Jews have a long and healthy relationship with the West’s pop culture forms. In particular, there’s a laundry list of famous Jews making great music. And let’s face it: Bob Dylan is a tough act to follow. So how do we one-up ourselves? Frum Jews riffing on pop music: rock, R&B, even rap. Matisyahu is probably most famous for this gimmick, which I imagine wears thin even as I’m applying fingers to my keyboard. But it’s time to move over, Matis, because there’s a new act in town. And they’re all rabbis. Finally, a band that can perform at a bar mitzvah and conduct one too.
Meet Shtar. (Not “Ishtar,” though I imagine it’s just as ill-advised.) Shtar means “document,” and the members of this band intend to share their favorite Jewish document with you. Not “The Chosen,” silly. It’s the Torah. This article from Jewniverse about the pop-R&B act begins with, “Is Judaism ready for a boy-band invasion?” Well, Judaism, are ya? No? That’s okay. Neither is this decade. Or the one before that.
Name-dropping “cantorial music and Kanye West” in the same sentence to describe these guys seems like overkill, but… actually, no buts. This is one of those moments when I think I’ve stepped into an alternate dimension. Rabbis in a boy-band? That’s almost as confusing as priests in a classical tri— oh, wait. That happened? Moving on.
In some ways, this is silly (a lot silly). In others, it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. A guy in a beard reggae-rapping about Zion? Seen it. Rabbis in a boy-band a decade-and-a-half after boy-bands became passe? Shut up and take my money. But this begs the question: at their concerts, what do the ladies throw at the stage? When the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC were hip, women threw all sorts of illicit things at them and held up signs saying, “Marry me” (and sometimes other propositions, involving mutual naughty bits). So how do I get a rabbi in a boy-band to notice me (he said)? That will leave you something to puzzle over, while you’re waiting for the video to load.
