Rockin' Chassid is making waves

Dave Gordon SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

As a teenager in White Plains, N.Y., Matthew Miller was a Grateful Dead fan who sang rap songs, wore baggy pants, dreadlocks and tie-dyed tees. Raised in a non-religious household, Judaism never played a large role in his life.

Today, he's a reggae singer who is garnering attention, raising some eyebrows and receiving accolades from critics all over. Things have changed in the past few years. Over the course of time, the dreads turned into peyot (sidelocks), he traded in his baggy pants for black slacks and the raps have turned into reggae. Matthew Miller became Matisyahu. Now going by his Hebrew name, the 25-year-old Lubavitcher from Crown Heights is definitely an uncommon face in the reggae scene, wearing traditional Chassidic garb of black hat, black coat and long, black beard.

"The image is not something people are used to seeing. It's really a trip for people. I think hopefully, once people hear the music, the music speaks for itself and they'll get into it," he said. Miller's music brings to the fore a unique fusion of styles, from Bob Marley to Jewish folk singer Shlomo Carlebach, yet remains original.

"It's about beating negative forces, using music to bring people back to Judaism," he said. "I never had Judaism presented to me as something joyful."

It was a high school trip to Israel that opened his eyes to the joys of Judaism. A sunset on scenic Mount Scopus began it all.

"It was a transitional moment, at that point, watching the sun setting, singing songs, hearing chanting in the background," he said.

"Everything was a moment of feeling, really for the first time, in my soul and my heart. I was feeling the depth and richness, davening [praying], intellectualizing, on a completely pure and emotional level."

There were several more experiences that solidified his path to observant Judaism. The following Rosh Hashanah he arrived at the Western Wall and saw a few hundred Chassidim davening with intensity. "That made an impression for sure, and that's something I thought about for years." Those images of Israel would often stay in the back of his mind. "I'd always pull something out from these experiences in my raps," he said.

Soon after, on Simchat Torah, he heard drumming echoing through the streets of Jerusalem. He followed the rhythms to a trail winding through the Old City, and came to a shtiebel, a small house of prayer. Wearing dreadlocks and a tie-dyed shirt, he looked in, and again saw hundreds of Chassidim dancing around the bimah, carrying bottles of wine, dancing and laughing.

"It was the first time I ever saw a Chassid smiling. Before, religious people were pretty one-dimensional and serious and now I saw another side." But while his perceptions had changed, his own religious direction didn't change for a few more months.

After high school, he attended New School College in Manhattan. His new-found Jewish experiences culminated in a sudden urge to pray – to want to connect to God. So he borrowed his father's prayer shawl and asked his Reconstructionist rabbi for a siddur. He'd go on the roof of his school at sunset and pray, even though he didn't know what the words meant.

While at New School, he took writing courses, theatre and music, earning a bachelor of arts. It was there that he met Rabbi Eli Cohen of New York University and began learning Torah with him.

"I was pulling religion in from a lot of places, like the Carlebach Shul, Jewish pop band Pey Daled, Aish HaTorah and Seagate Yeshivah in Queens." The latter he attended during a winter break, but left after a day, disillusioned. But it was his leaving that helped bring him back in. As he left, the rabbi of the yeshivah called a Chabad rabbi of New York University to see what was bothering Miller. The Chabad rabbi and Miller talked and something clicked.

"He was someone I could really relate to," said Miller. "He had been on Grateful Dead tours. It's kinda what I needed at that point." Miller ended up moving into the rabbi's family's apartment, due to family tensions stemming from his newfound religiosity.

"At first it was hard for my family, and that's why I needed to move out. I couldn't eat on their dishes," he said. "At first my family, like many families, took it personally and thought it was a rejection of their ways, and there was a lot of stress.

"But now they are super-supportive, super-positive about the whole thing. Even when we were stressed out, I always knew it would work out. It wasn't a rejection of them; it was a positive thing. I knew there would be initial fear, but now they're very accepting and positive."

It took about a year for everything to settle down. During this process, he changed his name to Matisyahu and attended yeshivah for two years in Crown Heights.

"I used to wear baggy pants," Miller explained. "I wasn't representing something real. But from the second I wore a yarmulke and wore a beard I felt there was truth and confidence that I never had. I think I bring that into my music, and yiddishkeit is the emes, the truth. I bring that with me and I think people sense that. They don't sense the wavering and they sense truth."

While taking classes with Rabbi Cohen, Miller met Aaron Bisman, who was starting a new record label called JDub. They hung out and jammed, with the vision to be partners on the new label. But Miller had other plans – he was off to yeshivah and stopped playing music. The timing wasn't quite right. He completely stopped performing and listening to music and just learned Talmud all day. But Matisyahu didn't write off the idea entirely. He told Bisman that if the record label became a reality, he'd join in. And so, after corralling his New School musician pals and gaining permission from his rabbi, Miller hopped on board.

JDub decided to tout him as their biggest act. Their first album is Miller's Shake Off the Dust... Arise, and it's gaining effusive reviews from the media. The reggae style is familiar to many but Miller gives it that Jewish flavor and even the non-Jewish mainstream world is paying attention. What has followed is a flurry of articles in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Jerusalem Post and the New York Post (who dubbed him a "Chassidic reggae superstar").

Things have begun to snowball with appearances on CNN, NBC news and the TV talk-show Jimmy Kimmel Live. But he doesn't let it get to his head.
"I don't really get too nervous about being on TV. I learned [Talmud] for an hour before the Kimmel interview, so not to be too carried away with Hollywood. My mission is to promote Mashiach and Godliness, and the more I learn, the more I daven and stay close to the real reality."

The songs off his CD reflect much the same message. The song "Chop 'em Down" talks about Joseph and Pharaoh, and employs allegories from the 18th-century Alter Rebbe to describe a mission of using music as a tool for religious awakening. Miller explains that religion and reggae have always gone hand-in-hand.

"In Jamaica, reggae music's message grew from the Bible and a connection with God," he said. "It's not so different if I borrow their music to help people know God better, too."

For more information about Miller/Matisyahu, visit www.hasidicreggae.com/news.php. Miller's official CD release party will be on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 8:30 p.m., at Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St., New York.

Dave Gordon is a freelance writer who has written for the Baltimore Sun, Toronto Star and Western Standard.

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