Matisyahu talks about "Jerusalem"

Matisyahu talks about "Jerusalem"

"Jerusalem if I forget you, if I forget my heart, if I forget my goal, if the many winds which are blowing knock me off course, if the raging waters inundate me, if I forget to wake up and really be alive in this world, then how can I speak words of inspiration, how can I sing songs, how can I do my work. Fire nah gone come from my tongue!"

The name Jerusalem comes from the Hebrew words yira and shalom, meaning "awe," which is complete or whole. The word Awe is often mistakingly translated as fear which actually has the opposite affect. Fear has the affect of making a person retreat and hide, while awe is when the person opens himself up to truly being present in the world. He feels how every choice he makes has real affect, how his footsteps make real imprints, his words, thoughts, and deeds penetrate this world. This awe allows a person to be fully alive and to be affected by this world. He feels he is standing before G-d and feels the entirety of creation, and how he is exposed to it all: possibility for life and death at any moment. The word Zion another name for Jerusalem also means, the inner most point as it represents the innermost point of the heart, the core. There is a teaching from thesages the every person is a small world, therefore the place of Zion with in each person is that place at the core of their being. In Zion, man has the ability to rectify himself and the world, and bring completion to his creator. We believe that the darkness and pains we are facing today are the birth pangs of redemption, a time when as the prophet Isaha says, the people will beat their weapons into plow shares, nation will no longer go to war against nation, the wolf will lie down with the lamb, and the level of Zion will be reached in it's full potential with in every human being.

The opportunity to work with Reggae legends Sly and Robbie to re-record the track was one that couldn't be passed up. I hope the new version does it for you, until then, tune in and stay alive, and may G-d grant us success to bring the redemption immediately!

8/17/06


looks like the 70's :)

Click here to listen to the new version of "Jerusalem"