{"id":1338,"date":"2016-11-15T16:41:39","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T16:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/?p=1338"},"modified":"2021-06-15T16:30:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T15:30:08","slug":"leonard-cohens-jewish-farewell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/leonard-cohens-jewish-farewell\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonard Cohen\u2019s Jewish farewell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Maria Diemling, Reader in Jewish-Christian Relations in the School of Humanities<\/a>, looks at the influence of Leonard Cohen’s Jewish background on his final album.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When Leonard Cohen\u2019s former lover Marianne, immortalised in one of the most enduring love songs ever written, was dying earlier this year, Cohen sent her a message that hinted that his own death: \u2018Well Marianne, it\u2019s come to this time when we\u00a0are really so old and our bodies are falling apart\u00a0and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out\u00a0your hand, I think you can reach mine.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Canadian poet-singer-songwriter\u2019s last album was released only three weeks before his death. Many critics understood it as his farewell to his fans. The first song, the eponymous \u2018You want it darker,\u2019 seemed to indicate that Cohen was ready to die. However, there is more to this song when we read it as an expression of Cohen\u2019s Jewish background. \u2018Hineni Hineni, I\u2019m ready, my Lord\u2019 whispers Cohen in the chorus. But what does this actually mean?<\/p>\n

Leonard Cohen grew up in a middle class cultured Jewish home in Montreal, Canada. He received a sound Jewish education, steeped in observance of Jewish rituals and deep familiarity with Jewish liturgy. It is well known that Cohen studied Buddhism for a long time. He was the best known \u2018Jew-Bu\u2019, one of many Jews who seek Enlightenment and spiritual guidance in Eastern traditions. While Buddhism is shunned by some observant Jews as idol worship, according to some estimates as many as a third of all non-Asian Buddhists in North America have a Jewish background. In his last album, however, Cohen returned to Judaism.<\/p>\n

\u2018You want it darker\u2019 can be read as a prayer, a conversation and a reckoning with God. The Hebrew word \u2018Hineni\u2019, \u2018Here I am\u2019, is what the biblical Patriarch Abraham says to God when God calls him in Genesis 22:1, the beginning of the disturbing story in which God tests Abraham and asks him to prepare his precious son Isaac for sacrifice: \u2018Here I am\u2019 \u2013 Abraham is ready to do whatever God tells him.<\/p>\n

Cohen has said that \u2018Hineni\u2019 is about the willingness to serve. However, Cohen is not an obedient and uncritical follower of God. \u00a0\u2018You want it darker\u2019 is also steeped in the Jewish tradition of reckoning with God. \u2018You want it darker\u2019 can be read as a challenge to God and God\u2019s followers who \u2013 because \u2018it\u2019s written in the scriptures\/ And it\u2019s not some idle claim\u2019 – believe they have permission \u2018to murder and to maim\u2019 because God wants it \u2018darker\u2019. A God that often proved powerless, \u2018vilified and crucified\/ In the human frame\u2019, and a God whose offerings are worthless, \u2018If you are the dealer\/ I\u2019m out of the game\/ If you are the healer\/ I\u2019m broken and lame.\u2019 A God that has abandoned those pleading for help, \u2018A million candles burning\u2019, but in vain, \u2018For the help that never came\u2019.<\/p>\n

Cohen has often used female backup singers to contrast his unique timbre but for \u2018You want it darker\u2019 he chose the Cantor and the all-male choir of the Montreal synagogue where he had his religious coming to age ceremony, the bar mitzvah, and where his grandfather and great-grandfather had been presidents of the congregation. Cohen explained to the cantor that he was \u2018looking for the sound of the synagogue cantor and choir of my youth\u2019. The Cantor evocatively sings \u2018Hineni\u2019, a prayer of preparation and humility in the liturgy of the Jewish New Year. \u00a0\u2018You want it darker\u2019 \u2013 a homecoming in more than one way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Maria Diemling, Reader in Jewish-Christian Relations in the School of Humanities, looks at the influence of Leonard Cohen’s Jewish background on his final album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":1345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[393,838,22,3902],"tags":[1149,1153],"class_list":["post-1338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-faith-and-religion","category-music","category-research","tag-judaism","tag-leonard-cohen"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"authorName":"Jeanette Earl","featuredImage":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/437\/2016\/11\/Cohen.jpg","postExcerpt":"Dr Maria Diemling, Reader in Jewish-Christian Relations in the School of Humanities, looks at the influence of Leonard Cohen's Jewish background on his final album.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/242"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1338"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7537,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions\/7537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/expertcomment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}