If there is any lyric that condenses his work it is, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
.. Petrified, he told his lawyer he couldn’t sing, but his friend shot back that “none of you guys can sing, if I wanna hear singing I’ll go to the Metropolitan Opera!”
.. “Hallelujah” had been released originally in 1984 on his Various Positions album, but with only lukewarm support from his record label, CBS. Years later, when Cohen accepted an award, he thanked CBS with trademark irony for “the modesty of their interest” in his work.
.. A Palestinian boycott group stated, “Ramallah will not receive Cohen as long as he is intent on whitewashing Israel’s colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel.”
.. Given the spiritual and deep theological tenor of his work, it is perhaps surprising he became such a star, and had it not been for “Hallelujah” he may have remained an acquired taste.
.. His work was genuinely and deeply rooted in being a Jew and in the traditional Jewish texts, Psalms, mysticism, and practice, and he directly employed biblical texts. “Hallelujah” is a prime example, where his lyrics juxtapose the texts of 1 and 2 Samuel and Judges 16, while the refrain of Hallelujah rings out:
.. He became a vegetarian, but said he stopped because he decided he was getting too arrogant about it.
.. In his last public appearance Cohen explained he didn’t consider himself a religious person but made use of the frames of reference of his upbringing.
This echoed a New York Times interview in 1968, in which he said, “Our natural vocabulary is Judeo-Christian. That is our blood-myth. We have to rediscover law from inside our own heritage, and we have to rediscover the crucifixion. The crucifixion will again be understood as a universal symbol, not as an experiment in sadism or masochism or arrogance. It will have to be rediscovered because that’s where man is at. On the cross.” This was his credo.
.. in Isaiah 53, a chapter central to the Christian idea of Isaiah as the “fifth gospel,” attesting to the suffering servant.
.. In his final interview, Cohen said he was still hearing the voice of God, but now it was different. He said it was no longer the judging God of his youth, “that voice that says, ‘You’re fucking up.’” This was a compassionate God, giving a tremendous blessing. He said, “I’m ready to die, I hope it’s not uncomfortable,” and he spent his last days putting his house in order.
.. Cohen took years to write a song, Dylan often took just 15 minutes. The difference was that Dylan was a songwriter, while Cohen started as a poet and novelist—though in a 1961 interview Cohen contested the term “poet”; he said he was a writer, and the exalted term “poet” should only be applied at the end of a writer’s work, as a verdict on his life.
Trump’s Push for Mideast Deal Perplexes Israeli Right
Many in ruling coalition, and West Bank settlers, are content with the way things are
Much of Israel’s governing coalition is pretty happy with the status quo.The Israeli economy is booming. Jewish population growth has nearly caught up with Palestinian birthrates. And the level of violence remains at historic lows. The wars ravaging the wider Middle East, meanwhile, have distracted regional attention from the Palestinians’ predicament and have even pushed countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia toward more cooperation with Israel.
.. “There is nothing more sustainable than the current situation that has already existed for 50 years and that is getting better all the time,” said retired Brig. Gen. Effie Eitam
.. That’s why Mr. Trump’s ambition to resolve the intractable dispute—a solution that would likely require Israel to accept Palestinian statehood and give up most of the territory it has occupied since 1967—has confounded Israel’s right-wing coalition ..
.. Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet—seeking to accommodate American requests—has already imposed modest new limits on West Bank settlement expansion.
That’s not something that the West Bank settlers’ leaders had expected from a Trump White House.
.. the Yesha Council, said it was disappointing that Washington still wanted to halt settlement growth instead of looking for new “out of the box” solutions.
.. it won’t be solved by one side getting an order not to build so that children [of settlers] cannot live next to their parents—while the Palestinians can build as much as they can, and are building new cities,”
.. “To be honest,” he said, “nobody knows what will happen with Trump tomorrow.”
Trump, Welcoming Egypt’s Sisi, Says ‘We Agree on So Many Things’
Focus in relationship with Cairo shifts toward security matters
The visit appeared to go well for the Egyptian leader: He received coveted photos posing with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office and walking down the White House colonnade, while neither Mr. Trump nor White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer made any public mention of Egypt’s spotty human rights record.
“The president recognizes…that’s best discussed privately,” Mr. Spicer said. “I’m not going to get into what they discussed privately. But I will tell you we understand the concern and I think those are the kinds of things that I think progress is made privately.”
The Yasser Arafat of the Democratic Party
The late terrorist Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) was famous for saying one thing to American media and the opposite to Palestinian audiences.
.. To U.S. presidents and chief diplomatic correspondents he would profess his desire for peace and for a two-state solution, while to Arabs and Muslims he would impugn Jews, hint at Israel’s abolition, and incite and pay for anti-Semitic violence.
.. By the time of Arafat’s death, it was clear that any practical improvement in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship would have to bypass the Palestinian autocrat. He just couldn’t be trusted.
.. Schumer is so practiced at saying one thing to Democratic elites and another to the Democratic base that it is easy to fall for his charade.
.. a judge who was approved to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals with Democratic support — including Schumer’s — and whose fans include President Obama’s former solicitor general and legal scholar Cass Sunstein is somehow a jurisprudential freak who should be prevented from joining the Supreme Court by extraordinary means.
.. But what is Schumer telling his caucus behind closed doors?
.. Especially if the Democrats are aware that McConnell probably has the votes to go nuclear, which would not only leave them with Gorsuch on the Court but also free Trump to nominate Bill Pryor or Mike Lee or Kid Rock the next time around? Having the nomination squeak through would allow Schumer to have it both ways: animating his base with a meaningless pose while preserving his leverage. There’s a reason he smirks so much.
.. This is the self-proclaimed “guardian of Israel” who said he opposed the Iran deal — but then did absolutely nothing to stop it.
.. leading the opposition to the Iran deal wasn’t in his self-interest. Taking a stand against President Obama would have sunk his chances for career advancement. Besides, he must have thought, the deal was going to happen anyway.
.. Ellison is on the far left of the Democratic party, has a history with the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam, and supports Bernie Sanders in his war against the Wall Street bankers that Schumer represents
What was Schumer doing? Here’s what he was doing: He knew Ellison had no chance, that the White House would oppose Ellison, that the opposition research would bring Ellison down, but he supported Ellison anyway just to shore up his left flank. He was telling the base he was with them, while telegraphing to the Democratic elites alarmed at Ellison’s rise that he was with them too.