October 376, 2023, "The War"
My 279th post on The War
Today’s Image
Today is Erev Yom Kippur, the evening that starts the Day of Atonement. It is now 14:00 in Israel. In 4 hours, synagogues throughout the country will be overflowing with attendees as the prayers starting with Kol Nidrei will start. The country will come to a stand still - no cars, no cafes, no restaurants, no concerts, no buses, no trains, no politics, no arguing. Tonight, after prayers, families will be out in the streets enjoying the total lack of traffic, noise and everything that comes with it.
For the Sephardic Majority in Israel the period of Selichot started last September 4. For the Ashkenazi Minority Selichot began a month later. During the period, special prayers are said pertaining to our confessions for the sins we have committed, asking for forgiveness. We repent during these days of Selichot in the hope that on our final day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, we are forgiven and our fate for the coming year is sealed.
A good friend of mine, Yaron Carni, was at the Western Wall last night. The image you see above was extracted from a very moving video he recorded. The video lasts only 1:40. You should watch it as it is very moving. Probably 100,000 men and women crowded into the Western Wall Plaza reciting one of the key prayers of selichot.
You should take the time to watch the video here!
My View
I will take this day and refrain from reports on the war or expressing my views on events. Instead I will use this space to describe a very special relationship between Singer/Songwriter/Poet Leonard Cohen and the State of Israel. As you might guess from his name, Cohen was Jewish. He was born in Canada and grew up there. The name Cohen (כהן) designates that he (like I) are descendants (via the father) of the priestly order. On specific holidays outside Israel and on most Shabbats in Israel those who descended from the Aaron the first priest (brother to Moshe, Moses) deliver the priestly blessing. During the time of the First and Second temples the high priest would appear outside the holy temple, face the huge crowds and deliver this blessing while holding their fingers like Leonard Nimoy would do in the Star Trek movies when he would say “Live Long and Prosper”. Nimoy is Jewish and also a descent of the priestly order. He “stole” that greeting from the “cohanim”.
Back to Leonard Cohen… When The Yom Kippur War broke out 51 years ago he was living with his girl friend on the isolated Greek Island of Hydra. When the war broke out he could not just sit there while the events were unfolding. So he packed up his things and flew to Israel with the hope of volunteering on a Kibbutz. After his arrival, he went to a cafe in Tel Aviv as he was figuring out how to go about volunteering. While there he was spotted by local Israeli singer/songwriters, including one of my favorites Matti Caspi. They convinced Cohen to come with them to the Sinai where they had arranged to entertain the troops who were fighting the Egyptians. He agreed. He had been in an artistic “funk” and unable to write much for a few years. But being with the troops, his brothers, changed him. He actually wrote a song while performing in the Sinai he called “Lover, Lover, Lover”. I post some videos and references regarding this incredible story below. I encourage you to watch, listen and learn. Some of the melodies from his songs - Hallelujah, Who by Fire and others - are now being used in some synagogues, including ours, as integrated into the prayers. Not the lyrics but the melodies.
The Story behind Leonard Cohen & Israel
Here is an interview with Leonard Cohen from 1980 on Israeli TV.
A post on the Israeli National Library Site providing a description of Cohen’s visit during the 1973 along with some of the lyrics of “Lover, Lover, Lover”. You should read this and listen to the audio track there. He changed one of the verses which spoke of being with his brothers during the war in the desert after seeing one of the Israeli IDF soldiers disregard watching after the body of a dead Egyptian soldier. That episode bothered Cohen, who advocated for non violence all his life, so he omitted the verse.
Matti Friedman wrote a book on the life story of Cohen, his visit to Israel during the Yom Kippur War and the story behind what transpired during his visit. You can watch the interview here.
Here is Leonard Cohen performing in Ramat Gan, Israel in Tel Aviv in 2009 singing “Lover, Lover, Lover”. If you listen and pay attention to the lyrics you will realize that he is talking about being Jewish and the Jewish People. The original section about being in the desert with his brothers was omitted.
One of the most solemn, perhaps beautiful, prayers during the course of the Yom Kippur Prayers is called Unetanneh Tokef. It talks to how our fates are sealed and determined by the end of selichot. It is determined who will live, who will die, who will die by fire, etc. At this site you can hear a rendition of what is sounds like in Hebrew as sung by the former IDF Hazan, Shai Abrahmson. At the bottom of that post on the site on ANU- The Museum of the Jewish People (in Tel Aviv), you will see a rendition of the song “Who by Fire”, by Leonard Cohen. As Cohen freely admits, he took many of the lyrics for that song directly from the prayer.
And here is the man singing it himself - Leonard Cohen signing “Who by Fire”.
Finally, in his last concert in Israel, in 2019, he delivered the Birkat Cohanim (Priestly Blessing) to his audience. You can watch it here.
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And I close by sending you the essence behind the priestly blessing long distance, “over the internet”, in English:
May G-d bless and guard you,
May G-d shine his countenance upon you and be gracious to you,
May G-d turn His countenance toward you and grant you peace.
!גמר חתומה טובה
or, in English,
G'mar Chatimah Tovah