What Does a Jew Want? by Udi Aloni

Author:Udi Aloni
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion/Judaism/General
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2011-10-11T16:00:00+00:00

And Who Shall I Say Is Calling?

A Plea to Leonard Cohen

After the Israeli elections giving rise to an extreme right-wing government and following the Gaza war and the international criticism against it, more and more voices were heard pleading for a cultural boycott against Israel. The concert of Leonard Cohen, scheduled for September 25, 2009, became a test case to all sides in this debate. Cohen, known for his human rights activities and support for the peace process, did not cancel his concert, but suggested giving one in Ramallah as well. The Palestinian resistance committee decided to turn down the performance in Ramallah. Leonard Cohen performed in Tel Aviv and donated some of the proceeds to Israeli-Palestinian peace organizations.

Dear Leonard,

It was two months ago that I had the privilege of seeing you perform in New York. You might say I’d been waiting thirty-five years for it. I remembered the first time I’d heard your music in Israel, and you could tell from my smile “that tonight would be fine.” As I arrived outside the show, I met some old friends—partners in the struggle—who were demonstrating across the street: “Leonard, don’t play Israel!” After all the kissing and warm embraces, I told them that I really must go in so that I wouldn’t miss the opening song. They nodded and slipped a small placard in my hand, then warily asked if I would hold it up during the show: “Leonard, don’t play Israel!” Amid those hearts that burn like coal, the sign seared my hands like hot coal too.

I was there with my only daughter. Your wonderful voice had been a soundtrack to my life, and now I wanted to share that with her. I recalled the day, when we were living in New York, that her grandfather died in far-off Beersheba. She lit candles around her bed to the strains of “Hallelujah,” and the two of us wept over Grandpa Jukey. Jukey was a wonderful man, who apparently died from a cancer he contracted at the Dimona nuclear reactor, a modern-day temple to the new god that has “become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.” My daughter had never heard “Hallelujah” before, and I hadn’t yet told her about the reactor in Dimona, but that’s when she first fell in love with your music. Now, in New York, we had come to take advantage of that brief moment of kindness that you so generously shared with us.

Who am I to tell you “Don’t play Israel”? Your voice, so mature, so moving, so shattered, could shatter even a heart of stone. And yet that placard still seared my fingers—fingers belonging to an Israeli and a Jew who believes that we are ultimately responsible for the fact that the Palestinian people have lived in exile in their own land for the past sixty years. I was hesitant about raising that sign, but just then you came onstage and sang in your broken, heartrending voice, “Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.