While efforts of protestors to stop concerts do little to impact world decision-makers, they haven’t stopped some from organizing against Matisyahu, the Jewish artist whose fan base spans both the Orthodox Jewish world and mainstream America.
The Grammy-nominated singer, whose real name is Matthew Miller, posted that two of his shows were canceled: one at Meow Wolf in Sante Fe, New Mexico, and the other at The Rialto in Tucson, Arizona, with staff reportedly refusing to come to work and the venues citing “security concerns.”
But Matisyahu said articles wrongly claimed that he canceled a recent show at Chicago’s House of Blues when it was not the case.
“It was reported by a few people that I canceled the show, it’s a hundred percent incorrect,” Matisyahu told The Jewish Press. “I got a call from someone at Live Nation the day before that the police department of Chicago was canceling the show, and that didn’t make sense to me. So, I called up my friend David Draiman (the frontman of the band Disturbed) who is from Chicago and knows higher-ups there. The police force confirmed they were not the ones who were canceling the show. The venue was ready for us. They were the nicest people in the world.” (Draiman, who attended Jewish schools, has publicly spoken in defense of Israel.)
Matisyahu said extra security had been contracted for the show and that he heard that one Chicago politician had put pressure on Live Nation to cancel the show. A group that had planned to protest the show posted online that with the show being canceled they would no longer protest.
According to CBS News Chicago, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network-Chicago and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression had called Matisyahu a “racist, Zionist musician” and called for a protest.
Few artists of any religion have had a hit song that calls for “no more war” and is used by NBC in commercials for the Olympics. The chorus of Matisyahu’s “One Day” is “All my life, I’ve been waiting for/I’ve been praying for/all the people to say, that we aren’t gonna fight no more/there’ll be no more war and our children will pray. One Day…”
“You know, it seems they’re [the protesters] are upset that I played for the IDF soldiers, which is straight up antisemitic and racist,” Matisyahu said. “We’re not allowed to have our own army? That’s what their problem is. They don’t know anything about me, who I am, or my fans.”
Matisyahu posted online in February that protesters “do this because they are either antisemitic or have confused their empathy for the Palestinian people with hatred for someone like me who holds empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians.”
A fan told WGN 9 Chicago, “I’m really disappointed. I’ve been a big fan of Matisyahu for a long time. I don’t think his music is objectionable to any side…It’s sad that people protest when there’s a Jew who is a Zionist.”
A representative of the group that had planned the protest told the station there was a petition with 1,000 signatures and that Matisyahu was not welcome in Chicago.
Matisyahu said that he was donating the money he was paid to families of the hostages in Gaza “in honor of International Women’s Day to acknowledge the women and girls still held captive by Hamas, as well as United Hatzalah of Israel.”
Asked if the protests and canceled shows have made him want to do more concerts, he said, “It turned on a fire inside of me of being a Jewish warrior. I was starting to relax a little bit but now I’m on fire again.”
One of his new songs is called “Fireproof.” The lyrics leading up to the chorus are, “Every fire I walk through, through the flames I could hear you, rise up a new…Now I’m fireproof.” His “Hold the Fire” tour includes more than 22 stops.
Matisyahu’s first album was “Shake off the Dust…Arise.” His second album, “Live at Stubbs,” garnered critical acclaim, and he performed his hit “King Without a Crown” on CBS’s Late Night With David Letterman.
Originally from Pennsylvania, Matisyahu grew up in White Plains, New York. He was nominated for a Grammy for his 2006 album Youth in the category of “Best Reggae Album.” At concerts, he would delight fans not only with his soaring vocals, but with his beatboxing ability. After becoming Jewishly observant, his distinctive chassidic garb became, for a time, part of his professional persona.
In 2015, the Rototom Sunsplash Festival in Spain canceled Matisyahu’s performance due to pressure from the BDS (Boycott Divest and Sanctions Against Israel) movement. After criticism from the Spanish government, the festival apologized and re-invited Matisyahu, and he performed there.
With a backward baseball cap and t-shirt, Matisyahu performed his hit “Jerusalem” with a chorus of “Jerusalem if I forget you…Let my right hand forget what it’s supposed to do” while a video of the event shows some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags.
In Manhattan last month, protestors attacked police in Manhattan at “Laugh Through The Heartbreak,” a show produced by Manhattan-based musician and author Erez Safar.
“It was crazy,” Safar told The Jewish Press. “I don’t know what they think they’re going to achieve. I sent Matis the video because I knew if they were protesting my event, they were gonna protest him. But he’s not gonna stop. These people are just wasting their time.”
Safar added that Danit Sibs, a Jewish comic who co-produced and performed in the “Laugh Through The Heartbreak Show” in Manhattan, is a former assistant district attorney who helped make sure there was a sufficient police presence.
Did Matisyahu think of staying silent or not performing in Israel?
“No, that thought never crossed my mind,” he said.
Matisyahu added that he is disappointed more Jewish celebrities have not spoken up against antisemitism and in support of Israel.
“It’s amazing to me, out of all these Jews out there, a lot, while their careers are based on playing these Jewish characters, they actually have very little to do with Judaism,” he said. “I’m Matisyahu, my whole entire career my 20s and 30s was based on being a chassid. I know a thing or two about Judaism. It’s been a central part of my life, not just in the jokes that I make, or the matzah ball soup I have on Pesach. It was the core of my being for many years, some could argue even still.
“Basically, when I look around and see all these Jews who are not speaking up because they’re afraid or whatever, they’re unsure, or whatever it is, I guess that’s what American Jewry has come to… a weak spot that if Nazis showed up on your front doorstep you wouldn’t have the (guts) to speak up for yourself or your people. That’s a reflection of where Judaism is today in America because if I’m me, and a handful of people are the only people feeling within themselves the need and desire…it was never an option for me, do I speak or do I not speak. Do I go to Israel or not go to Israel? This is who I am. I’m a fighter for the Jewish people in my own way with my music. There’s not any other option for me.
“At the end of the day, I do believe in G-d, and I do believe that G-d has protected us up until this point and will continue to protect us.”
Matisyahu will perform in Williamsburg at Brooklyn Steel on Saturday night, March 23, at 8 p.m.
