Adi Ran is kind of the earthly embodiment of how I imagine teshuva. He used to be an Israeli rocker — a big guy, massive beard, massive gut and a serious penchant for wild guitar solos. He never speaks of the vices of the lifestyle, but you can pretty much imagine them.
These days, he’s a total devotee to the faith. He’s the epitome of what Christian musicians talk about as the “God-girl” complex — where you’re writing songs that could be to a girl, if you replace “girl” with “God.” But Adi Ran doesn’t write toned-down nice-guy songs designed by a Hollywood conglomerate to get a girl in bed; he writes ZZ Top-like, balls-out RAWK songs about God. Live, he shouts these things into a mic and gets nasty on his guitar. He even has the same backing band as when he wasn’t religious, which — as someone who’s been around bands who need to “frum up” and ditch any traces of the secular world, either people or sounds — but you know this guy is writing the kind of quality cheese that only people who honestly believe in this stuff can write. His work is not laden with subtle metaphors or pointed comparisons between pretty girls and vintage picture shows. He’s heartful, honest, old-school rock. He is the Bruce Springsteen of religious music.
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