Matisyahu Speaks

Chasidic reggae superstar Matisyahu (are there chasidic reggae B-listers?) was among the celebrity guests at our Arizona Passover. Ok, so he was the only one. But after his Tuesday night show, he invited Anguswit back to his room for an exclusive tete-a-tete. Among the topics discussed were the relative merits of chicken v. brisket, Matisyahu's ideas concerning what I'm going to call 'dichotomism', and the truth of reggae.



Below is a representative snippet of the conversation:

Anguswit: How did you like the food?
Matisyahu: Chabad minhag [custom] is we don't eat vegetables with peels and we don't eat spices. Whatever we ate was delicious.
A: Brisket or chicken?
M: The brisket was delicious.
A: Any other favorites?
M: The blintzes and the baked potato with sour cream and scallions.
A: But that's so conventional.
M: That's what we like. We're conventional people. We loved the cook.
A: You mean, as a person?
M: Yeah.
A: So are you going to come back next year?
M: Next year we'll be in Yerushalayim [Jerusalem] with Mashiach [the Messiah].
A: Really?
M: For sure.