Famed Israeli singer-composer Rami Kleinstein, 52, who has always been secular, has begun to conduct kiddush ceremonies to welcome the Sabbath and to lay tefillin every morning.

Kleinstein is growing a beard and he has announced that he will no longer perform on Friday evenings (Sabbath eves) or on holidays. He has asked to move performances already scheduled for holy days to different days – reports Yedioth Aharonoth.

Kleinstein refused to say what led him to make the change in his life.

Some think that he hinted at his intentions in one of the songs he put out this year, “Small Gifts,” in which he included a verse from the kiddush (at 2:23 in the embedded video). When he was asked about it, however, he claimed that he inserted the verse because of the influence of the Sabbath kiddush that his father used to conduct.

“He is still not a fully fledged religious person,” said a source close to him, “but there is no doubt that Rami is taking great steps in religion – the most meaningful of which is no longer performing on Sabbaths, even though [Friday] evening brings in a lot of money.”

Kleinstein is expecting a second child from his second wife, Alex Ilan. They already have one child, Theo, 2. Kleinstein has two grown-up daughters, Meshi and Noam, from his first wife, the superstar singer Rita.