Before
The Israeli Ministry of the Interior has Yordim= Emigrants, Olim= Immigrants and Noshrim= immigrants who couldn't cope or adjust and became emigrants. In Frum Society we have Shona U'peerishniks= Those who grew up frum and chucked the lifestyle, BTs= those who grew up Frai and then adopted the lifestyle and???? What do we call BTs who become Shona U'peerishniks?
It is tragic whenever someone loses their allegiance to Halakha. More tragic still for the BT who sacrificed much to gain their allegiance to Halakha. Most tragic of all was someone who gained their allegiance to Halakha in a very high-profile way that brought attention to Torah Judaism and got people thinking and talking about the relative merits of a Torah-Observant lifestyle.
And so tonight I mourn the loss of Matisyahu's beard. From the tweets he sent to his fans it sounds like he cut off his beard to spite his faith.
After"At the break of day I look for you at sunrise When the tide comes in I lose my disguise," he tweeted.
From his website:
"Sorry folks, all you get is me ... no alias, When I started becoming religious 10 years ago it was a very natural and organic process. It was my choice. My journey to discover my roots and explore Jewish spirituality -- not through books but through real life. At a certain point I felt the need to submit to a higher level of religiosity ... to move away from my intuition and to accept an ultimate truth. I felt that in order to become a good person I needed rules -- lots of them -- or else I would somehow fall apart. I am reclaiming myself. Trusting my goodness and my divine mission".
As a master lyricist his latest act inspires me to fit new teeth on an old saw.חסידיו מדקדקים עם הקב"ה בחוט השערה . Or, as Billy Joel might say: "Facial nudity, it's hardly ever beard but mostly what I need from you"
Way BeforePoor Matisyahu. All I can say is that the next time he feels ambivalent about his Yiddishkeit and gets the urge to cut that he try rhinoplasty.
Here's my "tweet":
"At the end of the of day I look for you at sunset, When the tide goes out hope you're not devoured by regret"
6 comments:
I actually think he looks better with the beard.
No idea what he's going through, but I hope he finds it. I had previously heard he was chafing against the strictures of the Lubavitch lifestyle. There are ways to be observant that don't require falling in with a particular sect. Maybe this would make him happier.
I liked you better when your Payos
and your beard adorned you Fayos.
When u mess with your own hadras ponim,
it should only happen to Yiddisha sonim.
"From his website:
"Sorry folks, all you get is me" ...
Also, from the website you linked:
"And for those concerned with my naked face, don’t worry…you haven’t seen the last of my facial hair".
So, maybe, your mourning of the Zaqan sheNiftar is a little premature, as it's more like a Zaqan sheHalakh liMdinat haYam.
It's not the beard per se that i am mourning, it is the death of Mayisyahu faith on how compelling the Halkhic system ought to be in his life. The Beard-ectomy is just a symptom of the soul-sickness it is not the microbe itself.
As i wrote in the post "it sounds like he cut off his beard to spite his faith."
If he grows back his beard to it's former Khasidic specs i will have to conclude either T'shuva, a cynical decision that it's a good career move or a sign of emotional instability.
Ah, what a wond'rous beard
Upon my face one day appeared
Long, lustrous, lovely to behold
But a bit too long if truth be told
I know exactly what I must do
A trim, only an inch or two
Scissors in hand I begin to prune
I revel in the clippings strewn
But looking up, what do I see?
I was too hasty in my cutting spree
My beard is gone, it has been shorn
And so my folly, bare faced, I mourn
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