I see endless beaches of soft white sand and crystal clear ocean, with Bob Marley in the background telling me not to worry ʻbout a thing.

White Plains, New York is the complete opposite. While beautiful in its own way, White Plains is your typical middle-sized American city: concrete, filled with cars, and lacking in vegetation.

This is where reggae singer Matisyahu (born Matthew Paul Miller) has spent most of his life. At thirty, almost thirty-one, years old, Matisyahu is the soul of contradiction. After growing up a Reconstructionist Jew, he converted to Chabad-Lubavitch Judaism.

Matisyahu is the soul of contradiction.

Reconstructionist Judaism formed from a divergent branch of Conservative Judaism, which falls in between Orthodox and Reform in strictness of its practices and the amount of Hebrew involved in the services. The Reconstructionist movement, however, continued to evolve, and preach a more “modern” view. According to Rabbi Les Bronstein on the Jewish Reconstruction Federation website, “Reconstructionist Jews see the Torah as the Jewish people’s response to God’s presence in the world (and not God’s gift to us). That is to say, the Jews wrote the Torah.” This counters the more traditional view that the Lubavitch believe, in which God wrote the entire Torah. On top of that difference in core ideals, there is the Lubavitchʼs strict adherence to all 613 Mitzvot (Hebrew for “commandments”) written in the Torah. A Lubavitch Jewish man usually wears black pants, a white shirt, a tallit with tzitzit (fringe) hanging out from underneath his shirt, a yarmulke (a prayer cap that must be worn at all times), and a black fedora, which has come to replace the more traditional fur headdresses.

But what does this mean about their culture — about who they are? In all branches of Judaism, Tikkun Olam, or repairing the world, is a core value. When Rabbis tell their congregations to “heal the world” they mean social justice, global repair, and working against global warming, but they also encourage healing of the worldʼs attitude; an attitude which has lead to the segregationist and self-oriented behavior keeping the world as a community apart.

So how did a man so steeped in tradition get involved with reggae music? Reggae music is known as the “music of the oppressed,” stemming from its roots in Trenchtown, Jamaica, in the 1960ʼs, which was mostly inhabited by poor blacks. It has historically preached anti-racism, anti-colonialism, and anti-materialism, and has been the voice for many different oppressed groups since its inception. The tempo of reggae songs are remembered as being relaxed, with an emphasis on the off-beat, creating an almost wave-like rhythm. Many of the songs have a seemingly upbeat feel, but when you listen closely to the lyrics, they are actually mournful, indignant about injustice, and at the same time promoting love and peace for all, often tying back into religion.

That being said, it didnʼt necessarily mean that his music would be good. But it is. Matisyahu recently came out with the album “Light” on January 12, 2010, which has many great songs, my favorite of which is “One Day” featuring popular Hip-Hop artist Akon. “Drown In The Now (Radio Edit)” by the Crystal Method focuses on rap tones, using Matisyahuʼs reggae style to enhance the instrumental track. “Smash Lies” has a heavy rhythmic line, but due to its repetitive nature, is nothing special. While normally I enjoy listening to artists sing in Hebrew, but Matisyahu has a thick Ashkenazi accent; I realize that this is very nit-picky, but guttural tones, compared to that of an Israeli accent (like Yael Naïm) sound off to my ear, so I disliked the songs which he sang in Hebrew, like “Silence.” None of his songs are completely rap, hip-hop, reggae, or Hebrew; each is its own blend of all four. [Listen to all of Matisyahu’s songs on his website, Matisyahu World.]

Looking at it all, itʼs not that hard to see how somebody like Matisyahu found a connection in a culture that on the outside seems so foreign to his own; once you get down to the heart of both cultures, they both want the same things: social justice, societal awareness, and peace. It just goes to show that we arenʼt as different as we claim to be.