Re: Great Jewish Rock Stars

[Martin Grossman <tgg...>]

Anthony Joaquin Souza wrote:
> 
         P.S. Althongh Leonard Cohen is not an observant Jew he has a
> number of songs that may be classified as "Jewish ."  i.e. The Story of
> Isaac, The Partisan, The Butcher, If it be Your Will, Hallelujah, and
> perhaps The Lost Canadian, which is a distant relative to the anti-Semetic
> lore of the Wandering Jew. He applies much poetic license to his work,
> but retains threads of Jewish history in his songs.  I've heard that
> Cohen's paternal grandfather was the chief Rabbi of Montreal.
>        

Notwithstanding his current status as a Zen monk. Cohen remains a
practicing Jew. He once went so far as to complain in a letter to the
L.A. Times that his parents would spin in their graves if he was ever
thought to be in any way not a proud Jew. He still davens, belongs to a
synagogue and pays dues, and speaks proudly of his scholarly and
rabbinic family antecedents. He considers the form of Zen he practices a
spititual discipline that -- because it is non-deistic -- in no way
conflicts with his Judaism. For more information, see the interview with
Leonard published in the Jewish Book News and available on Carter Pages
Leonard Cohen Website.
-- 
Martin Grossman
Principal
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