I love this new song from Leonard Cohen's latest album "Old Ideas" and wanted to capture it when I was on my last six concert adventure. However, it was not to be. Each venue presented an obstacle, either my seat location or strict no video security. The challenge in Seattle was my seat location, albeit first row but off to the side.
Leonard Cohen kneels when singing his "penitential hymn" and the camerman blocked him from my view. I started to video this song hoping the camerman would alter his position, but he didn't. I finally gave up part way through the song, put my camera away and just sat and listened to this delicate intense hymn.
I was very impressed with the Webb Sisters' brilliant harmonies. For the second verse, the two sopranos varied their harmony to match Leonard Cohen's lower register bass and the effect was superb. Very rich and gripping.
Even though my video is only a partial, it is still a beautiful memory of how comforting Leonard Cohen's song of healing is at this particular time in my life.
I hear it as the Mi Shebeirach, a Jewish prayer for healing which asks God who blessed our ancestors to bless and heal our loved ones.
Come Healing
Chorus: O, gather 'round the brokenness Bring it to me now The fragrance of those promises You never dared to vow
The splinters that you carried The cross you left behind Come healing of the body Come healing of the mind
And let the heavens hear it The penitential hymn Come healing of the spirit Come healing of the limb
Leonard: Behold the gates of mercy In arbitrary space And none of us deserving Of cruelty or the grace
Together: O, solitude of longing Where love has been confined Come healing of the body Come healing of the mind
O, see the darkness yielding That tore the light apart Come healing of the reason Come healing of the heart
O, troubledness concealing An undivided love The heart beneath is teaching To the broken heart above
And let the heavens utter Let the earth proclaim Come healing of the altar Come healing of the name
Chorus:
O, longing of the branches
To lift the little bird
O, longing of the arteries
To purify the blood
Together:
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
O let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
Seattle COME HEALING (partial) Nov 9.12 - by Arlene Dick
Image on cover page of prayer package containing lyrics to eight Leonard Cohen songs
I heard about the Leonard Cohen Shabbat Service shortly after I returned home from Leonard Cohen's Portland concert with the thrilling tour debut of Joan Of Arc, my sixth concert in 14 days. Even though all I wanted was to stay home and decompress, I just had to go to this Friday night service.
I was told that the turnout for a Friday night service usually numbers about 75 people.
The turnout that night for the Leonard Cohen Shabbat Service was closer to 250 people.
Placed on each chair were a prayer book and what was later referred to as a prayer package, five stapled sheets with the lyrics of eight Leonard Cohen songs.
1. Hallelujah (four verses)
2. If It Be Your Will
3 The Story Of Isaac
4. Show Me The Place
5. Who By Fire?
6. Whither Thou Goest
7. Anthem
8. Come Healing
Clergy leading the service:
Senior Rabbi Steve Leder bio here
Cantor Don Gurney bio here
Here are a few of my video clips from the hour plus service. (with permission)
Senior Rabbi Steve Leder begins the service
Rabbi Leder talks about how he discovered Leonard Cohen and how he was influenced by his writing. He references Leonard Cohen's poetry-The Spice-Box of Earth, Isaiah, A.M. Klein, Irving Layton, All There Is To Know About Adolf Eichmann.
ANTHEM - Rabbi Steve Leder begins the service (part 2)
Rabbi Leder quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, Compensation - "There is a crack in everything that G-D has made". Leder says Leonard Cohen does G-D and Emerson one better,"There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."
THE STORY OF ISAAC / THE AKEDAH, The "Binding of Isaac"
Rabbi Leder introduces the Story of Isaac focusing on the sacrifice of children, touches on the current situation in Israel and slavery still existing in the world today. Cantor Gurney sang a quiet, chilling four verses of Story of Isaac.
MI SHEBEIRACH /COME HEALING Mi Shebeirach is a Jewish prayer for healing. It asks God who blessed our ancestors to bless and heal our loved ones. Video below includes the last few lines of the prayer and a few lines of Come Healing.
The Service closes with a spirited singalong
Closing the service,Cantor Don Gurney leads the congregation in singing Leonard Cohen's Halleljuah (partial clip),
At the conclusion of Hallelujah, Rabbi Steve Leder added the traditional, "Shabbat Shalom."
And when I arrived home, I saw that Joey Carenza had posted the UHTC "Shabbat Shalom", a tradition of Leonard Cohen concerts on the road.
