On Friday (August 14), DISTURBED singer David Draiman took part in a live interview with "Offstage With DWP", the new online content series from Danny Wimmer Presents, one of the largest independent promoters in the United States. You can now watch the chat below.
Speaking about DISTURBED's plans to return to the road post-pandemic, Draiman said: "We can't wait to get back out there. Look, this is a necessary evil, everyone. Everybody needs to stay safe. Everybody needs to just take care of themselves, and we need to do what we need to do as a society and as a planet to just minimize the damage from this thing. And if that means that we need to wait to get together and celebrate, then that's what it means. And we'll be there, and it'll happen eventually. And we look forward to it happening. And I think all this built-up anticipation, and once it finally can happen, is gonna make for one hell of a celebration… Once it's safe, and [the fans] really can [attend shows again], and they've been pent up and held back for so long, oh my God — people are gonna come out in droves. I'm confident of it."
This past June, DISTURBED confirmed the rescheduled 2021 dates for its "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour", co-produced by Frank Productions and Live Nation. The amphitheater tour, with very special guest STAIND and BAD WOLVES, will begin on July 7, 2021 at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre and all previously purchased tickets will be honored for their rescheduled dates. "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour" celebrates the two-decade anniversary of the band's seminal album "The Sickness". On this tour, the band will perform songs off the album, as well as tracks from their most recent studio release, "Evolution", and their extensive catalog.
Earlier in the year, Draiman confirmed that DISTURBED won't perform "The Sickness" in its entirety on "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour". "No, we won't do the entire album, but we're going to do a ton of 'Sickness' material, deeper cuts, stuff people haven't heard us play off the record for a while, and definitely a huge portion of material will be 'Sickness'-oriented," the singer told Billboard.com.
"You can't, unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on how you look at it — as a band at our level, at this point of our career, you can't just go out and play one record because everybody came on board at different stations," the explained. "They want to hear what they fell in love with. There's definitely new production elements that we're toying with, that are elements that we've maybe used during 'The Sickness' era, but that we're doing in a new and more provocative way. That's about all I can say."
In 2010, DISTURBED celebrated the tenth anniversary of the release of "The Sickness" by reissuing it with exclusive b-sides and expanded artwork, as well as a first-time-ever vinyl edition.
Released on March 7, 2000, "The Sickness" is DISTURBED's best-selling album to date, thanks to such hit singles as "Stupify", "Voices" and "Down With The Sickness".
Chicago-based nu-metal band Disturbed played their first show ever in Israel, at Rishon Lezion’s Live Park, where the band’s singer, David Draiman ,performed a cover of the Israeli National Anthem “Hatikva.” Draiman, who is of Jewish descent, also spoke in Hebrew with the crowd, and even wore a shirt in support of the government’s military forces, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
This performance saw Draiman sing the anthem backed by an Italian renaissance instrumental for a little under a minute and a half. “Hatikva,” is based off a 19th-Century Jewish poem, and has served as the nation’s national anthem officially since 2004.
Although this is the band’s first time performing in the country, Draiman, as the son of two Israeli citizens, and the grandson of Holocaust survivors, has been a long supporter of Israel for many years. Prior to this performance, the singer slammed outspoken Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions(BDS) supporter Roger Waters, who conversely, has openly criticized numerous musicians, including Radiohead, Kamasi Washington and Nick Cave for performing in the country.
“You can’t accomplish anything in terms of trying to create peace, in terms of trying to create understanding by shutting things off. There has to be open roads of communication,” Draiman explained according to Loudwire. “You build bridges, you don’t knock them down. And music and entertainment is the perfect way to bridge that gap. And the very notion that Waters and the rest of his Nazi comrades decide that this is the way to go ahead and foster change is absolute lunacy and idiocy — absolute.”
” To peacefully protest against Israel’s racist domestic and foreign policies is NOT ANTI-SEMITIC. Your(Nassau County’s) contention that because I criticize the Policies of the Israeli government I should be lumped in with the Muslim Brotherhood is risible, and again a personal affront. I have spent my whole adult life advocating separation of church and state.”
Israel’s government has been accused of human rights abuses by the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, due to their treatment of Palestinians living in various territories and settlements alongside Gaza.
This is not the first issue that Draiman has been outspoken about either, back in 2016 Disturbed posted a video on their social media expressing support for police officers, while utilizing the contentious Blue Lives Matter hashtag. Although these causes may be considered right-wing, Draiman has not explicitly sided with one side of the political aisle, siding with Bernie Sanders in 2016, while simultaneously refusing to blame the country’s political divide on the current US president.
“It’s not just the Trump era,” Draiman explained in the Loudwire piece. “The [U.S.] was divided before him, whether people want to admit it or not. I think that Trump is given too much credit. The hatred exists with or without him.”
After the fall of Jerusalem, in 70 CE, Jewish life had no temple and no high priest any more. Judaism had to reinvent itself. The Sadducees vanished, the people who had written the sectarian texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls (perhaps the Essenes) disappeared as well, the Sicarians and Zealots were violently repressed. Two branches survived: on the one hand the Pharisees, on the other hand the group that recognized Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah.
The Parting of Ways
Texts, written in the last quarter of the first century, document a clash between those two branches of Judaism, both claiming to be the true continuation of Temple Judaism. The Fiscus Judaicus, a Roman tax that had to be paid by Jews only but allowed them to be monotheists, acerbated these tensions, and the fact that Simon bar Kochba, a Messianic leader who revolted against Rome in 132-136, executed adherents of the rival Messiah,note did not help either.
The Christians would find new leaders: priests, deacons, presbyters and bishops. The Pharisees continued the tradition of rabbinical teaching, often associated with the synagogues. The first to organize this branch of Judaism was Yohanan ben Zakkai, who had survived the sack of Jerusalem and founded a school in Javne, probably under Roman auspices.
Seizing power in a confused world, the academy of Javne, as it is called, made important decisions. The Amidah (the prayer of the Eighteen Benedictions) was created, a summary of Jewish faith. The canon of the Jewish Bible was established. The training of rabbis was organized. The old Pharisaic traditions, which had been handed down orally, were written down.
The Mishnah
The first to summarize these traditions may have been rabbi Aqiba; the first collection of rabbinical wisdom that survives is the Mishnah ("repetition"), which was created in c.200 CE by rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi of Sepphoris. It consists of sixty-three tractates, containing the opinions of the rabbinical sages. The tractates are divided into six groups ("orders"):
Zeraim ("Seeds"), 11 tractates on a/o agriculture; this includes Berakhot (blessings")
Moed ("Festival"), 12 tractates on the Jewish festivals and the Sabbath
Nashim ("Women"), 7 tractates on a/o marriage and divorce
Nezikin ("Damages"), 10 tractates on civil and criminal law; this includes the tractate Sanhedrin (on criminal law), Avodah Zarah (on idolatry), and Avot ("sayings of the fathers")
Kodashim ("Holy things"), 11 tractates on the Jewish cult and dietary laws"; this includes Middot (a description of the Temple)
Tohorot ("Purity"), 12 tractates on purity
Although certain topics are not discussed, and several topics are obviously hypothetical (e.g., the tractate Middot on rebuilding the Temple), one gets the impression that Yehuda tried to cover every aspect of human life, showing that God is everywhere, Judaism is always possible, and that God had - as was written in the first chapter of the Bible- created a world that was good.
Later collections
A second collection of rabbinical wisdom is the Tosefta ("supplement"), which contains traditions that Yehuda ha-Nasi had left out, such as Messianism. Later, the Mishnah was commented upon and these new traditions were ordered in the Palestinian Talmud (fifth century) and the Babylonian Talmud (seventh century). These four collections - Mishnah, Tosefta, and the two Talmuds - are the foundation of rabbinical Judaism.
Those Jews who did not accept the authority of the rabbis and their texts - in other words: those who accepted only the Jewish Bible as authoritative - are called Karaites.
Yohanan ben Zakkai (second half first century CE): rabbi, one of the founders of rabbinical Judaism.
Modern reconstruction of an ancient synagogue
After the fall of Jerusalem, in 70 CE, Judaism had to reinvent itself. There was no temple, there was no high priest. The Sadducees had vanished, the people who had written the sectarian texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls (perhaps the Essenes) had disappeared as well, the Romans had violently repressed the Sicarians and Zealots. Only two branches of the ancient, pluralistic faith would survive: those who stressed Messianism became Christians, those who stressed the study of the Law would develop into rabbinical Judaism. One key figure was Yohanan ben Zakkai, who renewed Pharisaism and gave Judaism a new future.
Crisis
The importance of the crisis in 70 CE cannot be overestimated, but the Jewish religion was not exclusively about the temple in Jerusalem. There were synagogues, charismatics, and sects with their own customs, rituals, and ideas. One of those ideas was almost the opposite of the sacrificial cult, namely the answer to the question of the core of the Jewish faith. The summary attributed to the Pharisaic leader Hillel and to Jesus of Nazareth “do to others what you want them to do to you”,note certainly does not put the temple cult at the center of Judaism. Instead, it focuses on the correct way of life.
An anecdote about rabbi Yohanan shows that the Jews were aware that the center of gravity in their religion was shifting away from sacrifice in the temple. When one of Yohanan’s disciples saw the ruins of the temple, he said that the Jews were lost because they could no longer make sacrifices to restore their ritual purity or atone for sins. No one would ever enter the world that was to come. However, Yohanan reassured him: there was another way, as good as sacrifice, to come to terms with God, namely acts of charity.note
The reliability of this anecdote is difficult to determine. It was passed down to us in an early Medieval text, which suggests that it is unreliable, but this Medieval text contains material of considerable antiquity, which suggests the opposite. As a consequence, the authenticity of Yohanan’s statement is disputed, although it is certain that the idea was not uncommon in the late first century.note
To Javne
This anecdote shows that Yohanan was the subject of several legends, which may or may not be true. Another example is the story that during the siege of Jerusalem, Yohanan managed to escape, hidden in a coffin, and gained the favor of Vespasian by foretelling him that one day, he would be emperor. As a reward, the rabbi-turned-prophet received permission to establish a school in Javne.note That not Titus but his father is presented as the besieger of Jerusalem is sufficient to describe the anecdote as unhistorical.
Still, it is plausible that Yohanan founded a school or lawcourt in Javne where decisions were taken that were in some way recognized by other Jews. The Mishnah, the oldest collection of rabbinical wisdom, mentions Yohanan several times in connection with Javne, as in an anecdote about the right time to celebrate New Year.note It is certainly conceivable that the Romans assisted moderate religious leaders to establish schools.
No Roman would have been offended by the matters discussed in Javne. This certainly applies to Yohanan’s statement about Messianism:
If you want to plant a shoot and someone tells you that the Messiah is coming, plant that shoot before you welcome him. note
Again, the authenticity of these words is questionable, but they fit perfectly in the years after the destruction of the temple, when people had come to distrust the violent messianism of a Simon bar Giora. The quote may be authentic.
Seizure of Power
The rabbinical debates in Javne did not bother the Roman authorities. They were about ritual purity,note marriage contracts,note calendars,note or agriculture.note
That is not to say, however, that the people in Javne did not practice politics. The Babylonian Talmud contains an old list of decisions made by Yohanan, including the decision that priests should not wear sandals when they climbed on a platform in the synagogue to bless the people. This may look obscure but this is how the priests had once acted in the temple and Yohanan now presented the priests with a choice: either they had no duties at all (after all, the temple had been destroyed) or they were given a modest privilege in the synagogues – but on the authority of Javne.note
Something similar can be said about another seemingly insignificant issue: the blowing of a horn, the shofar, during the festivities of the New Year. This had always been done in both the temple and the synagogues, but if the first day of the year was a Saturday, the Sabbath was observed and the music was heard only in the temple. This occurred in September 71, when the Jewish New Year fell on a Saturday. Since there was no temple, there was a problem. Yohanan now decided that from now on, the shofar would be blown wherever the court was – in Javne.note So in effect, Yohanan strove for his institution, whatever status it may have had, to take over as many tasks as possible from Jerusalem.
Rabbinical Judaism
Rabbinical Judaism seems to have replaced Pharisaism quickly, because we don’t hear much more about the latter, but if Yohanan is the link between these two stages of Jewish thinking, it would be exaggerated to say that continuity was complete. Pharisaism had always known two complementary branches: the precise House of Shammai and the moderate House of Hillel. In the discussion between these houses, Yohanan and his students sided with the latter, which means that a significant part of the Pharisaic traditions was now discarded. The scholars of Javne also made their own choices: the Mishnaic tractate Eduyoth begins with a list of disputes in which both Shammai and Hillel had, according to the rabbis, both been wrong.
Thus, the scholars of Javne set the first steps on a road that would lead to the emergence of the rabbinate. Until then, the title of rabbi, “master”, had been used informally for all people of authority, but now the rabbinate became an official function that required teaching by recognized rabbis. The title was transferred through a ritual of laying on of hands.
Whether the rabbinical authority was already accepted by many people in these years cannot be determined, but success may have come quickly because the alternatives were rapidly discredited in a Jewish world that was still in turmoil. When Yohanan gave his verdict on the blowing of the shofar in 71, the battle for Masada still had to begin.
One alternative was the temple in Leontopolis, Egypt, which had been built by high priest Honi IV in the second century BCE. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus says that it attracted so many former insurgents that the Alexandrian Jews and the governor of Egypt started to worry, and in 74 CE, the last Jewish temple was closed.note Another alternative to the rabbinic assumption of power was king Agrippa II. There may well have been other parties who wanted to fill the power vacuum. It is conceivable that a group of priests went to Arabia and tried to build a new temple in, for example, Dedan or Tayma, oases with Jewish minorities. Arab Judaism is one of our blind spots and there may very well have been other alternatives to Javne. The rabbis’ seizure of power was swift but not self-evident.
The Amidah
Among those who did not accept Javne were the followers of Jesus. The gospels of Matthew and John and the text known as Didache contain various polemics against rival groups, with the "woes of the Pharisees" as obvious example.note
The other voice in these polemics is the Amidah, the prayer of the Eighteen Benedictions that summarizes Jewish faith. It was formulated at the time of Yohanan’s successor Gamaliel II.note This classic Jewish text expresses (among many other things) the wish that there will be no hope for apostates. Two manuscripts, both from Cairo, explicitly mention the notsrim, the Christians, which fits the Christian accusation that in the synagogues, people cursed Christians.note
We do not know whether the Cairene manuscripts present us with the original text or a variant, but it seems certain that towards the end of the first century CE, the Amidah contained a prayer against apostates in general. There must have been synagogues where Christians who maintained the Law were regarded as apostates and asked to leave; there certainly were synagogues that took a different stance, for it is certain that Christians continued to participate in the synagogue service three centuries later.
The Parting of Ways
As said, we don’t know how great the authority of the rabbis initially was. Nor do we know in how many synagogues and in what words the Amidah was recited. It is certain, however, that towards the end of the first century, there was at least one group in the Jewish world that believed action should be taken against apostates and that there was at least one group of followers of Jesus who felt addressed. The Fiscus Judaicus, a Roman tax that had to be paid by Jews only, acerbated these tensions, and the fact that Simon bar Kochba, a Messianic leader who revolted against Rome in 132-136, executed adherents of the rival Messiah,note did not help either.
The Christians would find new leaders: priests, deacons, presbyters and bishops. Many Jews would accept the rabbis as leaders. They would establish the canon of the Jewish Bible, and towards the end of the second century, Yehuda ha-Nasi would collect and organize the oral traditions of the rabbis in the Mishnah, the first book of rabbinic wisdom. The roads had started to diverge.
