Recognize the historical landmark in the background? It’s Migdal David, the Tower of David, the two-millennia-old citadel near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the walled Old City of Jerusalem.
Recognize the musical landmark in the foreground?
It’s Matisyahu.
A few months after the Orthodox reggae superstar shaved off his trademark beard — hot cultural news in the blogosphere — as part of his “natural and organic” spiritual metamorphosis, he was in Israel last week to film his newest music video. With his newly dyed blonde locks and a casual leather-jacket-and-combat-pants look.
Matisyahu (nee Matthew Paul Miller, native of West Chester, Pa., former resident of New York’s Westchester County), whose affiliation with the Chabad-Lubavitch chasidic movement has apparently shifted to the Karliner chasidic group, was spotted filming in various Jerusalem sites, including Zedekiah’s Cave, which stretches beneath the Old City walls from Damascus Gate to Herod’s Gate.
“Get ready for an amazing year filled with music of rebirth,” he told his followers on Twitter when he showed off his clean-shaven face. “And for those concerned with my naked face, don’t worry … you haven’t see the last of my facial hair.”
He kept his word. In his latest tweet, he included a photo of himself sporting the makings of a new, graying brown beard.
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