. Not long afterward, you posted pictures of yourself online without a yarmulke. Now you have dyed your hair blond. Can you explain the different steps leading to these changes?<\/em><\/p>\nWhen I was in my early 20s, I became interested in Jewish identity and history. I went to Israel and had a strong feeling about being Jewish. I started to think about how to incorporate my spiritual search into reggae music. And I decided to make the leap to express myself as a Jew. I started to wear a yarmulke, grew a beard and changed my clothes. It was very much like the blending of the old mystical tradition and spirituality with who I am in America as a 21-year-old musician. Then I decided that I would go the next level with it all and that I would take on the ideology of Orthodox Judaism, even though I didn\u2019t necessarily understand it logically. I figured that I was going to submit myself to it. And I accepted it. It became a part of my worldview. At the same time, I was traveling a lot, meeting different hasidim, and I really got a good understanding of what it means to be Jewish. But at some point I felt locked in to that vision of the world. I needed to go back to my choices and make decisions about my life. I still believe there is a lot of truth in Orthodox Judaism, but not the whole truth. Each person has his truth that he has to discover. You don\u2019t necessarily have to mold yourself to another idea of who you are.<\/p>\n
So you feel more authentic now that you have shaved your beard?<\/em><\/p>\nWhen I had my beard and my suit, that was very true for me. In that moment that\u2019s what I wanted. But I did feel that it no longer was representing who I was.<\/p>\n
Were you affected by some of the negative reactions among your fans after you changed your look?<\/em><\/p>\nObviously it made me a little sad because I\u2019m not really interested in making people upset. But at the same time, I\u2019m not representative for anyone. Some Orthodox Jews felt that I betrayed them. There\u2019s no betrayal; every person has to do what is right for him in his life. Then, separate from religion, there is the image issue. Some artists are bound to an image: Bob Marley has dreadlocks, Matisyahu has a beard.\u00a0But that\u2019s a reminder that the whole thing is not about style. It\u2019s about music.<\/p>\n
Still, you were, maybe unintentionally, a symbol for many Jews around the world that it was possible to reconcile tradition and modernity.<\/em><\/p>\nI think I\u2019m still doing that! I\u2019m looking very much towards the Torah and Judaism as a source of inspiration. Maybe it\u2019s not as obvious for people on the surface, but anyone who really listens to my record will find depth. And that\u2019s a good way to weed out who is a real fan and who cannot go with you. When you are in a relationship with an artist, if his music is a part of your life, you have to choose whether or not to follow him through his transformation and evolution. You know, it\u2019s like the story of the golden calf. When Moses comes down from the mountain, the first thing he does is burn it and it goes back to its original form. Sometimes a calf comes to us like an idol and we become stuck in an image. But to go back to the truth, we need to get rid of the image and get back to the base core. That\u2019s kind of what I did.<\/p>\n
Has your observance of Judaism evolved, too?<\/em><\/p>\nI\u2019m taking every day as it comes. For example, if I\u2019m on the road with my chef or if I\u2019m home, it\u2019s very easy to keep kosher. But what is it to keep kosher? Is it eating kosher potato chips? Kosher is a bigger idea. I think it\u2019s about being healthy. But according to some people, it\u2019s about not eating this food because it\u2019s forbidden by the Jewish law. My view of the halachah changed a little bit. The laws are there hopefully to be a tool. When they\u2019re acting in that way, I\u2019m following them. But if not, I\u2019m not just doing random things because that\u2019s what you are supposed to do.<\/p>\n
How did the people around you react to your changes?<\/em><\/p>\nThe people that I\u2019m around are my band. That\u2019s who I\u2019m spending most of my time with on the road. They\u2019re not religious, they\u2019re not Jewish and they\u2019re very understanding. Also, I don\u2019t live anymore in the neighborhood where I used to live. As for my family, they are very accepting of my changes. My kids are learning very different perspectives. I felt that was something very important to teach them all along: bringing them out, getting them out of the shtetl, seeing the whole world, meeting people from different cultures, stressing the humanity of mankind. They\u2019re also growing up with a strong Jewish identity because it\u2019s a big part of our lives — with Shabbat, holidays and even school. I\u2019m teaching them real Jewish values: not to judge people, believe in unity and oneness, and also to know who they are.<\/p>\n
Will we see a new Matisyahu a couple of years from now?<\/em><\/p>\nIn life, you\u2019re never going to escape yourself, you\u2019re never going to become something else. Hopefully, if you\u2019re having this interview in two or three years, you will meet a more evolved Matisyahu. It\u2019s important to keep growing.<\/p>\n
Your latest album, \u201c<\/em>Spark Seeker<\/em><\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=wwwurielheilm-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0082LUGVC\")
,\u201d has just been released in Europe. Critics describe it as more pop and less reggae than the previous albums. Do you agree?<\/em><\/p>\nI don\u2019t really consider it less reggae because reggae means a lot of different things to different people. There\u2019s no such objective definition of the term when you\u2019re talking about genres and styles in music. In the pure sense, it\u2019s not so much reggae, but in some ways, this is more my delivery of vocals, a lot of them in a strong reggae patois. … The record was a sort of nice breath of fresh air: having a good time, writing feel-good songs. It\u2019s more of a digitally produced record, more hip hop in the sense that drums and synthesizers are at the forefront of the music. But when my team and I went to Israel, we recorded a lot of live instruments, mostly Middle Eastern style. So in the end, we combined this Middle Eastern organic flavor with more modern fresh pop.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Matisyahu1.jpg\" "\\"\"Matisyahu\"")