In 1973, Leonard Cohen announced he was done with music for good. The same year, in October, war broke out in Israel.
The Yom Kippur War would become the bloodiest in Israel’s young history—and Cohen was there to witness it. As the war broke out, he left his home on the Greek island of Hydra to fly into the warzone.
Leonard Cohen never said much about why he went to the front. What we know is that in the months that followed, he would write “Who By Fire.” Five decades later, on Spotify and in synagogue, you can still hear the echoes of this trip.
So what was it that happened in the desert in October of 1973 between this depressed musician and these too young soldiers going off to battle? How did it remake Leonard Cohen? How did it transform those who heard him play? And how did the war transform Israel itself?
Those are just some of the questions Matti Friedman explains in his beautiful book Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.
This episode aired last year on Honestly, and we’re thrilled to reshare it with you today, as we approach the 50 year anniversary of the war that remade a country—and one searching folk star.
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Very great episode, possibly your best. The Unetaneh Tokef prayer, recited on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, does take a hopeful turn in its last stanza -- "But repentance, prayer and righteousness avert the severity of the decree." (Sefaria translation)
The 1973 war did permanently change Israeli society in multiple ways that very much echo today. It discredited the secular Ashkenazi elite that had founded and guided the yishuv and state from the 1930s. A few years later, in 1977, Begin was elected, marking the end of the secular socialist ethos of the early decades. Israeli society split in multiple directions in response to the war: some became peaceniks, founding Peace Now; some became settlers in the captured territories, seeking to expand and hold the "accidental empire" from 1967; yet others moved toward ultraorthodoxy, pushing aside Zionism in favor of a return to the ghetto. Yossi Klein Halevi (a real interview candidate!) has written extensively about it.
Cohen was raised in the famous traditional community of Montreal, but left it for good in the 1950s. He wrestled with it for the rest of his life, and it shows. 1973 was clearly one of great turning points in his long life and career.
I first really discovered Cohen because of Suzanne Vega, a long-time fan, although I was vaguely aware of his songs beforehand. The original Who By Fire has Janis Ian as the backing female voice, I believe.
The Israelis got a bloody nose in 73, well deserved . Hubris followed the 67 war and had to end. We in America are suffering from similar hubris after our victory in Cold War.We are now due to learn humility.