Never Say Never. Previously unknown Jewish teen singer Madison Beer’s dreams came true when Justin Bieber tweeted a link to her song last week to his 25 million-plus followers with the words, “Wow. 13 years old! she can sing. great job. #futurestar.”
The video featured Beer’s rendition of Etta James’ “At Last,” and Bieber’s followers promptly took his advice and rushed to watch it. As of July 22, the clip was closing in on 350,000 views.
A twitter fan asked Beer if she was Jewish after taking note of the vast collection of Bar Mitzvah photos on her Instagram account, to which she tweeted back, “yes haahha #mazeltov.”
Beer was a little more than excited by her new-found fame, and her new-found fan. “I Can’t Believe this is happening,” she tweeted to Justin. “I’m crying.”
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In a sense, Bieber was returning a favor. It was his Jewish manager, 31-year-old music biz maven Scott Samuel “Scooter” Braun, who discovered Bieber on YouTube five years ago.
While Jewish girls around the world mourn the fact that Bieber is not actually Jewish, his connection to the Jewish world is notable. Braun taught Bieber the “Shema Yisrael” and it’s the 18-year-old’s “minhag” (custom) to recite the short prayer before stepping onto the stage. While in Israel last year, he and his dad both got matching Hebrew tattoos.
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