Josh Groban is Jewish?

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  • #610355
    stanleyc
    Participant

    I just heard that the guy who sang you raise me up is jewish. anyone know if this is true? if yes, why does he sing songs about the

    J-man?

    #970952
    Luna Lovegood
    Participant

    Josh Groban’s father is Jewish but his mother is Christian(I think one of her grandfathers was Jewish but she is not). His father “converted” to Christianity when they married and both Josh and his brother were raised as Christians. He might be considered Jewish by Reform “Jews” but he is not Jewish according to halacha.

    #970953
    Toi
    Participant

    who?

    #970954
    golfer
    Participant

    It’s just wishful thinking.

    Everyone would love to be able to claim the magnificent song and the singer as our own.

    Sorry.

    #970955
    rebdoniel
    Member

    He’s one of the most gifted singers out there. Regardless of his singing Christian music, which I think is tragic, he nonetheless has had an uplifting effect on countless people.

    “You Raise Me Up” is one of the most spiritual songs out there. I think of HaShem uplifting me, loving me, and caring for me when I listen to that song.

    I’d put “Bridge Over Troubled Water” into the same category.

    #970956
    Duggie
    Member

    Yeah- I wish he was Jewish! His music is incredible.

    Doesn’t he look Jewish?

    #970957
    rebdoniel
    Member

    His father is Jewish and he was raised Episcopalian.

    #970958
    Luna Lovegood
    Participant

    rebdoniel- Isn’t Bridge Over Troubled Water a Simon and Garfunkel song?

    #970959
    Yserbius123
    Participant

    Kind of like Mel Brooks. Jewish according to Halacha, but converted to Christianity to marry a goyteh.

    #970960
    Spunk
    Member

    BTW the song You Raise Me Up is not a Josh Groban original. It was composed by a band called the Secret Garden. Groban just popularized it.

    #970961
    rebdoniel
    Member

    I said that I put that Simon and Garfunkel song and You Raise Me Up in the same category of spiritually-uplifting music, both of which are a pleasant relief from the junk that secular music produced.

    #970962
    Spunk
    Member

    Just a tidbit of info for those who misunderstood. I agree with you 100%

    #970963
    rebdoniel
    Member

    He also sings a song called Here I am Lord, that is beautiful. The lyrics are taken from Yeshayahu 6:8 and 1 Samuel 3.

    #970964
    Spunk
    Member

    Just checked out Here I am Lord on youtube. That’s really powerful stuff. Thanks rebdoniel for the recommendation.

    #970965
    WIY
    Member

    Great stuff promoting goyish music in elul.

    #970966
    stanleyc
    Participant

    WIY. Fella, you gotta chill out with all the hating. And classically irrelevantly talking about elul

    #970967
    WIY
    Member

    If you don’t understand that just makes it worse.

    #970968
    Spunk
    Member

    Hey WIY do you listen to classical music?

    #970969
    oomis
    Participant

    I don’t believe he is halachically Jewish. Funny thing, he resembles a young man I know, one of my son’s friends from Yeshivah.

    #970970
    MCP
    Member

    WIY is right. Sinas Chinam is allowed now cuz the 3 weeks are over, now it’s time for Judgement Day! (S)He is giving us practice being judged, and helping us by judging without knowing anything, so when it’s time to be Judged by a real fair impartial Judge who loves us, we will appreciate His Judgement even more. Thanks, WIY!

    #970971
    WIY
    Member

    MCP

    I am not judging its just improper to discuss non Jewish music and to be choteh umachti. I guess I have to take a reality check about what kind of people come here.

    #970972
    golfer
    Participant

    I guess you do, WIY.

    People who come here are spending time posting on the internet.

    That rules out a whole category of people you might be more comfortable having discussions with.

    #970973
    besalel
    Participant

    paul simon wrote many christian songs including one called “jesus is the answer.” bob dylan put out many albums of christian music. neil diamond put out a christmas album. all good jews and all good business people.

    #970974
    golfer
    Participant

    besalel, how could you forget to add Irving Berlin and his dreaming of a white… ???

    #970975
    stanleyc
    Participant

    The fact that some jewish singers write christian songs is unsurprising, but i guess if someone i went to shul with did that it would be kinda weird

    #970976
    rebdoniel
    Member

    I think non-Jewish music that uplifts HaShem is most appropriate. Bava Batra 15b, Rambam, and Netanel al Fayyumi, among others, affirm the fact that G-d chooses prophets from among non-Jews. I think that dignified music without any christological references is non-problematic; the Kerakh Shel Romi says as much.

    #970977
    WIY
    Member

    Rebdoniel

    Oh, so now Josh Groban is a prophet? What’s next?

    #970978
    Luna Lovegood
    Participant

    WIY- He might not be prophet(especially since we don’t have prophecy now a days)but why would the fact that he is a non-Jew invalidate the spiritually uplifting music he has created?

    Why is it the consensus that it is better to listen to a shwekey song that carries no meaning for you than to listen to a song by Josh Groban or Simon & Garfunkel that spiritually uplifts you. Isn’t the point of music to bring you closer to G-d? Why would someone being non-Jewish or non-religious impact the force their music can have on you?

    #970979
    midwesterner
    Participant

    I think he means that Josh Groban is Bilaam Harasha.

    Besalel: I understand how Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond could be called good business people. But in what way are they good Jews?

    #970980
    rebdoniel
    Member

    Don’t be a wisenheimer. You can use your head and figure out the point of what I am saying.

    #970981
    yichusdik
    Participant

    I find myself (surprisingly, considering how often we disagree) siding to a large degree with WIY here.

    One might be able to make an argument that there is SOME non Jewish music that is not objectionable and unlikely to have a negative effect on the Jewish soul.

    One might also be able to make the separate argument that, say, instrumental music is inherently spiritual and without words to taint it can be uplifting.

    One could even go so far as to look for and find heterim, leniencies, or personal justifications for listening to non Jewish music even with words. I can think of many songs with positive messages – but not necessarily Jewish ones.

    But none of these ascribes positive Jewish attributes and outcomes to this music. Josh Groban singing about J but using Tanach verses to do so isn’t uplifting, its as depressing as combating a missionary doing the same thing, only Groban is doing it for money and the missionary is doing it for neshamos.

    Lets not make an idol out of Groban just because he shaves and wears a suit instead of showing off bling and tattoos. At the end of the day it IS a particularly important time of year to have a particularly Jewish perspective on how life should be lived.

    For the past 10 years I’ve been spending RH and YK in a very small town with a tiny mostly non religious Jewish community as their baal tefiloh and baal koreh and mechazek. They get little enough Yiddishkeit in their lives, it is sometimes the simple Jewish tunes I use in davening that make a huge impression of memory and tradition on them that I can then expand when I give a vort or a shiur.

    I am a big proponent of taking what is good and useful from chochmas hagoyim, and even to a lesser extent, their culture. But that doesn’t mean we have to give it a mantle of holiness, even if we can get our heads around giving it a chezkas kashrus.

    #970982
    the-art-of-moi
    Participant

    omg, i love josh grobans music. hes helped me through so many hard times. i especially feel connected with his song to where you are. i think everyone that lost a loved one should listen to it… after my brother passed away two years ago, i didnt think life could go on. my friend introduced me to that song and slowly, i began to heal. somehow, jewish music just didnt do that for me- some nj songs are really ok to listen to. as long as its not about a broken heart or whatevs, nj music is usually better than jewish music. thank you josh. you gave me hope when i thought there wasnt any…

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