Our post about Bob Marley’s Jewish roots sparked such a conversation among readers that we figured we’d do some more digging to see if we could find any more Jewish connections within the Marley clan. Turns out, it’s pretty easy.

Ziggy Marley, eldest son of Bob and Rita Marley, is married to Orly Agai, an Israeli of Iranian descent. Born in Israel, Agai’s family moved to Los Angeles when she was 14. She spent more than a decade at the William Morris talent agency, and now manages the reggae star’s career.

In a 2011 video interview with YNet, Marley discussed his family’s religious observance (on celebrating Jewish holidays: “I have to, I don’t have a choice,” he said, laughing. “I love it, everything”), as well as his respect for Judaism: “What really impacts me is that the culture keeps their history alive—all the holidays and everything to celebrate their history,” he explained. “I’m very jealous of that, because my culture, we don’t do that.”

Most interesting, however, is that he says his engagement with Judaism precedes his marriage to Agai:

The history of our connection to the root of Israel—David, Solomon—goes way before I met my wife. My father, my Rastafarian culture, is tightly linked to Jewish culture. We have a strong connection from when I was a young boy, reading the Tanach, the Bible, the Old Testament.

(Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)

Ziggy Marley: I’m jealous of Jewish culture [YNet] Previously: Was Bob Marley’s Father Jewish?

The post Ziggy Marley and His Israeli Wife Orly Celebrate All the Jewish Holidays appeared first on Jewcy.

Over at the Scroll, Adam Chandler reports that there may be more to the Jewish obsession with Bob Marley than suburban kids blasting his songs while driving in their BMWs:

So when we learned that Marley’s father, Norval, from whom Marley was estranged, was the son of Ellen Broomfield, a white Jewish Syrian Jamaican (beat that!), it made some sense. Norval Marley was born in Jamaica in 1885 (although the record is disputed) and, by the time he paired up with Marley’s mother Cedella, he was said to have been 60 years old. Norval Marley’s relationship with Cedella didn’t last long and he died of a heart attack when Marley was 12.

What do you think?

Bob Marley’s Jewish Father [Tablet Magazine]

The post Was Bob Marley’s Father Jewish? appeared first on Jewcy.