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Nothing unites people like music

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CONSIDERED OPINION

CONSIDERED OPINION

He founded a finance company, which provides working capital for businesses. He explains that balancing his finance business and musical career is his biggest challenge.

“Even though the majority of my day is focused on my business, my passion is for music. So, no matter how busy I may be with work, I will still take a day off for a studio session. Or I might stay up late working on music and therefore will get to the office a bit late. These two priorities create inner conflict. If I only do music, my business will fall apart. I’m passionate, but I can’t let it take over my business.

“The music industry has a lot of ups and downs. It’s a lot of hard work. It could happen overnight for some people, like winning the lottery. But what I realised is that it might look like an overnight blowup, but really it was five or ten years of hard work.”

Dubb

Matt calls, “one of the biggest DJ’s on the planet.” And it was featured on the Armada Today Ibiza 2022 collection, alongside some of the most successful DJ’s in the world.

Matt’s music carries a very positive, spiritual message. “It doesn’t feel like I’m crossing over from the Jewish market. I’m producing popular music that’s clean and has good messaging and can appeal to all audiences. My song, ‘Matter of Time’ has a very positive message, but it’s also very current.”

After its first week of release, that song debuted on SiriusXM BPM, one of the biggest dance radio stations in the world, fulfilling one of Matt’s dreams. Then famed DJ Sam Felt aired it on his weekly radio show.

His most recent Matt Dubb release, “L’Chai Olamim” with Mordechai Shapiro and Benny Friedman, is one of his most successful songs. Within its first few months, the song had over two million streams.

“The song blew up. It became an international sensation and is currently played at weddings and events throughout the world. Every day I’m getting tags from everywhere, New York to Australia – it’s an incredible and humbling feeling.”

Matt wants to bring his positive messages through music to as many people as he can.

He’s still working as a DJ, but mostly for Jewish events and parties. He is hustling, playing in venues and simultaneously trying to build the success of MNTII, which is a lot of work. “I’ve gotten messages

8. c) 13 years

9. a) Golda Meir

10. It is one of the most secretive units in the IDF – it is a unit of the Israeli Navy and one of the primary reconnaissance units of the Israel Defence Forces. Shayetet 13 specialises in sea-to-land incursions, counter-terrorism, sabotage, maritime intelligence gathering, maritime hostage rescue, and boarding. The unit is trained for sea, air and land actions

11. Luna Armoza (The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem is an Israeli television series, currently showing on Netflix. It is based on the novel of the same name by Sarit Yishai Levy. Swell Ariel Or plays the lead part - Luna Armoza)

12. Praise the Lord. Milk and Honey in 1979

13. Wearing a Yarmulka i.e. covering one’s from people from college campuses all over the US telling me they love my MŪNTII songs.”

He wants to bridge the gap between secular and Jewish music, as well as build bridges between people. “Music unites people like nothing else.”

Priorities

Matt is very spiritual.

“I view myself as a religious Orthodox person. I keep Shabbat, kosher and pray daily with a minyan. At the same time, I am very open-minded. I don’t feel that it’s a contradiction to be religious and observant and enjoy good music. I am not listening to controversial or inappropriate music. Electronic music to me is very spiritual.

“Sometimes, people might think I’m not spiritual because of my external image. But really, I’m deeply religious and spiritual. Similarly, my music breaks boundaries and bridges the gap between spiritual and not spiritual.” head out of respect for the Almighty

Judaism plays a huge role in Matt’s life and animates every part of his day. “Judaism is the best thing in the world because it grounds me and gives me a lot of purpose and meaning. I don’t view Judaism as a restriction; I view it as a guide to life. All my music comes from a very spiritual place. I feel more connected when I am working on my music.” Matt also prioritises learning Torah and also maintains a relationship with Rabbi Gershon Ribbner, a teacher who encouraged him to play gigs while in yeshiva.

Matt is also focused on his business.

14. Chelm

15. b) 60%

16. The Talmud Yerushalmi otherwise known as the Palestinian Talmud

17. King Asa was the King of Judah, King Baasha was the King of the neighbouring kingdom of Israel

18. The Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, currently Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef

19. The Jewish Legion

20. The Dubno Maggid

21. Manchester, England. The History of the Jews was first published in 1987 a) Camels b) Ass

22.

Making an Impact

“When I get feedback from followers, it keeps me going. The more people I reach, the greater I feel. People are responding with such positive messages. Someone on YouTube commented that my music caused him to put on tefillin for the first time in 10 years. Another person wrote, ‘this song got me through hard times.’ All these comments make me want to keep reaching more and more people, and will hopefully make a difference.”

Matt was once stuck in Germany for Shabbat because his flight had experienced an emergency landing.

“I was davening at The West End Synagogue in Frankfurt. I met this couple, soon to be getting engaged. He was in the process of converting and told me my music gave him inspiration while becoming a Jew. He expressed how much my music helped his process.”

It’s stories like this that fuel Matt’s passion.

“Music enables me to connect to millions of people. I may not know them or ever see them, but I feel that I can make a difference in their lives. That’s what makes this all worth it.”

Someone once approached Matt and asked, “Why do you do this? Don’t you have a successful business?” Matt responded, “My passion for music is bigger than money. Find your passion and pursue it.” c) Ravens

Look out for Matt’s upcoming MNTII collaboration with Alex Clare and other exciting projects.

23. Bullfighting

24. The US Embassy, now located in Jerusalem

25. Helen Mirren

Spelling bee answers

Jewish Answer – BENCHING. Here is a list of some common words (“yes”, we know there are more words in the dictionary that can work, but these words are common to today’s vernacular) – BEECH, BEGGING, BEGIN, BEIGE, BENIGN, BEGINNING, BENCH, BIGGIE, BINGE, BINGEING, EBBING .

Questions/comments – email Yoni at koshercrosswords@gmail.com

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