This Sunday at 8 p.m., he will bring the avowed ensemble to the Middle East in Cambridge, in mid-leg of a national tour which then heads out to London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Berman and his wife Cassie co-host an MTV2 video show on March 12; an article and video clip appear in the current Time Out Tel Aviv (digital.timeout.co.il).

Berman and the Silver Jews have long been a highly regarded enigma among discriminating legions of music aficionados. Whether their sound is labeled lo-fi, indie, punk, country rock, folksy pop or indefinable, Berman’s verses seem to be the lyrical glue that have continued to alternatively astound and transfix critics and fans alike.

The band’s “Tanglewood Numbers” CD, released in October on Drag City, almost didn’t happen. It was feared destroyed when Memphis’ Easley McCain recording studio, where Jeff Buckley, Sonic Youth, The White Stripes, Guided By Voices, Wilco and Loretta Lynn recorded, suffered an electrical fire. The master, however, turned up. The record features Steve Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich of the band Pavement, and received glowing reviews from Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Mojo and Magnet. 2001’s Bright Flight and Tennessee EP, 1996’s Natural Bridge and 1994’s Starlite Walker preceded the newest effort.

Berman’s poetry, in song or in his book "Actual Air,” has been described as confessional, but with uniquely superb imagery. “David Berman's probably, in my opinion, the best lyricist since Bob Dylan,” said local musician Ryan Walsh, whose band, the Stairs, covered the Silver Jews’ “The Natural Bridge” in its entirety, in a record called “The Unnatural Bridge.” He has similar praise for Berman’s collective efforts: “Every Silver Jews album is packed to the brim with writing that seems so simple, but yet hits my ears as new revelations with big consequences,” he said.

Berman, Nastanovich and Malkmus met at the Univ. of Virginia in 1986; the Silver Jews originated in 1990. Following graduation, Berman moved to western Massachusetts, and later, to Nashville. Although Berman told The Advocate that he was hardly ever around Jews growing up in Dallas, he now marks the Sabbath. “I read the Torah or Torah commentaries daily; I pray in the morning, afternoon and night.”

Asked if Perry Farrell or Matisyahu or other Jewish musicians influenced him in this way, Berman said no; he decided to “be a Jew” on Yom Kippur in 2004. “I'd been going to services on and off that year, trying to follow some spiritual instinct,” he recalled. “That night I had a ‘mild’ conversion experience.”

Berman attends Congregation Micah in Brentwood, near Nashville, which has a membership of over 530 middle-Tennessee families. “The cantor, Lisa Silver, is amazing,” he said, adding, “What's more amazing is that she wrote ‘40 -Hour Week,’ a big hit song for the group Alabama in the 80's.”

Silver has been the Cantorial Soloist for four years and the co-director of the Micah Kids Choir for 10. “My dad was a high school music teacher and choir director who taught Mary Wilson of the Supremes and Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas,” she said. “He was also the choir director of our synagogue in Detroit.” Silver attended the University of Michigan School of Music and has been a studio singer/musician in Nashville for many years. “I've sung background on thousands of recordings for artists including Garth Brooks, Willlie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Chet Atkins, and Dr. Hook,” she said. Silver’s songs have also been recorded by Reba McIntyre and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band; recently, she’s written for animated cartoons, including the theme for “Baby Looney Tunes” and “Krypto the Superdog.”

Congregation Micah seems to have provided valued grounding to Berman, who purportedly has gone through a rough last few years.

“You could easily call his last album his ‘sober and newfound religious faith’ record, but the amazing thing is that it's just as good, if not better, then his previous albums,” said Walsh, who compared “Tanglewood Numbers” to Dylan’s “Saved”. “People use copies of ‘Saved’ as Frisbees,” he said.” “Tanglewood Numbers’ is going to be discovered and re-discovered by music fans for a long, long time.”

When asked about the name “The Silver Jews,” Berman replied, “It's funny. It used to have no significance. To me it was just poetic language.”

“I used to think I should change the name,” he continued. “I never stopped to think maybe I was the one who should change. Now that I think of myself a Jew, I couldn't be happier that I have grown into the name.”

For concert info, visit www.Ticketmaster.com or call the Middle East, 472 Mass. Ave. Cambridge, at 617-864-3278. For band info, visit www.silverjews.net and www.drag city.com. To preview songs from “Tanglewood Numbers,” visit www. artist direct.com. For “The Unnatural Bridge” by the Stairs, visit http://benchappel.net/thestairs/index.php.