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Soapbox: Jews for Jerry

Many a Deadhead during the years has likely remarked offhandedly that a particularly deep “Dark Star” jam or a searing peak in “Morning Dew” amounted to a religious experience.

For Jews who’ve found a spiritual home within the sphere of the Grateful Dead, that just might be true.

The perceived overlap between the worlds of the Dead and Judaism has proven to be a fertile subtopic among fans, writers and academics who are used to scouring the Grateful Dead experience for bits of debatable theory. But what’s the essence of the connection?

Only one Grateful Dead band member—Mickey Hart—is Jewish. Though the Dead dipped deeply into the reservoir of American music, it was not known to recast Hebrew prayers or treat in explicitly Jewish imagery. It played concerts in honor of the Chinese New Year, not Rosh Hashanah.

Yet, for secular Jews open to spiritual pursuit but uninterested in strict religious observance, the Dead may have provided a conduit for the sort of spiritual expression that they felt was lacking elsewhere.

“The Grateful Dead is a good example of people searching for the other, whatever that means, in terms of spirituality—trying to find something that goes beyond their own identity, beyond themselves,” argues Rob Weiner, editor of Perspectives on the Grateful Dead, a compendium of scholarly writings on the band. “It’s an important way to help them live their lives in a moral and reasonable way.”

But what about this is specifically Jewish?

There is indeed the sense of a marginalized tribe assimilating into broader culture, while self-identifying with subtle cues—be it a Garcia tie or dancing-bear bumper sticker—and finally letting the freak flag (or yarmulke) fly once its members are assembled together in ceremony. “Deadheads lived fairly normal lives until they went to a Grateful Dead show,” recalls Barry Smolin, host of “The Music Never Stops” on KPFK-FM in Los Angeles. “And then they would don the apparel and be Deadheads very openly and freely and without paranoia.”

The Dead scene has largely been absorbed into broader pop culture—safely sterilized in the straight world as a tie-dyed postcard from a quaint but strange country. But for much of the band’s life, they dwelled far from the mainstream.

“Deadheads felt like outcasts in America, yet we were outcasts who built a very strong and vital and joyful community,” observes Steve Silberman, a writer who earned gold records for co-producing the So Many Roads (1965-1995) box set and penning liner notes for re-releases of Workingman’s Dead and Europe ‘72. “There’s a wink-wink understanding that we’re always in the same tribe. It’s a feeling of being both outcast and deeply inside. You’re deeply inside something that the uninitiated do not understand. It gave you a place to be special in a world in which you were told that you were less than ordinary.”

The propensity of serious Deadheads to knowledgably debate every chapter and verse of the band’s live oeuvre—easily summoning dates, statistics and other minutiae with lawyerly acumen—has been likened to the Jewish tradition of Talmudic disputation in which long passages of theological analysis detail the unresolved arguments among rabbis over the fine points of Hebraic law.

Leora Lawton, a sociology professor at University of California in Berkeley, cites Kabbalistic belief in the divinity of music. She says that music has always had particular importance to Jewish spiritual practice—particularly drums and percussion. In Exodus, after Moses leads his people to safety across the Red Sea and offers a prayer of thanksgiving, the women break out tambourines and start dancing. “The percussion creates a rhythm that allows one to get into a meditative state, which allows prophecy to happen in Jewish thought,” says Lawton.

There’s also the matter of a Grateful Dead show as a sacred space—independent from the profane world—where spiritual expression is possible through music, dance, and fellowship with a like-minded community.

Concertgoers didn’t follow a theological dogma—though show etiquette and certain lyric-derived catchphrases, like “I need a miracle every day,” may have come close among some elements of the scene—but for the true believers, the sense of ceremony and profound expectation seemed to be of an entirely different variety than concerts by The Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan.

“Shows were very much like a secular Sabbath,” says Silberman. “[The Grateful Dead] were open to discovering [the sacred] every night, in the next set or the next song or the next transition. The possibility of the sacred being revealed was always there, but it was also never certain. You could have two shows that were relatively lame. But, just to be in the room when the sacred might be revealed, in these exploratory observations…”

He trails off for a moment, as if trying to describe the ineffable. Perhaps he is.

Comments

There are 8 comments associated with this post

Barbara Saunders June 5, 2012, 18:11:11

This: “But what about this is specifically Jewish?” is an interesting question. I have two thoughts: 1) Maybe it isn’t. Maybe Judaism and/or Jewishness is the last of the U.S.‘s major religions whose public image and/or culture leaves room for connection with a Dead-like phenomenon in the public mind. 2) Maybe the Dead attracted a lot of Jewish people by historical accident, and become Jewish-like as a result rather than a cause.

Alex Mathews June 5, 2012, 20:00:05

There was definitely a sub-movement of Jewish heads who aligned their faith with their deadhead identities. Certainly many of the lyrical content drew from the Old Testament. In a similar token many people of different (read Christian) faiths found their beliefs and experiences on tour. That phenomenon is very much a part of the Grateful Dead experience.

Brad June 6, 2012, 09:33:52

On the East Coast the Spring Tour usually coincided with Passover while the Fall Tour coincided with the High Holy Days. Living in NYC from 83 til the end in 95 the fall shows at the Garden were usually the musical highlight of the year. I would travel once in a while for shows but mainly stuck to the tri-state area as I got older. You knew that every fall they would play a series of shows in your city with the largest Jewish Population in the country and for us Jews there was always a show you couldn’t go to because of Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashana. Still like a holiday you looked forward to that once a year set of dates and like going to Temple you arrived each night to sooth your soul. At the end of those dates you felt spiritually fulfilled, physically and mentally drained and content even though you know you probably wouldn’t be going to another show til the Spring.

David Shenk June 6, 2012, 13:08:45

We touched on this a few times in Skeleton Key. I particularly love what Abby Mendelson wrote: So much of what Robert Hunter writes in his lyrics is about the fragility of life, about things changing, not knowing what’s going on, and having to rely on a high power. A lot of that is basic Jewish philosophy. ‘Once in a while you get shown the light/In the strangest of placesif you look at it right.’ Once in a while – if you look at it right. That’s classic Jewish thought: you don’t know exactly where the message is coming from, and you’ve got to look for it. “ ‘I’ve stayed in every blue light cheap hotel/Can’t win for trying’ [from ‘Stella Blue’] – that’s us ! Knowing failure, getting thrown out of countries, being ravaged and picking yourself up. Bill Graham – he never lost that spirit. Most of his family was destroyed in Europe. “There are times when my family will go home from synagogue and sing ‘Ripple.’ It’s a wonderful song that reflects a lot of what we feel about life. We also sing a Shabbas song to the melody of ‘Ripple.’ I have a friend – another Shomer Shabbas – with whom I’ve seen a number of shows. The first was when his daughter dragged him to Three Rivers Stadium in ‘90. He was being a good father, so he schlepped out there. He was blown away. Not only by the music, but by the spirituality. Jerry has said that in every generation there are people who hear their message, and for us, the message is very strong. “I know there are other subgroups among Deadheads. It’s funny – I see these people and I wonder ‘what do they see in these guys?’ How do you get ‘Stella Blue’ if you’re not Shomer Shabbas? How do they get ‘Franklins Tower?’ For us it strikes a chord. The fragility of life is reflected in everything about the Dead: in the lyrics, of course, but also in the quirky melodies, the odd time signatures, in the band never knowing what it’s going to play next. In giving themselves a chance to fail, and having an audience that permits them to fail. To live is not to be a robot, but rather to be spiritual about what you’re trying to do. I am constantly amazed at how they tap into that. Mickey Hart has talked about the healing power of music. ‘Fire on the Mountain’ taps you into that spiritual source. I have many non-Orthodox friends who ask, ‘What does Judaism do for you?’ What it does is that it improves the quality of every aspect of my life. It makes the good times wonderful, and the bad times tolerable. It’s not a bunch of people sitting around having fun all the time – life is not like that. There are problems with life all the time, but the question is, ‘How are you going to deal with them?’ For me, Judaism is one answer, and in their own way, the Dead are travelling along the same road.

bob geldoff June 20, 2012, 17:00:21

dumb article. its a band. my god.

Dave June 20, 2012, 17:26:13

This was a pretty shallow article. Looks like it was done as some kind of high school term paper! A shame that a topic that could have been pretty rewarding was explored with no intellectual rigor. Better luck next time.

Dred Scott June 22, 2012, 09:07:46

There’s always a few unhappy idiots in the remarks section. Usually it’s not worth even reading comments thanks to the likes of Bob & Dave above, but this time I’m really glad I did.

Charles M. Waltzer February 13, 2013, 12:15:46

What shall we say, shall we call it by a name
As well to count the angels dancing on a pin
Water bright as the sky from which it came
And the name is on the earth that takes it in
We will not speak but stand inside the rain
And listen to the thunder shout
I am, I am, I am, I am
The Lyric from “Let it grow” say’s it all !
It may be sometimes important for us to idetify the eternal entity which may or may not control the cosmic mystical universe to gain some sort of emotional stability to deal with the riggors of life…...and when we asked for that answer all we got was I am what I am ! And thats what I am ….I am what I am !
I for One has always been someone who has seached for my on personal and spiritual identity and has considered myself part of the tribe of Isreal and the tribe of Dead Head Wharf Rats to give myself a sense of being part of and belonging to the fellowship of mankind. For this I am for ever Grateful !