How Leonard Cohen looked to the Bible and Kabbalah for inspiration

New book by UK author Harry Freedman shows how Judeo-Christian theology and rabbinic roots shaped the writer and musician’s worldview

SINCE LEONARD COHEN’S death five years ago at the age of 82, the Canadian singer-songwriter’s monumental five-decade musical and literary career has been analysed and dissected in numerous books, newspaper articles, films, and documentaries.

Cohen’s identity and ideas seem to change and transform depending on how you read him. There is Cohen the prophet of doom; Cohen the romantic; Cohen the serial seducer and womanizer; Cohen the ambitious but mediocre novelist; Cohen the wanderer.

Now we can add one more to the list: Cohen the unlikely Bible scholar.

In “Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius,” author Harry Freedman focuses on one element of Cohen’s work: the ideas drawn from Judaism and Christianity that helped shape Cohen’s identity and the way he made sense of the world.

Freedman, Britain’s most prominent author of popular works of Jewish culture and history, keenly stresses how Cohen harnessed biblical and religious traditions for his own artistic purposes.

FULL STORY Hallelujah: How Leonard Cohen looked to the Bible and Kabbalah for inspiration (Times of Israel)

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