Matisyahu Opens Up About Pushing Jewish Teens Off Stage at Maccabi Games

Matisyahu wasn't always Matisyahu.

Born Matthew Paul Miller, the singer/songwriter's career took off in the early 2000's during a phase of his life when he was affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Six years ago, the reggae vocalist and alternative rock musician famously shaved his beard and stopped wearing a yarmulke in public. His religious transformation, divorce and struggle with addiction led to his well-received "Akeda" album. Matisyahu’s latest work, "Undercurrents," is the first album he’s produced by himself.

The artist, who brings his tour to St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit on December 12, took the time to talk to me for an interview in the Detroit Jewish News. In this candid interview, Matisyahu opens up about his religious journey and shaving his iconic beard. He also, for the first time, addresses the controversial concert at the Maccabi Games this past summer, in which he pushed Jewish teens off the stage during the show.

Here's the audio of the interview with the published interview in the Detroit Jewish News below that:

Rabbi Jason Miller: What are the high points of your career?

Matisyahu: There’s been some great moments. The time I got to go on stage at Bonnaroo [Music and Arts Festival] 2005 with Trey [Anastasio of Phish] singing “No Woman No Cry.” That was a definite high point. I also got to sing “Roxanne” with Sting at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv. That was incredible. Those are probably the two biggest artists that I got to sit in with in big stadiums. One of the memories just popping into my head was after the whole BDS thing in Spain, coming to Israel a month later and the warm feeling I got from everyone in Israel was very special for me.


What do you love about coming to Detroit, a city that like Matisyahu, has been on a transformative journey lately?

I have a song on the new album called “Back to the Old” and I think Detroit is one of those cities where young people who left the city have a real pride in the city and return when they’re older. And my first paid gig ever was in Detroit – at the Detroit Auto Show for Volkswagen. Every hour on the hour, I would play music at the Volkswagen display.

Hasidic Dancing in Interstate Traffic

A group of Hasidic students (bachurim) from Michigan were caught simcha dancing on Interstate I-80 during a four-hour traffic standstill over three years ago. However, the news report with a short video clip is once again making the rounds on the Web.

Most likely this fun video has found new life following the many snow-related traffic issues around the country, most notably the traffic standstill in Atlanta which Jon Stewart dubbed "South Parked" on The Daily Show.

Watching this video reminded me of R.E.M.'s great video for "Everybody Hurts," in which the band is stuck in a traffic jam along the double deck portions of I-10 near the I-35 Interchange in Downtown San Antonio, Texas. The music video shows the people in other cars while subtitles of their thoughts appear on screen. At the end of the video directed by Jake Scott, all the people leave their cars and walk instead; then they vanish. The video was heavily inspired by the traffic jam in the opening dream sequence of Fellini's 8½. Instead of getting out and just walking around, these five young guys turned up the music and started dancing like they were at a freilich (fun) wedding.

I was also reminded of the time as a pre-teen when my family was driving back from Toronto and a two-hour standstill ensued on the highway. My brother and I took our baseball mitts and a baseball out of the car and started playing catch on the side of the highway. The moral of the story is that highway standstills are horrible, but you have to make the best out of the situation.

Here's the video of the I-80 dancing.