Leonard Cohen’s famous song ‘Lover’ is a heartbroken prayer to the god he called lover, and it was composed in the middle of a war zone in 1973. Cohen, in the midst of a marital break-up, traveled to Israel to perform in front of IDF soldiers in the Sinai desert, as the devastating Yom Kippur war was raging. Matti Friedman’s excellent book Who By Fire tells this moving story in both Cohen’s life and Israel’s history.
Cohen’s dialogue between the seeker and his lover/god echoes some key themes from today’s chapter, as Isaiah, another Hebraic poet who was facing a national crisis, 2700 years earlier.
Cohen’s crisis became a request for a new name and identity -- a sentiment and desire for a fresh start that corresponds to Isaiah’s aspirations in today’s chapter, just before his book ends. Both poets ponder what or who can survive the war, how can renewal of the relationship, of trust, be ever possible.
Isaiah looks around and points a finger at the people, lost in their idol worship and petty squabbles, animosities and fears. He warns them that a price will be paid for being oblivious to justice and to the true way to honor the divine --- but he also makes a distinction between those who are following the path and will survive - and those who don’t and won’t.
Imagine a cluster of grapes, he says to the people of Jerusalem -- maybe he even holds one up as he performs this prophecy:
So who will survive and who will flourish? The good grapes who will live on, says Isaiah, will be the beneficiaries of a new identity that will transcend the labels of the past, no longer useful. He may be offering a radical rebranding here --it’s unclear what identity he proposes to re-imagine but the powerful invitation here is to let the past go and invite in a new way of being, better, in the world. In some way Isaiah suggests a new name for the nation - a new beginning:
But it isn’t just a new national name and identity that will be the gift of the future, he says. The Divine will restart everything -- a new creation, a recreation of the original plan:
This bold vision echoes the original creation of the world - the hopeful brand new Garden of Eden in Genesis, as well as the first Sabbath of the world. And as this book begins to end it also echoes one of his most famous early chapters - the utopian vision of all animals at peace together, in harmony and bliss. Maybe he’s even winking at the big bad wolf from the little red riding hood tale, now living in harmony with the lamb and everybody else, no teeth in sight:
Leonard Cohen’s visions of a world post war included many wistful verses while fully aware of how dark and darker the human condition can get. The desire for new name and fresh start even from the midst of madness echoes still - for Isaish, for us, 50 years after the Yom Kippur war and almost 3 millennia after the school of Isaiah - what would it be like for us to imagine a new identity, new name, new and better way of being human on this earth?
The prophets stand, along with poets, in this gap between the ancient and the new, what is and what if, singing to us songs of honest heartbreak and heartfelt hopes -- don’t stop believing in what’s possible, for good.
One more hopeful Isaiah chapter to go.
Image: Leonard Cohen, 1973. Photo by Uri Dan, the Farkash Gallery
TOMORROW: Goodbye Isaiah, Hello Jeremiah
OUR NEXT BELOW THE BIBLE BELT ZOOM TALK:
Please join me on Zoom for our next Monthly Conversation, as we wrap up the Book of Isaiah, venture into Jeremiah’s world and explore what these ancient prophets have to offer our inner and political lives - just in time for a new Jewish year and continued political challenges - everywhere.
Join us on Thursday, August 17th 2023, at 1pm ET.
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I never got the link to today’s zoom conversation. Frustrated and would love to join.