We’re so quick to go to make things black and white, and to put things in their box. But everything is this mixture – and that’s what this world is – is this blend of different things. – Matisyahu
When I first started reading about the kabbalists, I would hear about them being seen in strange places. It would turn out that they were doing some kind of spiritual work to elevate the sparks. In my life and career, I’ve had the opportunity to find myself where I could make some spiritual moves, to do some work that is spiritually important. – Matisyahu
I think when you’re a fan of music – at least the way I’ve been a fan to artists that have really touched me – you’re with them for the long haul. They might do things that you don’t understand or agree with, but I think I’ve always tried to hold my judgment and give them the space to do what they need to do. – Matisyahu
Music is my first love and the thing that I feel extremely connected to. I feel like I still have a long way to go within that in terms of being able to perform and write songs. But, yeah, I really hope ‘The Possession’ opens doors for me to do more acting, because I really enjoyed it. – Matisyahu
When a person listens to a good song, and they can look out at the world and their lives and see the dark and the light, the negative and the positive, all the different elements, all come together in one holistic poem, that is a very healing and very reductive thing, and that’s what my music is about. – Matisyahu
I enjoyed coming home to Crown Heights. There was a certain order to life there. You know, Shabbos, spending time with your family, eating and being in ‘shul.’ Prayers at nighttime, prayers in the morning. Everyone knows everybody; you walk your kids everywhere. – Matisyahu
The religious lifestyle keeps you focused. It’s helpful when trying to manoeuvre through the music scene. – Matisyahu
With music, you’re working with a producer, and you walk out of the studio six hours later with a track that’s almost completely finished. There’s an almost immediate payoff. – Matisyahu
I feel there’s a lot of anti-Israel sentiment in the world and a lot of ignorance about what Israel is and does. But it’s not for me to speak on Israel’s behalf. – Matisyahu
I kind of think that music in general is a sacred thing, and that’s what music has kind of always been for me. – Matisyahu
It’s a holistic process for me during a show. I’m always focusing on the technical aspects of my voice. I try to make my voice do what I want. One big thing I do to improve on each show is to listen back to performances on CD while on tour. – Matisyahu
One of the first places where I started to respond to song lyrics was in reggae music. A lot of what I was responding to were references to the Old Testament. It was not that I had to adapt the lyrics to the sound. Reggae and the Old Testament are bound up together. There wasn’t anything that I had to do. – Matisyahu
When I’m onstage, I’m not thinking about ideas. I’m not in my head at all. It’s a more physical experience. – Matisyahu
As a kid, I was really into performing. I would do choruses, I would do musicals, whatever it was. And then, as a teenager, I got into an acting class at SUNY Purchase for gifted kids, and that really turned me on to material beyond musicals, Sam Shepard, and Christopher Durang plays. – Matisyahu
I think my music has always been a mixture, depending on whom I’m working with – what band, what musicians, what producer. – Matisyahu
I don’t partake, really, of any of the typical rock-star-lifestyle things you could think of. I try to be responsible when I’m out on the road. I take it pretty seriously, what I’m doing, as something that’s good for the world, and my family, and everyone. – Matisyahu
I’m not an expert in instruments, beat programming, or electronics. For some people it’s all about doing it themselves. But for me, it’s all about find the people that can help make my vision come true. – Matisyahu
The place that I’m trying to come from and where I’m trying to make music from is when I feel like I’m able to somehow, like, transcend it all and just speak right to God. – Matisyahu
I always knew I was different and that people had opinions about me. I guess I learned as best as I can to shield out a lot and live my life from within. – Matisyahu
Is it possible Hanukkah doesn’t inspire folksy songs? Plot lines may be a part. The Christmas story has a lot of material to work with. There’s Jesus and his birth, the wise men, their gifts and tons of frankincense. – Matisyahu
I think that listening to music or creating music is a spiritual undertaking, so the process of creating music, you know, involves listening. It involves sensitivity, it involves humility, you know, and then also it’s something which is higher than words. – Matisyahu
I do what I love, thank God. I get to make music and get inspiration through Judaism. I can see why people might be surprised, because it’s not been done before. It’s certainly not typical. People are always trying to wrap head their around it. But it’s probably simpler than everyone thinks. – Matisyahu
When I started wearing a yarmulke, I wanted to stand out or take the form of whatever was inspiring me. But now I think there’s something to not working it, to keeping it on the inside, and it just being kind of like a secret. – Matisyahu
The Jewish world is becoming fully integrated with the ideas of the normal world. They feed off each other. – Matisyahu
The real reason Jews don’t have more Hanukkah music is that, historically, American Jewish singer-songwriters were too busy making Christmas music. ‘White Christmas,’ ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’ ‘Silver Bells’ and ‘The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)’ were all written by Jews. – Matisyahu
In 2004, when I started recording my first CD, I was coming right out of yeshiva. So I had spent two years completely immersed in the Hasidic culture, disconnected completely from the secular world – movies, music, people. – Matisyahu
