Jewish reggae star Matisyahu goes vegan

Not satisfied with simply smashing rigid Hasidic stereotypes by becoming a mega-selling reggae star, Matisyahu can now also check off friend to the animals. Last year, he went vegan.

Matisyahu attributes the change to reading “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The relationship between veganism and Judaism is an interesting, not often explored topic.

A recent Ynet article on Matisyahu’s diet explains “There are some Jewish beliefs that stand more in favor of eating meat than becoming vegetarian or vegan, due to all the laws made specifically around the treatment of meat in the diet.

This is not universal though. There are several examples in Jewish history that show a change to vegetarianism or veganism enabled Jews to maintain the dietary laws. For example, Daniel and his companions avoided non-kosher food while they were held captive in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, through a vegan diet (Daniel 1: 8-16).”

The reggae star peppers his Twitter with anecdotes about his new vegan ways. Recent tweets @Matisyahu include:

-“makin[g] sick vegan guac burritos.”

- "Me and the chef @ New kosher restaurant in BK. Food is amazing. He gave me the vegan hook up. http://yfrog.com/6wuvfkj" (link is photo of Matisyahu and the chef at Pardes Restaurant)."

Mazel tov, Matisyahu. And mazel tov to the animals.

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