“Sometimes an artist and an event interact to generate a spark far bigger than both.” So writes one of my all-time favorite author Matti Friedman in his new work Who By Fire. The artist is the inimitable Leonard Cohen. The event, the Yom Kippur War.
Friedman links the surprise attack on Israel in 1973 by Syria and Egypt with a concert tour by the iconic entertainer, Leonard Cohen, smack in the midst of the war in the Sinai. Friedman employs private photos and Cohen’s heretofore unpublished manuscripts as well as personal notebooks as his primary sources to which Friedman was allowed access by the family. Who By Fire is more than a compelling story told by a superb writer. In some chapters Friedman generously “turns over the microphone and lets Cohen tell the story himself”.
Cohen did not arrive in Israel a happy man. At 39, he was living with Suzanne Elron (not the muse for the song Suzanne) in Hydra, a Greek Island, with their child Adam. Riven by emotional distress, depression and frequent use of drugs, Cohen writes “I will go and stop Egypt’s bullet”. It’s not exactly clear why Cohen decided to come to Israel but his career was at an intersection of Israel’s extinction and oblivion. Undoubtedly he did not travel to a war zone to sing his “melancholy songs” such as So Long Marianne, Bird on the Wire or Suzanne that brought Cohen international fame. He didn’t even bring his guitar.
By chance Israeli singer, Oshik Levy recognized Cohen and convinced him to follow “the Israeli army into battle." The concert (not documented in the military records) changed the trajectory of Cohen’s life and career. He readily admits, “I came to raise their spirits and they raised mine.”
Friedman’s panegyric to the IDF and to Cohen expresses the inexplicable merger when “war and singer collided to create an extraordinary moment in music.” Cohen’s presence “penetrated the heart” of the soldiers beleaguered by enemy fire and going into battle. In his song Lover Lover Lover with lyrics inspired by the “grace and bravery of Israeli soldiers” Cohen offers the fighters his music as “a shield...against the enemy”. The experience revived Cohen’s spirit and lapsed career. He wrote many more beautiful lyrics and melodies including the haunting song (prayer?) Hallelujah that lives on after Cohen’s death in 2016.
The title of Friedman’s book was taken from Cohen’s incarnation of the Yom Kippur prayer, Unetaneh Tokef, a medieval prayer that speaks of “God’s judgement” to determine who will die and how. Friedman sensitively conveys the deep feelings and emotional tones in Cohen’s visionary lyrics. Who By Fire honors the astronomical number of Israeli “boys and girls” who lost their lives in the Yom Kippur War.
January 5 Steven Kanfer
January 6 Michael Provda Jamie Haischer
January 7 Elise Sietz
January 8 Michele Mester David Ponoroff
January 9 Susan Waksman Joshua Weinstein
January 10 Lisa Tawil
January 11 Chella Bobo
YAHRZEIT OBSERVANCES
James Haischer Richard Michelson Martin Vanderveen Lillian Rosenkrantz Philip H Markowitz Rose Berkman Carolyn Muroff Max Levine Max Rothberg
Joseph Schwartz Leon Silver Esther Smith Annie Isaac JoAn Gewirtz Fanny Popkin Ann Hershman Eli Ralph Bobo Julie Markowitz
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Tampa Jewish Memorial Gardens Plot space is available at the Tampa Jewish Memorial Gardens operated by Congregation Rodeph Sholom (formerly the New Rodeph Sholom Cemetery). Rodeph Sholom Members $3,000 and Non-Members $3,500 per plot. Price includes perpetual care. Interfaith family section available. Payment plans may be arranged. Please contact the synagogue office at 813-837-1911 or email at info@rsholom.org.
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