In an interview released on VladTV on October 8, Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu opened up about his spiritual journey, his deep connection to Hasidic Judaism, and how music played a pivotal role in shaping his identity.
Born Matthew Paul Miller, Matisyahu began his story by recalling a pivotal moment in his life when he sought a change in his religious practice. “I went one day, I told my cousin to drop me off at the Orthodox shul in White Plains instead of the shul that I grew up at because I wanted to go on Friday night,” he shared. Upon arriving at Young Israel, Matisyahu encountered three brothers who entered late and conducted their own unique prayer service after everyone else had left. “It was what I found out later was Shlomo Carlebach’s prayers, his music,” Matisyahu said, referring to the influential German born Jewish musician and rabbi.
The three brothers, who formed a band called Pay Dollard, became key figures in Matisyahu’s early exploration of Orthodox Judaism. “I started hanging out with them,” he recalled, adding that he would accompany them to Orthodox events, where he would “rap and play percussion and sing harmonies” with the band.
Matisyahu quickly found himself drawn to the synagogue and the music. “They were singing Shlomo Carlebach’s song, so I started going to that synagogue,” he explained. “It’s sort of not fully Hasidic; it’s kind of hippie Hasidic. It kind of worked with me.”
This new community and style of worship resonated with him on a profound level. “I could see even the look—the tzitzis, the whole vibe. I was like, I could get into this,” Matisyahu said. “And the prayer was really, really special. It’s a small synagogue. The melodies that they used, I started reading about him [Carlebach] and the character that he was.”
Matisyahu, 45, said he continued to deepen his understanding of Judaism, he eventually crossed paths with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. “I got into Chabad. I met a Chabad guy,” he said, but admitted that something within him was still seeking transformation. “Basically, I felt at that point that I wasn’t changing.”
The need for change was more than just a surface-level desire; it was a quest for a deeper spiritual connection. “There was something about who I was that I wanted to change. I wanted to become something—like a crazy version of myself that would be modest, you know, not just on the outside Hasidic but someone who’s really connected with God, who’s really on this spiritual quest.”
Music, particularly reggae, became a major bridge between Matisyahu’s spiritual and creative worlds. “I loved reggae music so much and I was so connected to reggae. I mean, I started to take apart all the lyrics and you see it’s all Old Testament, it’s all from the Torah,” he explained. “That helped me connect with the Jewish thing because it gave me a perspective on it that I hadn’t had before. Coming at it from the music side as a Jew just made sense to me.”
The Hasidic life, requires significant sacrifices which the King Without A Crown singer said he felt compelled to do. “I felt I had to do something drastic,” Matisyahu confessed. “That’s when I went Hasidic. Basically, that meant no sex, no girls, no glasses when you walk down the street, learning Torah 14 to 16 hours a day, living in a basement in Crown Heights.”
For two years, Matisyahu fully immersed himself in the Hasidic lifestyle. “I mean a complete, complete for two years—just going into it, coming out the other side different,” he said. During this time, he married, started a family, and spent a decade living in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. “That first few years was a very intense time, and I was looking for something. I was looking to really shift who I was.”
Reflecting on his journey, Matisyahu tied it all back to a key moment during 9/11/2001 when his grandmother was sick in Florida and his interest in Orthodox Judaism was just beginning.
Through his music and religious exploration, Matisyahu found a way to connect with his Jewish roots. “It gave me a perspective on it that I hadn’t had before,” he reiterated. “And coming at it from the music side as a Jew, it just made sense to me. That was kind of the initial stages of it all.”
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