I <3 Avraham Fried

Avraham Fried

Some roll their eyes, a few are curious, and my wife laughs, but I can’t seem to shake Jewish music. I love music, and I have about 150 gigabytes of it on my computer – two thirds of which are Jewish. And when I say Jewish music, I don’t mean Neil Sedaka, or even Carlebach. I’m talkin’ Lipa Schmeltzer, Avraham Freid, and Mordechai Ben David.

Don’t get me wrong, I listen all kinds of music – everything from opera to Eminem, but nothing does it for me like a zaftige new album from say - Shwekey, or Lev Tahor. I was excited to get Rihanna‘s new single, but “The 8th Note” made me rejoice, and while I love a good Michael Buble shtickel, he could never satisfy me the way Ohad, or Baruch Levine can.

“How can you listen to that?” my wife asks me all the time, and I really don’t have a good answer, I vehemently disagree with most of what is said in these songs, and often find myself laughing at what I’m saying when I sing along with them, yet I persist. As I type now, I’m listening to Yeedle’s new album. (It’s not bad.)

It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even hide it anymore, and I’ve had to explain what the hell it is that I’m listening to, to more than one Lieutenant Colonel (don’t ask). I’ve even gotten a buddy of mine – who’s Mexican and has never met a Chassidic Jew – hooked on The Yeshiva Boys Choir! At the gym in the morning, there’s only so far you can go with the Rocky theme, but give me J-Walking, and I’m good for hours, and there’s really nothing like pumping iron to The Chevra.

I listen to hours of podcasts weekly, but the one I look forward to most is The Sameach Music Podcast, and one of the websites I frequent most is The Jewish Music Review. I was highly disappointed - yet not surprised – when The Big Event was canceled. While I wouldn’t have been able to attend, I was looking forward to the videos.

In other words, I’m obsessed with Jewish music.

I do realize that if I were to have a conversation with any one of these Jewish music stars, I would be annoyed by them to no end. In fact, I have met several of them, and I wouldn’t want to associate with them willingly. But somehow when they put their words to a tune I can’t get enough of it.

Growing up in the Chassidish community, music was the only thing I wholeheartedly embraced. While I didn’t quite feel comfortable with many aspects of my upbringing, music always made me happy. And what a fan I was. I would go to every live show I could, memorize every detail about every Jewish music star, and built a huge CD collection. But I never paid much attention to what was being said, although I knew and understood all the lyrics, and I feel the same way now. For that reason, I can listen to Christian rock, The Gipsy Kings, or sappy love songs, and enjoy them. As long as the melody is nice and the musicianship is good, I can dig it.

Sometimes my wife will say things like, “Are you sure you don’t agree with what they’re saying?” While she and I both know better, I still wonder – what is it that has me so hooked? Is it just that I grew up listening to this kind of music, or is there more to it?

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Originally published on Confessions of a Kofer on 8/31/08, and reprinted here with permission. Authors have asked us to note that as the essays featured in “Best of the Blogs” document journeys of transformation, the author’s views may have changed since initial publication.

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