Only in America...

would you find a room full of (mostly) non-Jewish people cheering on a Lubavitch Hasidic reggae/rapper, Matisyahu, singing his lyrics-most of which have to do with VERY Jewish themes and concepts and cheering wildly for the lighting of the first Hannukah candle (on Christmas day, no less) in a music club in the center of black, urban Washington, DC.

The guy in front of us (Kira, my sister and I went together) was a fairly typical, WASPy looking guy, wearing a Notre Dame Fighting Irish hat jumping wildly and singing lyrics such as "we want mashiach now and it's time to start revealing..." and "Yibaneh hamikdash bimheira b'yameinu" (rebuild the Temple speedily in our days) and other words taken from Jewish liturgy and religious tradition.

I kept looking around and saying to Kira, "I've lived in 3 countries and traveled to another 50 or so and THIS is the most unique cultural experience I've ever had."

Matisyahu gave a mini sermon on the signifiance of the word "Nefesh" (soul in Hebrew) and how it related to the Hannukah lights and with each word and beat of his very, very impressive performance, the place was nodding their heads in time and dancing. It was remarkable.

I'm told that my father's father, who emigrated to the US from Lithuania, would use the Yiddish term "Amerika goniff", literally meaning "America steals," but essentially refers to things that could only happen in America, as if to say with a wink and a nod, "you crazy America!"

Tonight was one of those moments.