Diaspora Yeshiva Band
| Diaspora Yeshiva Band | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Jerusalem |
| Genres | Jewish rock, bluegrass, country, folk, blues, jazz, klezmer |
| Years active | 1975–1983 |
| Associated acts | Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora |
| Website |
www rockinrabbi |
| Past members |
|
Diaspora Yeshiva Band (Hebrew: להקת ישיבת התפוצות) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish rock band founded at the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, by baal teshuva students from the United States. In existence from 1975 to 1983, the band infused rock and bluegrass music with Jewish lyrics, creating a style of music it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern". The band was very popular on college campuses in the early to mid-1980s, and was well known in Jerusalem for its Saturday-night concerts at David's Tomb. It had a considerable influence on contemporary Jewish religious music, inspiring later bands such as Blue Fringe, 8th Day, Reva L'Sheva, Soulfarm, the Moshav Band, and Shlock Rock. Fifteen years after it disbanded, band leader Avraham Rosenblum revived the band under the name Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora and produced several more albums.
The Diaspora Yeshiva was founded in 1967 by Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, an alumnus of the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva in Queens, New York, and a colleague of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. The Diaspora Yeshiva was the first outreach yeshiva for baalei teshuva. Unlike traditional rabbinic academies, the yeshiva reached out to young Jewish men who had never been exposed to traditional Torah or Talmud study. It offered introductory and intermediate courses together with acclimation to an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle. To appeal to students who identified with the hippie subculture prevalent on American college campuses in those years, the yeshiva adopted a neo-Hasidic approach. Students were encouraged to keep their long hair and their musical instruments.
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