Music

Beard-Gate | Matis | Matisyahu | Music | Orthodox Judaism | Reconstructionist Judaism | Reggae | Religion | Ritual | Spirituality

Meeting the New Matisyahu
ByRabbi Jason Miller August 10, 2012April 5, 2015

After posting a photo [below] with Matisyahu backstage at his recent Detroit concert, the questions began. Friends wanted to know if he was wearing a kippah (yarmulke) or tzitzit (ritual fringes), whether he was eating kosher, and if I asked him if he was still frum (religious). For the record, he still keeps kosher and mostly eats…

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1992 | Eddie Vedder | Jewish Teens | Lollapalooza | Music | Musicians | Pearl Jam | Pirkei Avot | Red Hot Chili Peppers | USY | USY on Wheels

The Jewish Education of Eddie Vedder
ByRabbi Jason Miller August 3, 2012December 1, 2025

Today begins Lollapalooza, the weekend-long music festival. I won’t be attending and I’ve never attended a Lollapalooza festival. However, just hearing the name “Lollapalooza” brings back memories from twenty years ago. In the summer of 1992, I was a 16-year-old on a Jewish teen trip called USY on Wheels. We were halfway into the trip…

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#140conf | #140edu | Adon Olam | Bar Mitzvah | children | Disabilities | Inspirational | Jeff Pulver | Lil Jaxe | Music | Rap | Stuttering | Teens

Boy With Stutter Raps Adon Olam
ByRabbi Jason Miller August 1, 2012April 5, 2015

I was looking forward to meeting many of the inspirational educators and thought leaders at the #140edu conference in New York City this week, but the one speaker I was really excited to meet was Lil Jaxe. A few months ago, I watched a video of this 13-year-old boy at a previous #140conf and was…

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Bloggers | Detroit | Detroit Jewish News | Jewlicious | Michigan | Music | Rabbi Yonah Bookstein | Robin Schwartz | Social Media

Rabbi Yonah Bookstein’s Detroit Roots
ByRabbi Jason Miller July 12, 2012April 5, 2015

I’ve been following Rabbi Yonah Bookstein for several years now. He’s a little more than 6 years my senior and I suppose I’ve looked up to him as a social media guru in the virtual Jewish community of the Web. I learned about his Detroit roots from a blog post he published back in September…

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Adam Yauch | Buddhism | Cancer | Celebrities | Jewish | Jewish Celebrities | MCA | Music | Obituary

RIP Adam Yauch (MCA) – Jewish and Buddhist
ByRabbi Jason Miller May 4, 2012April 5, 2015

Back in 1987 at Camp Tamarack, I remember a couple of friends and I decided to sing “Paul Revere” for a talent show. “Only if I can be MCA,” I recall saying to my two fellow campers. There was something about MCA that I always liked. Three Jewish white boys at a Jewish summer camp…

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American Jews | Bar Mitzvah | Celebrities | Drake | Jewish Celebrities | Music | Rap

Drake’s Bar Mitzvah (Again)
ByRabbi Jason Miller April 10, 2012April 5, 2015

In Judaism when a Jewish man turns 83 he ceremoniously celebrates his bar mitzvah for the second time. The reason for this is that Judaism believes that the length of a man’s life is 70 years so at 83-years-old he symbolically turns 13 once again. Aubrey Drake Graham, AKA “Drake”, is only 26 and far…

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Celebrities | Daily Show | Israel | Jon Stewart | Music | Obituary | Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston’s Israel Connection
ByRabbi Jason Miller February 12, 2012April 5, 2015

Whitney Houston was not Jewish, but she did have a connection to the State of Israel. The singer, who died yesterday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, traveled to Israel in 2003 with her then husband Bobby Brown. Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown were invited to tour Israel by the Black Hebrews, who…

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Hanukkah | Holidays | Humor | Jewish | Music | Videos | YouTube

Best Hanukkah Videos for 2011
ByRabbi Jason Miller December 20, 2011

Tonight begins the Festival of Lights – Hanukkah 2011. As Hanukkah parody videos have become more popular on YouTube it’s getting more difficult to find the best ones. One thing is certain however, if the video has “Best Hanukkah Video” in its title… it’s probably not. Here are the best Hanukkah videos of the year…

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American Jews | Celebrities | Conservative Judaism | Jewish Celebrities | Matisyahu | Music | Orthodox Judaism | Reform Judaism | Spirituality

Matisyahu on Contradictions in Religious Observance
ByRabbi Jason Miller December 15, 2011

As any man with a beard, goatee or mustache will tell you, it is a transformative experience to shave it all off. Something tells me that Matisyahu felt a sense of freedom after he shaved off his iconic beard the other day. There has been a lot of discussion about Matisyahu’s transformation after he came…

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Apple | Apps | Business | Detroit | Michigan | Mobile | Music | Technology

Detroit Brothers Produce Over 500 Mobile Apps
ByRabbi Jason Miller December 9, 2011

Originally published in The Detroit Jewish News There’s An App For That!Local brothers’ jacAPPS business rolls out more than 500 mobile apps. In what could have easily been mistaken for a scene from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, two brothers sit at a conference room table in Southfield bouncing ideas off each other for mobile applications that…

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