The Jewish singer Matisyahu was midway through his hourlong concert at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills when he wrapped an Israeli flag around his tall, lanky frame like a superhero cape.
“Let’s not forget our hostages,” he said earlier, seated center-stage on a barstool, where the beloved performer, dressed casually in an open flannel shirt and baggy jeans, was accompanied by a three-piece band on acoustic guitar, electric bass and drums. “This entire night should feel like a prayer.”
On May 8, the reggae artist-rapper-beatbox extraordinaire was appearing in town to headline a concert organized by If You Heard What I Heard, an initiative conceived in 2021 that’s dedicated to gathering filmed testimonies from the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.
At a time when we’re all being confronted with the reality that the world maybe doesn’t like us so much, the evening was billed, appropriately, “A Night of Resilience.”
At a time when we’re all being confronted with the reality that the world maybe doesn’t like us so much, the evening was billed, appropriately, “A Night of Resilience.”
While many of his peers in the music industry in the aftermath of Oct. 7 have publicly voiced sympathy for the Palestinians and accused Israel of genocide, Matisyahu — born Matthew Paul Miller — has stood out for going the other way. For the past seven months, he’s used his significant platform to defend Israel while denouncing those who’ve attempted to censor pro-Israel, pro-peace voices like his.
His steadfast support for Israel came to a head earlier this year when on two occasions Matisyahu concerts in the U.S. were canceled because of anti-Israel activists threatening to protest outside the concert venues. The clubs’ owners cited “safety concerns” as the reason for the shows’ cancellations, but the singer posted on social media saying the decisions of the venue owners was a capitulation to anti-Zionism, if not Jew-hatred.
Gathered in Beverly Hills on a chilly Wednesday evening, hate was nowhere to be found. In fact, the near-capacity crowd at the Saban showed nothing but love for the artist who has undergone physical transformations since he burst on the music scene in 2004 but has remained consistently committed to his craft.
From the opening songs of the night — “Jerusalem,” followed by “King Without a Crown” — to the closing “One Day,” the audience was on their feet dancing, singing along and capturing the goosebump-inducing experience on their phones.
Speaking of phones, there was no shortage of influencers and movers and shakers in the crowd, and it was a novel experience to be at a Jewish event that felt cool, which is exactly what Carolyn Siegel, founder of If You Heard What I Heard, said she was going for when I spoke to her last month. Along with recording testimonies from the last generation that will have had in-person contact with Holocaust survivors, the 41-year-old marketing executive is trying to create a community of young people who care about being Jewish. One of the ways she’s doing that is through the hosting of regularly occurring cocktail parties she calls “Sunset Stories.”
“We’re like the fun, cool organization,” Siegel told me over the phone. If You Heard What I Heard — or IYH, as it’s also known — is, she said, “a testament to the years that I spent in marketing … prior to this.”
Last week’s Matisyahu concert was as much a reminder that the singer/rapper has still got it, even as he’s evolved, as it was an official introduction of IYH to the wider community. It was a bold, declarative and successful statement — the evening reportedly raised more than $215,000 — that a new and yes, cool, Holocaust remembrance organization is on the scene, one that’s coming of age at an opportune moment when Jews, including those in their 20s, 30s and 40s, are finding value in visibly, loudly connecting or reconnecting to their Judaism, even if all that means is wearing a Star of David necklace for everyone to see.
Or in Matisyahu’s case, an Israeli flag.
Ryan Torok is a contributing writer for the Jewish Journal.
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