Yeshiva Destruction: Disturbed's Unlikeliest Fans

Brian Brown and Elie Hassan / Photo by Gavin Stevens

Draiman, the lone Jew in Disturbed, is up-front about the religious content of the band's songs, repeating the Hebrew word mefached ("I'm afraid") in the 2000 single "Stupify" (video) and including the line "Elokai " -- Hebrew for God -- "bury me tonight" in "Pain Redefined." "It's definitely something that comes out once in a while," he says. "But at this point, I'm the anti-yeshiva student, so this connection [with students] boggles my mind. All I keep [from Jewish tradition] is that I don't eat nonkosher animals and I don't have tattoos."

Since congregating with like-minded fans -- online, at concerts, anywhere -- isn't an option, restricted yeshiva students are forced to find more subversive ways of sharing their love of Disturbed. One current New York City–based student, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, says that kids at his school occasionally recited Sabbath lunch psalms to Disturbed melodies. "We got dirty looks from the other tables who knew it was goyish music but couldn't prove it," he says. "Sometimes it's frustrating. You just want to blast 'Stupify' down the hallways once in a while."

Hassan, who plans to buy the new Disturbed album, Indestructible, this month, has another theory about the band's shadowy popularity. "Everyone has a dream of becoming a wealthy rock star," he says. "As a yeshiva guy listening, you think you could make it, too."

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