Leonard's thoughts on Jesus

[IMM]

Somehow I just can't buy the fact that Leonard Cohen said all these words about Jesus.
...
Leonard Cohen is not Christian

Last I heard, neither was Jesus. What some claim as the first christian church (James et. al.) was also Judaic - bearing little resemblance to what is currently referred to as christian.

[seadove]

In short, we must not sit here and listen to rumors that Leonard is dishing around about Jesus. For a start he was not a sailor.

[seadove]

Oh gosh. I'm so bored.

[Baronvonpoet]

Leonard became a Christian a long time ago. Before Greece. Not just him but his mother and other Jews of his generation starting at in the 1880 in Russia, Ukraine, etc. It started with the Haskala. The Jewish enlightment. Sure he fell away and got involved in drugs and experimented with different philosophies but in the end if you pay attention to his poetry and music he came back to the roots of his parents and ancestors which is true Judaism and not that bullshit Orthodox rabbinical nonsense that got hijacked by fake Jews from Babylon. Oh and he was my cousin so I have First hand knowledge. But we do not call ourselves Christians. We call ourselves believers or Talmidim in Hebrew or Aramaic. Sometimes they call us Messianic Jews but that is also not quite correct. our religion got hijacked by fake rabbis since only the Levites and the Kohens specifically, can make the rules in Judaism as it is stated over and over in the Torah and the Bible. it's not like he did not leave a million clues and in his interviews and actions and songs and behavior. Most gentiles don't understand one iota of the Bible but if one actually read the New testament correctly it says that Jesus whom we call Yahshua what's both a Cohen and from the House of David which qualified him to change some of the rules being both King and priest according to the law and according to the covenant that is eternal that God made with the house of Levi and the House of David, specifically covenants that stand outside of the other covenant with Israel hence why Leonard Cohen words I have so much power and authority behind them. And he did know where the good songs came from but he wasn't really allowed to tell anyone except for his son and grandson. after all, that is that is the commandant.

[peter danielsen]

“It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life." Revelation 21

"So I knelt there at the delta,
At the alpha and the omega,
At the cradle of the river and the seas.
And like a blessing come from heaven
For something like a second
I was healed and my heart
Was at ease." Leonard Cohen

[Pastor Roy]

Very nice declaration! Praise this big-hearted artis and Jesus Christ!

[MaraLady]

Old thread, I know, but I am increasingly in awe of all the OT and Jesus references in LCs songs. And the Saints! (Joan of Arc).

LC said that reading the Bible was like honey...he received it like honey....And was struck by the beauty, from Creation to the Apocolypse....

I love LC more and more every year....

[lizzytysh]

A very interesting thread. I love all the quotes and have no trouble believing that Leonard spoke them all. He was an intense seeker. I believe he looked for what all religions might offer him in some way at some point. He would have no reason to exclude learnings from Christianity. He ought not be put in a box.

[Franklie]

Here's another quote of Leonard's about Jesus (that I may have posted here, before). It's from a 1988 interview, and also in Jim Devlin's compilation "Leonard Cohen in his Own Words", for which Jim asked me to research quotes on Leonard's beliefs:

"I'm very fond of Jesus Christ. He may be the most beautiful guy who ever walked the face of this earth. Any guy who said "Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the meek" has got to be a figure of unparalleled generosity and insight and madness.. . A man who declared himself to stand among the thieves, the prostitutes and the homeless. His position cannot be comprehended. It is an inhuman generosity. A generosity that would overthrow the world if it was embraced because nothing could weather that compassion. I'm not trying to alter the Jewish view of Jesus Christ. But to me, in spite of what I know about the history of legal Christianity, the figure of the man has touched me".

John,

Has Leonard said anything else about Jesus Christ? I thought this statement of his was very beautiful, but what else would one expect from Mr. Cohen

"I'm very fond of Jesus Christ. He may be the most beautiful guy who ever walked the face of this earth. Any guy who said "Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the meek" has got to be a figure of unparalleled generosity and insight and madness.. . A man who declared himself to stand among the thieves, the prostitutes and the homeless. His position cannot be comprehended. It is an inhuman generosity. A generosity that would overthrow the world if it was embraced because nothing could weather that compassion.

Indeed, Leonard. He was the most beautiful human being who ever lived. And he was more. Forsaken, almost human, he sinks beneath our wisdom like a stone. 2,000 years later. "His position cannot be comprehended. It is an inhuman generosity." "Come to me. Learn of me and I will give you rest."

[Franklie]

A very interesting thread. I love all the quotes and have no trouble believing that Leonard spoke them all. He was an intense seeker. I believe he looked for what all religions might offer him in some way at some point. He would have no reason to exclude learnings from Christianity. He ought not be put in a box.

Look at what another prophet from a Jewish background cried out in song about the most beautiful guy Leonard ever knew, "I believe in you even through the tears and the laughter
I believe in you even though we be apart
I believe in you even on the morning after
Oh, when the dawn is nearing
Oh, when the night is disappearing
Oh, this feeling is still here in my heart

Don’t let me drift too far
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed
And that which you’ve given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you
Dylan

He came for his own. The Chosen Ones. He was a Jew.

[Franklie]

“It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life." Revelation 21

"So I knelt there at the delta,
At the alpha and the omega,
At the cradle of the river and the seas.
And like a blessing come from heaven
For something like a second
I was healed and my heart
Was at ease." Leonard Cohen

At the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He who believes in me out of his inner most being shall flow rivers of living water."

[BlancheX]

Somehow I just can't buy the fact that Leonard Cohen said all these words about Jesus. He is too much of a jew for him to say all these words. Fact is that when he was in Israel on the 24th of September of last year he talked a lot in Hebrew and he "communicated" with the audience within his jewishness. In the end he blessed the audience in the typical Cohen style, not forgetting to formulate his hands in the Cohen tradition.

You don't 'buy it"? That is your feelpinion with no basis in reality.
We all know that Cohen was born and died a Jew. That doesn't mean he didn't say these things about Jesus.
It's all been fully documented. Just because you don't believe it that doesn't mean it's not true.

[BlancheX]

Hi seadove,

But that does not change the fact that Cohen's mother was a Messianic Jew (this is well documented elsewhere)...
Peace and Respect,

kalinowt

It's well-documented that Cohen's mother was a Messianic Jew? Incorrect. There's no evidence
that his mother, Marsha Klonitsky, or the wider Cohen family were involved in any messianic Jewish groups or movements.

While Cohen himself described his childhood as "Messianic," this refers to a sense of purpose and feeling destined for greatness, rather than adherence to messianic Judaism. His mother was the daughter of a Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Solomon Klonitsky-Kline, and the family was connected to a prominent Jewish community and synagogue, Shaar HaShomayim.

On the topic of being a kohen (descendant of the ancient Jewish high priests), Leonard Cohen has said, “I had a very Messianic childhood.” I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest. My parents actually thought we were Kohenim — the real thing. I was expected to grow into manhood leading other men… In some part of my young soul, I took that very seriously.”

Dating back to the late 19th century, Cohen’s ancestors were founders and leaders of Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue, where Cohen attended Sunday school and was bar mitzvahed in 1947. At services, the extended Cohen clan occupied two entire rows. “I strongly felt that my family was conscious of representing something important,” said Cohen. “I learned a lot about the responsibility and the love of the tradition — because the people really loved it.”

Cohen was buried in the Orthodox tradition, in Shaar HaShomayim’s cemetery in Montreal.