so what happens to the beastie boys and rick ruben? what about fiddle on the roof…what, you can't play if "i were a rich man" because qwen and eve made people drop down low and sweep the floor with their version?

Oh Israel….. (rolls eyes)

…and people still wonder why folks question Israelis and call THEM the racists in spite of the Holocaust…

That Michael Jackson statement made me burst out laughing. And yet they think they're a shining example of democracy in the Middle East. I think not.

This is a rabbinical ruling, not a governmental one. It will affect the Orthodox of Israel, but not many else. Don't be so quick to equate the extreme religious fundamentalists with the Israeli people as a whole.

Amen! Ontosolipsists,

You can't judge an entire country based on one fundamentalist wing.

Beethoven was part Moor, which means they can't listen to that schvartze either. Incognegroes are everywhere…

this post really distorted the actual story. no, matisyahu is not "no longer welcome in mother israel", nor is rock, reggae, and rap banned in israeli wedding halls or ineligible for rabbinical approval. to understand what actually happened, the full story can be found here (btw including a link, rather than one out-of-context, uncited quote, would have been appreciated): http://www.jpost.com/servlet/S.....%2FPrinter

as an earlier comment mentioned, the post is only about a decree by rabbis in one extremist religious community in israel, NOT about some policy governing all of israel. there are a lot of things one can legitimately criticize the israeli government for pertaining to race, yet i have never seen an article on this blog talk about the ongoing racism against the palestinians even though the occupation is directly funded by your tax dollars.

I don't think 10% is the end of the world.
A 1/5 of Americans believe the earth could/might be flat…

There has been this internal cultural war in Israel. Euro and American Jews versus African and/or Asian Jews.

Even if some are orthodox, I don't believe Israelis of African descent (Yemenis, Ethiopians, South Africans, Moroccans, etc) will suddenly give up their heavenly beats for some more "subdued" rhythms because Mr. Bloi's organization said so. His organization also does not approve of women rabbis, gayness, and all other fun things in life.

Does this Rabbi not realize that Bach mostly wrote music for the CHURCH? Talk about Goyim… And, Beethoven basically popularized the use of drums in orchestral arrangements, leading to other uses of drumming… like in, say, ROCK MUSIC?

what a truly ignorant decree, just shows how poisonous religious extremism is to all that's culturally valuable.

Totally misleading article. It says "New haredi rabbinical rulings" - which is not the same as saying "Israelis" in general. Haredi are ultra-orthodox Jews. They're the guys that always wear only black and white and are like 50x more "out there" than even regular orthodox Jews. So for that article to say "Israelis" are doing it is misleading. It's like taking the most ultra-religious ultra-evangalist christians in america and saying "Americans" are doing it

Also, it seems they are cracking down on rock, rap, jazz, etc. - all "popular" music, not just "african-influenced" music. They either want religious music or classical music and that's it.

Also, post #3, by digiblizzo, is idiotic.

Haredi are ultra-orthodox Jews. Not regular orthodox Jews. Certainly not regular Jews. So because the ultra-orthodox don't want rock music in their holy places, you are going to act like a damn holocaust-denying neo-nazi idiot? Grow a damn brain. There's nothing "racist" about ultra-orthodox not wanting pop or rock music in holy places. Most churches don't blast metallica, do they? Are those churches "racist." Grow up and become intelligent, someday.

As for post #5 by ontosolipsists, no, it will not affect "the orthodox" of Israel. It'll only affect the ultra-orthodox. They don't like popular culture. Their entire life is devoted to studying holy books and trying to understand god

As for post #11, it's a big exaggeration to call this "poisonous religious extremism" because they do not want metallica or 50 cent songs playing in a holy place for people who are ultra-religious to the point of not wanting modern popular culture in their life in any way.

Hope that helps.

Also, the wording of this idiotic blog entry is dishonest/incorrect. Matisyahu, reggae, rap, etc. are totally welcome in Israel. Apparently just not in holy places of the ultra-orthodox.

Whoever wrote this blog entry should delete or heavily edit it, because it's not accurate.

Reality Check,
I agree with most of what you are saying, but dear, there is such a thing as overposting.

FYI, even in the ultra-Orthodox community, this is a very divisive issue of great dispute. As an Orthodox Jew making hiphop, I can tell you — "who went to the concert" is a very hot-button issue in many religious schools, and unfortunately, due to an increased radicalization, the community is becoming more and more polarized over it.

This is not just Israel — this affects the Orthodox world at large, and many of us Orthodox artists are doing what we can to protest.

This ban's language is blatantly racist and this ban does not even quote the relevant portions of the Code of Jewish Law.

I am very offended by it, as are many others in the Orthodox community.

I came here from Tapped and wanted to comment here also.

In response to Reality Check, unfortunately there is a fair amount of racism involved, I think.

See this discussion thread on "Yeshiva World" which discusses the cancellation of a "Shlock Rock" style music concert targeted at the young Hasidic community in New York City. At least a few comments on that thread refer to this music as "Jungle Music."

I do want to concur that this disgusting attitude is only held by a tiny minority of Jews around the world. Most Jews, even of the more observantly religious variety, like all kinds of music.

oops, forgot to post the link to the discussion thread about the cancellation of a concert in New York City this year. Here is is.

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=14875

Why have the people who run this website not corrected the totally incorrect text in their blog entry?

"Israelis" haven't cracked down on rock and rap music. Just ultra-orthodox (haredi) have.

And their statement "Matisyahu is no longer welcome in Israel" is false and idiotic. He's totally welcome in Israel. Apparently just not wanted to perform in holy places of the ultra-orthodox.

It says a lot that the people who run this website haven't corrected this stuff yet. Do they care about being totally wrong?