it’s first appearance in Arizona. After months of work in preparation for the ‘Exodus Experience’ the Shluchim of the Yeshiva High school of Tucson finally made their first presentation yesterday (Wednesday).

Just yesterday, over 300 children participated and all that came thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were very impressed with the presentation. The Exodus expects hundreds more children over the weekend.

The children walked through a maze of exihibits where they experienced the Slavery of Eygpt, the 10 Plagues, the splitting of the Sea and the Giving of the Torah. This is all made real while actors act out the story.

The children also get to bake their very own Matzos and then participate in a game show. The Exodus experience will be in Tucson over the weekend after which it will be transported to phoenix where even more children will be given the opportunity to learn about Pesach.

An Intresting Memo That Came Across The News Wire

Schneerson Collection Focus of Helsinki Commission Hearing

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor

Contact: Sean Woo of the Helsinki Commission, 202-225-1901

News Advisory:

The Chairman of the United States Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), Senator Sam Brownback
(R-KS), announced that the Commission will hold the following hearing
on the efforts of the Chabad community and the U.S. Government to
recover the “Schneerson Collection” of sacred and irreplaceable Jewish
books and manuscripts from the Russian Government:

WHAT: Helsinki Commission hearing: “The Schneerson Collection and
Historical Justice”

WHEN: Wednesday, April 6, 2005, 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

New Trial Agony For Yankel Rosenbaum Kin

TODAY, jailbird Lemrick Nelson walks the streets a free man, but the Rosenbaum family remains imprisoned in a mind-boggling system of junk justice.

To the ugly cries of a wolf pack chanting, “Get the Jew, kill the Jew,” Lemrick Nelson stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum, an Australian student, four times during a race riot on Aug. 19, 1991.

Yankel died the next day in Kings County Hospital from wounds inflicted by the worm, Nelson.

This morning, Yankel’s mother, Fay, father, Max, and brother, Norman, will walk into Brooklyn Supreme Court at 10 a.m. — the fourth trial of this nightmare.

shomrim assist a victim of mugging

at approx: 1:35PM a call came through to SHOMRIM Headquaters reporting a mugging on Montgomery between Troy & Schnechtedy within 5 minutes SHOMRIM units were on the scene where a married woman with her 5 year old child were walking home when all of a sudden out of the alley a voice came out shouting “give me your purse, give me your purse” after she gave the purse to the guys they ran off towards albany when she arrived home the police came and took her to canvas the area then took her back to the precinct to file a report.

We urge the community to keep your eyes open and if they see anything to call SHOMRIM straight away on (718) 774-3333. It’s vital for your safety and for the safety of the community.

A Purim Story

Did you ever hear a situation being described as A Purim Story? It
means a crazy, mixed up series of events that do not seem to make
sense, but in the end, all work out.

That is Purim in a nut shell– an ancient story of court intrigue,
deception, miscommunication, drunken parties, assassination plots, a
foolish king, a delinquent queen, villains, a strong hero and one
beautiful heroine.

For one little holiday, Purim certainly has it all. It is a one-day,
carnival-like celebration in Adar, which occurs in late February or
early March in the secular calendar.

Purim commemorates events that took place 2,500 years ago just after
King Achashverosh consolidated his rule over the Persian empire.
According to Megilat Esther, which is Hebrew for the Scroll of Esther,
Achashverosh’s empire stretched from Hodu ad Kush, which on today’s
map, would mean from Ethiopia to India.

To celebrate the expansion of his empire, King Achashveyrosh and his
court feasted for six months. It was during one of these feasts, and
after a lot of food and wine, that Achashveyrosh called for his wife,
the proud Queen Vashti, to appear. However, Vashti, who did not
appreciate being summoned on demand, refused.

The Midrash, which is a series of biblical commentaries, says that
Vashti refused out of modesty, because she was summoned in order to
dance naked in front of the King and his friends. Another version is
that Vashti refused to appear out of vanity, because she had a blemish
on her face.

Whatever Vashti’s reason, when she did not appear, the King became
very angry. His advisers, fearing their own wives would take courage
from Vashti and become similarly disobedient, told the king to have
her killed.

Purim In Pictures

Megilla Laining In The Rebbe’s Room

A small galary of pictures in tooken of the Megilla Laining in the Rebbe’s Room.

Special Thanks to Col.org.il for the pictures.