CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Europe and Israel (July 1 - September 24, 2009). Concert reports, set lists, photos, media coverage, multimedia links, recollections...
zvulun
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by zvulun »

if I may I want to add very personal and not very articulated opinion about the concert in Ramat-Gan (after being in berlin's 2009 concet also):
throughout the entire concert and in regard to many words written about this really special evening I had the feeling that l'lI miss something's that I never had and propably ,like most of my surroundings , will never have ,which is the transcending perspective that leonard brings with him, a perspective that can't live in the narrowing limits of national identity ,boundaring lands and all that's between them.
the Horvitz segment about the 'famous blue raincoat' was a fine example to what I'm trying to say, not in good or a bad or judgemental way, a moving song for a guy who took your girl is percived as a song for a nation (though translation shown on-screen). it only absets me that I'm not sure that leonard's message about the only possible victory one can have is 'the victory of the heart' was truely recieved, in Israel or anywhere else, it's no one's fault it's just the way it is.
to make a long paragraph short, I'll just sum by saying that I miss this wondering, searching , standing alone in front of his god jew (or any human for that matter) that is living inside my soul but will be really free, just because he had to pick a side, and to 'gain' victories that has nothing to do with the heart.
I might never break free, but Leonard did it, not only for me but all of those who've been there that evening, he reminded us, even unknowingly, something very personal that is gone.
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by sturgess66 »

Video from a journalist YOSI - "yosmusic." Looks like front row video - clear and close.

Somewhat shaky - but otherwise ...
Big smile on Leonard's face! :D :D

"Dance Me To The End of Love
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Partials of "Everybody Knows" & Suzanne
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honeyrose
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Re: Beautiful editorial from the Jerusalem Post

Post by honeyrose »

"I hear that you're
building your little house, deep in the desert. You're living for nothing
now..."

Dimly recalling an interview many years ago, I thought this was a reference to a small retreat Judy Collins was building at the time in the desert in the south west of the USA.
But that is what makes Leonard's work so memorable, it resonates with different meanings for different listeners.


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reneny3
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by reneny3 »

Just found this nicely edited video – which captured bits and pieces of the concert from the beginning to the end - and brought up some very nice memories. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6LL8qJtg_k
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bridger15
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by bridger15 »

Patrycja wrote:
bridger15 wrote:9 minute youtube video by MajorTom2oo1 (Alon Elhanani) includes:

-No Way To Say Goodbye
-Whither Thou Goest
-Leonard's final words 7.00
-The Birkat Kohanim 8.00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Y1x2y3qyg
This was profoundly moving, thanks so much for posting it. I've never actually witnessed the Birkat Kohanim (does it still count if one's not actually present or watching at the other end of the world? I feel blessed nevertheless).
Patrycja, I have been thinking about your very important question for a number of days. I wanted to check this out with a Rabbi. As it happened -beshert, destiny -after Sukkot sevices, I was standing next to the Senior Rabbi in line at an outdoors Sukkot buffet lunch. He knew about Leonard Cohen's concert in Tel Aviv, and I asked him your question. Taking a typical Rabbinic approach, first he tells me a true story - but I could see his thoughts percolating as he told the story.

A Jewish man in the military was stationed way up in the isolated northern most region. He needed 10 Jewish men to say Kaddish for his father's Yahrzeit. He went online and asked a Chabad Rabbi if he could gather 10 Jewish men in a chat room would that be legal for a Minyan. The Chabad Rabbi answered, YES. But the question arises, what is a nice Jewish boy like you doing in the military in the isolated far north.

Patrycja, The Rabbi's answer to your question was, YES.

---Arlene

EDIT. I was asked to clarify if the YES applies to watching his Birkat Kohanim on Youtube video. That was exactly how I presented the question. And the Rabbi's answer was YES.
Last edited by bridger15 on Tue Oct 06, 2009 3:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Patrycja
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by Patrycja »

bridger15 wrote:
Patrycja wrote:
bridger15 wrote:9 minute youtube video by MajorTom2oo1 (Alon Elhanani) includes:

-No Way To Say Goodbye
-Whither Thou Goest
-Leonard's final words 7.00
-The Birkat Kohanim 8.00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Y1x2y3qyg
This was profoundly moving, thanks so much for posting it. I've never actually witnessed the Birkat Kohanim (does it still count if one's not actually present or watching at the other end of the world? I feel blessed nevertheless).
Patrycja, I have been thinking about your very important question for a number of days. I wanted to check this out with a Rabbi. As it happened -beshert, destiny -after Sukkot sevices, I was standing next to the Senior Rabbi in line at an outdoors Sukkot buffet lunch. He knew about Leonard Cohen's concert in Tel Aviv, and I asked him your question. Taking a typical Rabbinic approach, first he tells me a true story - but I could see his thoughts percolating as he told the story.

A Jewish man in the military was stationed way up in the isolated northern most region. He needed 10 Jewish men to say Kaddish for his father's Yahrzeit. He went online and asked a Chabad Rabbi if he could gather 10 Jewish men in a chat room would that be legal for a Minyan. The Chabad Rabbi answered, YES. But the question arises, what is a nice Jewish boy like you doing in the military in the isolated far north.

Patrycja, The Rabbi's answer to your question was, YES.

---Arlene
Thank you, Arlene. You know, I had a feeling that the answer would be yes; getting it through a story was a nice surprise. What do you know - a question whose answer ends with a question!
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lizzytysh
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by lizzytysh »

Such a very lovely exchange, Arlene and Patrycja... and, Arlene, so beautiful and unsurprizing to see you check it out with the Rabbi for Patrycja. I loved the "YES"!


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brightnow
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by brightnow »

bridger15 wrote: A Jewish man in the military was stationed way up in the isolated northern most region. He needed 10 Jewish men to say Kaddish for his father's Yahrzeit. He went online and asked a Chabad Rabbi if he could gather 10 Jewish men in a chat room would that be legal for a Minyan. The Chabad Rabbi answered, YES. But the question arises, what is a nice Jewish boy like you doing in the military in the isolated far north.
Interestingly, this story also hits on one of the differences between "Jewish" and "Israeli". While this is very much a Jewish story it is completely foreign to the spirit of anything Israeli.
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Patrycja
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by Patrycja »

lizzytysh wrote:Such a very lovely exchange, Arlene and Patrycja... and, Arlene, so beautiful and unsurprizing to see you check it out with the Rabbi for Patrycja. I loved the "YES"!


~ Lizzy
Thank you, Lizzy, for your kind observation, and to Arlene again for your effort. Though many of us saw these videos - and that of the Birkat Kohanim in particular - after the fact, for me the timing of Arlene's response could not have been better.
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reneny3
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by reneny3 »

The discussion here about “Birkat Hacohanim”, reminded me of the following article, which was published on the Jerusalem Post magazine on October 2nd.

For God’s Sake – by Amotz Asa-El

Israelis flocked to hear Leonard Cohen because his religiosity is the kind they so seldom experience

If there is one place along Israel's notoriously hedonistic coastal plain that is even less spiritual than the rest of that restless urban sprawl—it is Ramat Gan.

The city to Tel Aviv's east prides on assorted claims to fame, from Israel's first mall, tallest building and largest stadium to the world's leading diamond exchange. Inspiration and introspection, however, let alone repentance, were hardly on the minds of this town's builders, a set of liberals who were even more secular than Israel's socialist founders.

That alone, therefore, made last week's encounter in Ramat Gan Stadium between 50,000 mostly secular Israelis and the lone, frail, contemplative and unfashionably capped Leonard Cohen – seem like the unarmed Jonah's improbable conquest of sinful Nineveh.

Cohen the singer, poet and novelist needs no introduction to most Middle Israelis; and those who hadn't known of this graduate of Montreal's Herzliya High-School who became Canada's leading poet could have learned all about him through the extensive coverage that preceded and followed his concert, a moving event that put to shame recent musical attempts by Madonna and Depeche Mode to sweep Israel off its feet.

The question therefore is not what Leonard Cohen was trying to say here -- unique though his inspiring lyrics and caressing tunes are, they have been with us for decades – but what his audience was voting for with its feet; artistically, politically and religiously.


ARTISTICALLY, Cohen defies two traits that frequently plague the popular genres to which his music partly belongs: noise and shallowness.

The thousands of Americans and Europeans who crowd this septuagenarian's concerts don't just tolerate the minimalism of his tunes, the near-silence of his tone and the quest for meaning that runs through his lines; they crave them. We Jews are passively reminded every fall that for centuries most people ordinarily heard hardly any artificial noise, even that of a Shofar, let alone a musical orchestra, not to mention factories, highways, locomotives or jets. Now we have come full circle; modern man's ears are so infused and invaded by cacophony, blabber and clamor that he has come to thirst for the velvet touch of a whisper, the very kind that is Cohen's hallmark. That is why his music has won an estimated 2,000 different renditions over the years.

In yearning for this departure from contemporary musical routine, Cohen's Israeli following is no different than others. Moreover, some in the audience that packed Ramat Gan Stadium were there because everyone else was there, or because they wanted to be seen, or just for the heck of it. And yet, the critical mass was there for very Israeli reasons.


FOR ISRAELIS, the sight of a successful man tenderly searching his soul and at the same time worshipping God in quest of repentance – is rare.

When hearing words like "They sentenced me to twenty years" Israelis don’t think of larger-than-life revolutionaries accused of "trying to change the system" but of smalltime politicians charged with wheeling, dealing, embezzling, skimming, and double billing, too. When, they ask, will one, just one, of this snaking line of disgraced notables emerge from his own jail term and confess "I did my best, it wasn't much, I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch," and how many of these can credibly say "I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you," or at the very least concede, as Cohen has to the crowd's delight, "And even though it all went wrong, I'll stand before the Lord of Song, with nothing on my lips but Hallelujah?"

Now this is not to say that the large audience in Ramat Gan was really captured by, or even aware of, the irony, from our Israeli viewpoint, in Cohen's follow-up on David's surrender to temptation. This context was there, at best, subconsciously. What was not subconscious was Cohen's kind of religiosity.


HAVING LOST his father as a child, Cohen was deeply influenced by his grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Klinitski, who taught him Bible, Talmud and mysticism, and inspired Cohen's The Spice-Box of the Earth, the book that made him famous back in '61. There, in "Lines from My Grandfather's Journal," Cohen brought together King David and 16th-century sage Rabbi Judah Lowe, the Maharal of Prague, for a kind of dialogue that can only be imagined by someone who is intimately familiar with Judaism's sources and attached to its traditions.

Though a growing number of Israeli performers, from Shlomo Gronich to Meir Banai, are seeking their Jewish roots, there are very few in Israel's cultural scene today, from novelists and painters to academics and rabbis, not to mention singers, who are capable of this sort of creativity. That is why Cohen is an inspiration here. His is a kind of Judaism that has yet to emerge here in full force. That is why 50,000 Israelis joined Cohen in singing "who by fire," his version of the 12th century prayer about the judgment on Yom Kippur of all people, some to life and some to death, and of all states, some to the sword and some to peace, a song he wrote after journeying to the charred battlefields of the Yom Kippur War.

Last week, so close to and yet so far from the Diamond Exchange, the Ayalon Mall and the Aviv Tower, and so deep within yet so well above the stadium that ordinarily hears the curses of Israeli soccer fans, a multitude of Middle Israelis swayed as this Diaspora Jew named Cohen, in what may have been his last appearance here, lifted his hands and blessed all at hand in the traditional blessing of the priests.

Yet this Cohen is a priest only by name.

In practice, he is the antithesis of the caste that cultivated ritual, frosted faith and suppressed spiritual spontaneity, let alone dissent. A man like Leonard Cohen – who in a 1964 conference of Canadian Jewish leaders said money had replaced for them the values of the prophets, and that the very term 'Jewish establishment' was an oxymoron – is in his substance more prophet than priest. And that's what is so unique in him to secular Israelis.

Here and now, Judaism is also often held hostage by an establishment that cares more for faith's legislation and imposition than for the souls of the people it is meant to inspire. That at least is what 50,000 Israelis voted last week by their feet as they flocked to Ramat Gan Stadium where they joined a distant cousin's prayer, some waving candlesticks, some moving lips, and some wiping tears.



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bridger15
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by bridger15 »

reneny3 wrote:The discussion here about “Birkat Hacohanim”, reminded me of the following article, which was published on the Jerusalem Post magazine on October 2nd.

For God’s Sake – by Amotz Asa-El...
http://www.middleisrael.com/1.php
That is a remarkable article, reneny3. One of the best. Thank you so much for posting it.
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sturgess66
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by sturgess66 »

A new video posted on YouTube - by "hannir2" -

Leonard Cohen in Israel September 2009 - praises and promises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpPh7TUL5i8
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bridger15
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by bridger15 »

sturgess66 wrote:A new video posted on YouTube - by "hannir2" -

Leonard Cohen in Israel September 2009 - praises and promises
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpPh7TUL5i8
Another great find, Linda. Thank you for posting it. Very, very moving.
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MarieM
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by MarieM »

hannir2 also provides this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGu3SLzTKU8

The complete Anthem with band introductions.

(A secret wish realized)
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bridger15
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Re: CONCERT REPORT: Tel Aviv, September 24

Post by bridger15 »

MarieM wrote:hannir2 also provides this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGu3SLzTKU8

The complete Anthem with band introductions.

(A secret wish realized)
Marie, I thought I was all cried out over LC's Israel concert, and then I watched this 10 minute very moving video. It is wonderful! Thank you so much for posting this.
---Arlene
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