Interviewing

Original Article published in The Jerusalem Post

Matisyahu beats and breaks across the stages of the world with his long beard and ritual fringes flapping. His music can best be described as a cross between

reggae, Rasta Roots, rap, rock, beat boxing, dub and Hasidic nigunim which are sung in English, sprinkled with bits of Hebrew and Yiddish throughout. His fan base spans the young religious crowd, to hardcore reggae fans, to those simply intrigued by the idea of a rappin Hasidic Jew.

This past December, Matisyahu returned to New York City for the annual Chanukah Festival of Lights shows – four in Manhattan and four in Brooklyn. Matisyahu performed songs from his new album, Light, as well as such classics as King Without a Crown and Jerusalem from his albums Shake Off the Dust… Arise (2004) and Youth (2006). Fans were in for a treat during the show as a silver, sparkly, three-foot-tall revolving dreidel descended from the rafters. Several lucky fans in the packed club even got to join Matisyahu on stage to light the Chanukah candles. As Matisyahu got warmed up, he shed his black jacket, revealing a white jumpsuit with the Hebrew letter aleph on the back.

Matisyahu was born Matthew Paul Miller in Westchester, Pennsylvania. He moved to New York, attended Hebrew school at a Reconstructionist synagogue, and became bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Am Shalom in White Plains. In 1996, when Matisyahu was 16, he attended the Alexander Muss High School Program in Hod Hasharon, near Tel Aviv, in Israel. I loved it, he said. It was my first experience in Israel. I remember the day they took us to Mount Scopus, overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. I was deeply touched when we sang ‘Yerushalayim Shel Zahav – Jerusalem of Gold. It was the first time in my life I had an emotional feeling about being Jewish.

Matisyahu has returned to Israel many times since, having grown a great deal both musically and spiritually. As a teen, Matisyahu discovered his parents record collection, and his talent for singing. He was instantly turned on to the music of legendary groups such as the Grateful Dead, Phish and Bob Marley and the Wailers. Matisyahu also became increasingly interested in his religion, ultimately becoming Ba’al Teshuva in 2001. The result is an incredible career which seems to balance his musical and spiritual needs together on stage, to the delight of fans worldwide.

In 2005, Matisyahu recorded Live at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas. He then toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel. In 2006, his second album, Youth, was Billboard magazine’s number one digital (most downloaded) album. His third album, Light, was released on August 25, 2009.

How is your new album, Light, different from your two previous albums?

What were some of your influences on this album? This album has been a progression, a continuation. I like to explore different genres, to write and to use my voice in different ways. I used a different method to write Light. I took more time and wrote it with different people. My friend in Israel, therapist and co-writer Ephraim Rosenstein and I studied and compared the teachings of the Alter Rabbi and Reb Nachman of Bratslav. Then we created the music, then the lyrics. I was in no rush – it took three years!

Your song, One Day, is the promo song for the 2010 Winter Olympics. How did that come to be? I don’t know! But I am happy they are using the song, and I have two shows there, one in Vancouver and one in Whistler (British Columbia).

What’s it like keeping Shabbat and kosher on the road? We have a tour with a full kitchen, and I have an assistant who cooks for me – breakfast and hot dogs! For Shabbat, we are wherever our tour takes us. We often just connect with the local Jewish community or Chabad. Sometimes, we are stuck at our hotel. At music festivals, we bring a Shabbos Team and create a Shabbat community!

Who are some of your musical influences? Bob Marley, Phish, Sizzla, OutKast.

You recently performed at Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem. What are your thoughts on Israel and, what is it like performing the song Jerusalem in Jerusalem? Sultan’s Pool was a very special show. The fact that we were right there, just outside the Old City of Jerusalem, was very special and personally moving. For the last several years I have been going to Israel for Tishrei – to clean my plate and get focused. I think about my visit to Israel all year. I know I’ll be all over the world during the year, and staring off the year in Israel, making Israel the rosh is representative of something very special. And yes, it is awesome to sing my song Jerusalem in Jerusalem!

Where have you been performing lately? What is coming up for you in the near future? I did a show in Tel Aviv with awesome Israeli band, Infected Mushroom, in early February, and then did four shows in Hawaii. I’m doing a few shows in Australia around Pesach time, then a few shows in Poland, Portugal, Berlin, and London.

Favorite place in Israel? I love the whole country, but Jerusalem is where my heart is.

Favorite Israeli Food? I like pizza from a place called something like Shalom Felafel.

Favorite Israeli band? Infected Mushroom they have such a great sound and I just performed with them as well, which was great fun.

Ever think of making aliyah? I’d love to!

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Original article published on the Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Post Children’s Articles

Last month we brought you Shahar Peer. This month, the spotlight is on Dudi Sela, Israel’s leading male tennis champion.

Dudi Sela began playing tennis at age seven at the Israel Tennis Centre in Kiryat Shmoneh, which is in the north of Israel. He remembers spending time as a boy in bomb shelters when his town was bombed by Lebanon. Dudi also remembers watching hisbrother, Ofer, play in tennis tournaments. Tennis seems to run in the Sela family! Soon after the Sela parents immigrated to Israel from Romania, his father Michael, a bus driver, and brother Ofer, 13 years Dudi’s senior, began taking tennis lessons—and both became top players in their respective age groups. When Dudi was three years old, he picked up Ofer’s racket and fell in love with tennis. In fact, when Dudi was ten, he began commuting (by plane!) twice a week to Ramat Hasharon, the tennis capital of Israel. When Dudi was showing promise as a juniors player, the whole family relocated to the Tel Aviv area to be closer to the tennis center.

Dudi has three older siblings, Nir, Shirley and the aforementioned Ofer, who is one of his coaches. Sela loves soccer and supports teams of Kiryat Shmonna as well as Manchester United. His mother, Anca, is a nurse. He also loves hanging out with friends on the beaches of Tel Aviv.

Earlier in 2009, Dudi Sela put Israel on the tennis map during the Davis Cup’s quarterfinal men’s singles match which was played at Nokia Stadium in Tel Aviv. To the home crowd’s delight, Sela beat Russian tennis champion Mikhail Youzny to earn a place the semifinals. D’ash American correspondent, Howard Blas, had the opportunity to catch up with Israel’s tennis pride during the US Open. Here’s what he had to say:

Dudi, how many times have you played in the US Open? What is your current ATP ranking? My current ranking is 35. This is my 3rd US Open.

There are only a few tournaments played in Israel. Do you enjoy playing overseas? Yes, of course especially when I win! It is tough but I enjoy traveling and playing overseas. It would be better if a few more tournaments were in Israel, but unfortunately they are not.

You have had a very exciting 2009. You qualified for and then reached the 3rd round of the Australian Open. What was that like for you, getting in the main draw, defeating Schutter and Hanescu, then taking Tsonga to 4 sets? Regarding the Australian Open – It is a good feeling to win in a Grand Slam. When I was a kid, I always wanted to be in a Grand Slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open are considered Grand Slam events – ed). In Australia, I went all the way through the qualifiers. It gave me confidence in the tournament and into the next few months.

You had a great year playing for Israel in the Davis Cup. You beat the Swedes, then you had an amazing win against the Russians. Was the match against Johannson TRULY the biggest win of your career? No. The win against Russia in the next round of the Davis Cup was my best win. It was the best feeling winning in the Davis Cup, and it was very special to beat the Russians.

You were reportedly confident that you could beat the Russians in the Davis Cup and you DID In Israel! How did you know it was possible? Can you describe what that was like? I knew we would win because we played at home, and because all of our players were in good shape. I had just come from the 4th round at Wimbledon. We had luck and we knew there would be big surprises!.

What’s your greatest challenge as an athlete? To stay in the top 50 for the next 10 years! What’s your greatest challenge as an Israeli athlete? I don’t know about challenges so much, but the most special moment for me as an Israeli athlete was playing in the Davis Cup this year. It was very special. The ceremony, hearing the national anthem, these made me very emotional. It was special playing for my country and giving 100% each match. I loved it!.

When competing overseas, do you find a lot of Israeli/Jews come to support you? Yes, especially in New York and Australia where there are lots of Jews and Israelis. I feel people behind me and they push me!.

How does Israel’s prowess on the tennis court affect public opinion about Israel, in your opinion? I don’t think the way we play tennis affects it. People think what they want to think.

Can you tell our readers about your army service? I was in a sports unit. I mostly did community service any time I was in Israel. For example, if I was in Israel for a few weeks at a time, I did community service in different places around the country.

Do you feel special being an Israeli athlete? If so, how? Yes! I love to play for my country and to represent my country. All Israeli tennis players feel this and do whatever we can to represent Israel well.

If you had a message for all of your fans out there, Israeli, Jewish or otherwise, what would it be? Good question. That I love them. That I will try my best to be who I am Dudi Sela.

Favorite food? Schnitzel with mashed potatoes like my father!.

Do you have any hobbies? Other than soccer!? The beach in Tel Aviv, sheshbesh (backgammon) on the beach, soccer and hanging out with my friends!.

Favorite Color? Blue.

Favorite City? Melbourne, Australia.

In a relationship? Yes, I have a girlfriend.

What would you do if you were NOT a pro tennis player? That is a good question….maybe be a veterinarian.

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Original Article Published on The Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem Post Children’s Articles

The US was awash with tennis champions during the US Open and the many lead-up competitions that preceded it. Dash American correspondent Howard Blas had the opportunity to catch up with two of Israel’s leading tennis players, Shahar Peer and Dudi Sela during the competition.

Tennis is one of the world’s leading international sports. Players and fans from all around the world converge upon Roland Garros (French Open), Wimbledon (Wimbledon), Melbourne Park (Australian Open) and Flushing Meadows (US Open) to see the world’s best tough it out game after game, set after set, in impossible heat, in order to bring home the trophy, the crown of the tennis world.

Though they haven’t won a grand slam tournament yet, Israeli tennis stars Shahar Peer and Dudi Sela are on the rise, and have captured the hearts of Israeli and Jewish tennis fans across the globe. Earlier in 2009, Shahar Pe’er made headlines around the world when she was denied a visa for Dubai in order to compete in the Dubai Tennis Championships, only because she was Israeli. Also earlier in the year, Dudi Sela put Israel squarely on the tennis map during the Davis Cup quarter final men’s singles match, which was played at the Nokia Stadium in Tel Aviv. To the home crowd’s delight, Sela knocked over Russian tennis giant Mikhail Youzhny to get to the semifinals. D’ash American correspondent, Howard Blas, had the opportunity to catch up with Israel’s tennis stars during the Pilot Pen, a US open warm-up. This month we are featuring Shahar Peer and next month we will be featuring Dudi Sela.

Shahar Peer is one of the highest ranked women’s tennis players in Israel’s history. She and Anna Smashnova, another Israeli tennis champion, have each reached 15th in the world. The 22 year old Peer was born in Jerusalem and when she is not playing tennis around the world, lives in Maccabim. She enjoys reading and romance movies! She has an older brother Shlomi, who is 29 and an older sister, Shani, who is 26. Her mother, Aliza, is a retired sports teacher and her father, Dovik, is CEO of a software company. She comes from an athletic family. Her father was an award winning swimmer and her mother was a champion sprinter. D”ash reporter Howard Blas briefly met Peer at the Pilot Pen, a tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, which serves as a warm up to the U.S. Open.

How many times have you played in the US Open? What is your current ATP ranking? This is my fifth time playing in the U.S. Open (first time was 2005). I am currently ranked 64th in the world.

Do you enjoy playing overseas? never play in Israel. There are no tournaments in Israel! (The only time I play in Israel is in the nationals). So I am always playing tennis overseas it is my life, my job, my career. I enjoy traveling. It is part of what I do.

What’s your greatest challenge as an athlete? It is not so hard being an athlete. I enjoy what I do. I guess the greatest challenge is playing well.

What’s your greatest challenge as an Israeli athlete? It is not so challenging being an Israeli athlete. I am proud of Israel and I enjoy representing Israel.

When competing overseas, do you find a lot of Israelis/Jews come to support you? Yes, especially places like New York at the U.S. Open and Melbourne at the Australian Open. Israelis and Jews come out to cheer and show support.

How does Israel’s prowess on the Tennis court affect public opinion about Israel, in your opinion? I am not sure what people think about Israel or about Israeli tennis. I hope it is positive. I hope they are happy watching Israelis playing the sport.

Can you tell our readers about your army service? Was it a tough decision to do it since you are a professional athlete? Or was it important simply because you are Israeli? Going in to the army is natural. Everyone does it for their country. I am happy I did it. I did what I had to do for my country.

You’ve had a couple of interesting, somewhat high profile incidents in the past few years. First, what was it like teaming up with Indian Sania Mirza for doubles and what was your reaction to playing with a Muslim player? We were friends before we played together and we are still good friends. We don’t involve any politics on the court.

How do you feel now looking back on the Dubai incident in February? How did it feel to have the support of Venus Williams and other players? Note: Peer was prevented from playing at the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates since she was denied visa. Many players condemned this action and some sponsors pulled out. The tournament organizers were also forced to pay major fines for this action. Israeli tennis player Andy Ram was given a visa for the same tournament the following week. It was not a happy thing. I was not happy about it. I was happy that other players came out and supported me. I was especially proud of Andy Roddick.

If you had a message for all of your fans out there, Israeli, Jewish or otherwise, what would it be? Work hard and enjoy what you are doing.

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New play addresses demonization of Israel among intellectual elite

NEW HAVEN — Professor Doron Ben-Atar’s play, “Peace Warriors,” which he co-wrote with Debbie Pollak, will be performed at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington, D.C. in July and at the New York International Fringe Festival in August. The play was a semi-finalist in this year’s O’Neill theater competition.

A resident of New Haven, where he is active in the Jewish community, Ben-Atar is the chair of the history department at Fordham University, as well as a member of the university’s Middle East studies and women’s studies programs. He is also a fellow of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism at Yale University and was a fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.

Ben-Atar’s first play, “Behave Yourself Quietly,” is based on his mother’s experience at Auschwitz. He and his mother, Roma Nutkiewicz Ben-Atar, had previously collaborated on a book, “What Time and Sadness Spared: Mother and Son Confront the Holocaust” (University of Virginia Press, 2006).

Ben-Atar is the author of numerous books and articles on American history, the modern Middle East and psychohistory’ including “Trade Secrets: Intellectual Piracy and the Origins of American Industrial Power.” A frequent commentator on the modern Middle East on many radio and television programs, he has written about current international affairs in “The Chronicle of Higher Education,” the “Jerusalem Report” and “The Globalist.” 

Raised in Israel, where he played basketball for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Ben-Atar came to the U.S. to study and play basketball at Brandeis University. He has coached soccer and basketball at Ezra Academy in Woodbridge, and chaired Talmud Torah Meyuchad of the New Haven Department of Jewish Education. He serves on the Anti-DefamationLeague’s civil rights committee and is a founding member of the board of the new Jewish High School of Connecticut.

The Ledger spoke with Ben-Atar as he was preparing to leave for the nation’s capital for the premiere of “Peace Warriors.”

Q: What is “Peace Warriors” about?

A: “Peace Warriors” is a dramatic exploration of the fashion of taking anti-Israel positions among the American intellectual elite. A visit from an old family friend sparks rivalries and hidden affairs, as four academics and one teenage girl flaunt their peace activism. Family conflicts spin out of control, while the characters argue war and peace in the Middle East, and in the bedroom.

Q: You are an Israeli American and a professor of American history. What inspired you to write this play? 

A: I wrote “Peace Warriors” because we are living through a worrisome dramatic rise in global antisemitism. Leading the charge is the intellectual elite who are demonizing Israel and de-legitimizing its existence. College classes on the history and politics of the Middle East teach students that Israel is the new Nazi state, and that terrorism against Jewish targets in Israel and around the globe is a justifiable anti-colonial act of resistance. Jewish students and professors who dare to question these positions face an intimidating and corrosive hostile atmosphere. Israeli academics are subject to boycotts and harassment. And the movement to divest university endowments from companies that do business with Israel is rapidly gaining strength.

The actual event which inspired the play sounds made up, but it is sadly true. My family and I live in New Haven and are active members of the Jewish community. We got a call a few years ago from our friend, the Yale Hillel director, telling us that a troupe of co-existence actresses were coming to perform at Yale; he asked us if they could stay at our place. The group was supposed to consist of an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian – co-existence activists – a driver, and a tech person. We found out that the Palestinian wasn’t really a Palestinian but an Israeli Arab who lived inside of Israel, and the Arab refused to stay at our house because she hated the Israeli activist and could not bear to be in the same house with her!

Various organizations and individuals invest a great deal of money and energy in co-existence. But all too often taking part in these projects involve Jewish self-abnegation. My camp, the peace camp in Israel, has been devastated electorally in recent contests because its activities are characterized by denial of Israel’s claim — we lost our credibility with our own public because we seem to see only the other side. I haven’t altered my convictions. I hate the occupation and believe it has had a brutalizing effect on Arabs and Jews. I never supported the settlement policy, but the conversation about this subject is reduced to a vile shrill. Settlers are the most demonized group in the world. Not to acknowledge their humanity and the life they live — that they live under constant threat — is not fair. Many in the peace camp don’t actually know a single settler. They know more Palestinians. But they imagine settlers as beastly violent fascist fanatics.

Q: Why do you write plays?

A: I am a historian by trade. Playwriting allows me to take part in age-oldJewish conversations. In drama I explore the three major Jewish questions of our time: the memory and persecution of the Holocaust, the place of Israel in contemporary Jewish life, and Jewish continuity. My first play, “Behave Yourself Quietly” considers the meaning of the memory of the Holocaust. “Peace Warriors” explores how Zionism and Israel have become such demonized entities. My next play is set at an old age home and looks at the question of “who are the real children?”

Q: The press materials for the play report, “All the inflammatory statements about Israel that are uttered in the play are actual quotes of statements uttered by the leading anti-Israel crusaders of our time. However, some anti-Israel statements by prominent intellectuals were so harsh that readers said they would not be believable on stage.” Can you explain? 

A: It is true. Some of the real quotes that have been said were deemed so offensive by earlier readers of the script that they urged me to tone them down because they would not be believable on stage! My play examines the celebrated anti-Zionist Jew – those who claim to be better than the rest of us because they make a career out of uttering hateful, demonizing remarks against Israel. I’ll give you an example. In the original script, I copied a real petition and wrote, “The students… oppose the existence of the apartheid colonial settler state of Israel, as it is based on the racist ideology of Zionism and is an expression of colonialism and imperialism. We unconditionally support Palestinians’ human right to resist occupation and oppression by any means necessary in all the territory of historic Palestine.” The revised text now reads, “We… oppose the apartheid policies of the rogue state of Israel and reject the racist ideology of Zionism that led to the dispossession of millions. We sympathize with the plight of the Palestinians. . .”

Q: How did you go about getting your play produced?

A: The process of getting a play to the stage is as follows. You send it around to different places that you find in the Dramatists’ Sourcebook. Most places get hundreds of scripts and they really don’t have the time or resources to give the scripts a fair look. It is very rare for a theater company to take a risk and produce a new play by someone who is not well-established. I was fortunate. I sent “Peace Warriors” to Blue Line Arts, Inc., a group run by three brilliant men, that does festivals, like the well-known Edinburgh Festival, and they liked it and decided to stage it in American festivals this summer.

Q: Your first play incorporated laughter into a story about genocide. Does “Peace Warriors” involve similar in-your-face humor?

A: Absolutely. I am an iconoclast and the play is a comedy. I think laughter allows us to deal with complex issues in greater depth. That is what I tried to do in “Behave Yourself Quietly,” and this is what I hope to achieve with “Peace Warriors.”

Howard Blas is a freelance writer from New Haven.

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