Leonard Cohen's Mystical Midrash

In this multimedia program incorporating still images, video, and close textual analysis, Seth Rogovoy explores the deep and profound influence of the Jewish background and scriptural roots of the late Leonard Cohen’s life and work. We will see how the legendary rock poet’s familiarity with Torah, Talmud, and Kabbalah has worked its way into his songs and public utterances. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on and discuss how Cohen can best be seen and appreciated as a Jewish artist.

Termed “American Jewry’s greatest Dylan scholar” by Religion News Service, Seth Rogovoy is the author of Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet (Scribner, 2009), a full-length analysis of Bob Dylan’s life and work, and The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover’s Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music (Algonquin Books, 2000), the all-time bestselling guide to klezmer music.

Seth is the recipient of a 2016 Simon Rockower Award from the American Jewish Press Association for excellence in arts and criticism, for his portrait of musician Leonard Cohen published in Hadassah Magazine in its April/May 2015 issue. For three decades, Seth’s work has appeared in the English-language national Jewish publication, the Forward, to which Seth is a contributing editor.