Matisyahu's Kiddush Hashem

I am way too busy for this but I've slept only forty-five minutes since Sunday morning and I need a break, so here goes.

I promised a while ago that I would give my in depth views on Matisyahu and his music. I changed my mind because I decided it would be too late and too boring.

Instead, I will give my definitive few-sentence version and then focus on something that has been bugging me for a while.

Here goes. Matisyahu is the real deal (whether or not you like his type of music, which I certainly don't, you cannot ignore his talent). Matisyahu is trying to be a holy Jew. Maybe he is one. He's Jewish so his music is Jewish (The entire 'issue' of whether music is Jewish is one of the most irrelevant things that people can waste their time arguing about. Whether music is 'Jewish' or not is not the point; the point is whether the music is appropriate under the circumstances). I don't think his music is holy and I don't think his act is holy. There. You can agree or disagree. I don't really care. It's just my opinion.

Now, on to the thing that's been bugging me.

Many bloggers have been making a big deal about the great "kiddush Hashem" that occurred when Matt decried on national TV that he would not accept a gig on Shabbos even for a million dollars.

I agree that on some simplistic level it was a kiddush Hashem. But when you drill down you realize that to 99.9% of the people who watched the show, his statement was completely abstract. The viewers might have thought about it for a second and thought, "wow, far out" (or the current equivalent used by people not born in the 'Fiftys), and then moved on to the next stupid dog trick or other narishkeit that followed.

And, when you think about it, what's the great mesiras nefesh of Matisyahu not playing on Shabbos. Of course he's not playing on Shabbos. If he is an observant Jew, he doesn't play on Shabbos. And, just like no one is offering me $1MM to eat chazer, no one is actually offering him $1MM to perform on Shabbos.

Then I thought about how so many of the people I know perform concrete acts of kiddush Hashem every day in their workplaces. When a trader under tremendous pressure or a lawyer under deadline still manage to treat people with respect and greet them with a smile, that is a real kiddush Hashem. When everyone around you is telling disgusting jokes or cursing like marines and you conduct yourself like a ben melech, that is a kiddush Hashem. When you leave work early on Erev Shabbos with your stomach in your mouth because you are in the middle of a crucial deal and have run out of time, that is mesiras (and agmas) nefesh and a Kiddush Hashem. And so on.

So, no knock against Matisyahu, but a little perspective is called for.