Maroon 5 hit the ground running while in Israel for two concerts in Tel Aviv this week.
“So we got into Tel Aviv about 4 a.m., and we’re here now. And it’s even more beautiful than I had imagined.” Maroon 5’s Adam Levine posted on his Instagram story. “Super excited. Special. Amazing, we love you.”
The L.A. based band will be performing in Tel Aviv on May 9 and 10 – the second concert was added due to high demand for tickets.
On Sunday, Levine was spotted touring the Western Wall and the Aish World Center in Jerusalem – which has got fans wondering: is the pop-rocker Jewish?
Here’s everything we know about Adam Levine’s Jewish identity.
The basics
Adam Noah Levine was born March 18, 1979, to Fredric Levine and Patsy (Noah) Levine.
Levine’s father was Jewish by way of his mother (Adam’s grandmother). His maternal grandfather was also Jewish.
Adam considers himself Jewish
In December of 2013, Levine tweet “Sadly, Santa put me on his naughty list because I’m Jewish and I should be celebrating Hanukkah. St. Nick keeps it real. I respect that.”
Being on the “naughty list” is more fun anyways, one user responded. We respect that.
More of Levine’s best Jewish tweets:
He is “spiritual” but not “religious”
Adam considers himself to be “spiritual” but not “religious” he told the Jewish Chronicle in 2011.
“Dad spiked in a little Judaism,” he said of his religious upbringing.
“Religion is a very long, complicated conversation that we’re not going to have right now… you have to let kids figure out what they want to do for themselves.”
He chose not to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah
When Jewish boys turn 13, they automatically become a Bar Mitzvah or a ‘legal adult’ according to Jewish law.
Many choose to celebrate the occasion by reading from the Torah for the first time and having a party. Adam Levine chose not to celebrate because he “felt as though a lot of kids were trying to cash in,” he said.
“I just don’t think it’s the most respectful way to deal with God and beliefs and years and years and years of cultural heritage.”
He started his band at sleepaway camp
Adam attended French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts Camp in the Catskills, where he and his best friends Jesse Carmichael (who is Jewish), Mickey Madden, and Ryan Dusick started the band Kara’s Flowers, now known as Maroon 5.
What’s more Jewish than starting a band with your besties at sleepaway camp in the Catskills?
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