Tag Archives: Tel Aviv

Jew of the Week: Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen (Credit: CBC)

Leonard Norman Eliezer Cohen (1934-2016) was born in Montreal, the grandson of a Lithuanian rabbi and a Polish immigrant who founded the Canadian Jewish Congress. Cohen grew up very close to his Jewish community, and attended Montreal’s Jewish Herzliah High School, where he was first inspired to take up poetry by a teacher. While studying at McGill University, he published his first set of award-winning poems. His second book of poetry found even more success, and was seen as an important work in Canadian literature, with one critic calling Cohen “the best young poet in English Canada.” Cohen moved to a small island off the coast of Greece and wrote prolifically, publishing several more books of poetry and novels. One of his later books – a Literary Award winner – was inspired by the Hebrew Bible and consisted of 50 poems that Cohen called “prayers”. Meanwhile, Cohen started recording music in the 1960s as poetry did not bring the income he hoped for. His first album was a big hit in the US and UK. It was his seventh album that had his most famous song, “Hallelujah”, which Cohen went through some 80 drafts writing, and “banging his head on the floor”. The song was inspired by various Biblical scenes, including the stories of Samson and Delilah, and King David and Batsheva. It would be covered by over 200 artists in dozens of languages, and become the subject of a whole book and BBC documentary. In 1994, Cohen entered a period of five years of seclusion during which time he was ordained a Zen Buddhist monk. However, he never abandoned his Jewish roots, and said, “I’m not looking for a new religion. I’m quite happy with the old one, with Judaism.” Cohen was known to keep Shabbat throughout his career, even while on tour. In his 2009 concert in Tel-Aviv, Cohen spoke Hebrew and ended the concert with Birkat Cohanim, the priestly blessing. During the Yom Kippur War, Cohen went to Israel to volunteer at a kibbutz before going to the front lines himself to entertain Israeli soldiers, saying he will “stop Egypt’s bullets”. In his 1972 Jerusalem concert he was so emotional that he had to walk off stage at one point. The crowd started singing to bring him back and a teary-eyed Cohen felt like “the entire audience turned into one Jew”. All in all, Cohen produced 15 albums (the last of which was released just three weeks ago), 13 poetry books, and two novels. He won a plethora of awards – including multiple Junos and Grammys, the Order of Canada, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – and inspired countless musicians, poets, and artists. He has been hailed as one of the most influential songwriters and greatest musicians of all time. Sadly, Cohen passed away earlier this week.

Words of the Week

There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.
– Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen performing for the IDF, with Ariel Sharon looking on.

Jew of the Week: Shimon Peres

A young Shimon Peres with his wife Sonia

Szymon Perski (1923-2016) was born in the shtetl of Vishnyeva (then part of Poland, now in Belarus) to a wealthy Russian-Jewish family. He was the great-great-grandson of the famed Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, and was greatly influenced by his own grandfather, Rabbi Zvi Meltzer. At the young age of 11, Perski’s family moved to Tel Aviv and Hebraized their last name to Peres. (Their entire extended family back in Vishnyeva would later perish in the Holocaust). After finishing his schooling, young Shimon went to live on a kibbutz working as a dairy farmer and shepherd before co-founding his own kibbutz. He was soon elected secretary of a Labor Zionist youth organization. From there, he joined the Mapai party, whose leader David Ben-Gurion took a personal interest in him. At 21, Peres was imprisoned for two weeks by the British for leading an “illegal” expedition into the Negev to scout a new place for Jewish settlement. In 1947, now married, Peres was appointed to the Haganah and put in charge of recruitment and weapons purchases. The following year, he took charge of Israel’s nascent navy. In the 50’s, while part of Israel’s delegation to the US, he studied at NYU and Harvard. At 29, he became the head of Israel’s Ministry of Defence – the youngest person to ever hold the position. He was praised for building strong military alliances with other countries (particularly France, who awarded him their highest distinction, the Legion of Honor), and securing large amounts of modern weapons that propelled Israel into a regional powerhouse. He also helped establish the crucial Dimona nuclear reactor. In 1959, Peres was elected to the Knesset. At one time or another, he served as Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Minister of Transportation, Minister of Defence, Foreign Minister, Minister of Finance, and Information Minister. In 1984, Peres was elected Israel’s prime minister, and in 2007, Israel’s president. Among his other major achievements are the 1976 Entebbe rescue operation (which he pushed through the Cabinet), the 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, and his Peres Center for Peace, which has trained over 250 Arab doctors and brought life-saving treatment to thousands of Arab children. Peres was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his work with the Oslo Accords, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2008, presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 by Barack Obama, and with the US Congressional Gold Medal in 2014. He was also the author of 11 books. Sadly, following a debilitating stroke, the last of Israel’s founding fathers passed away in his sleep early Wednesday. Dignitaries from around the world are flying in to pay their respects, including past and present heads of state of Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and the US – many of whom Peres had guided and advised. President Obama has ordered flags in America to fly at half mast. Despite his age, Peres worked tirelessly until the very last days of his life. He had once said, “Optimists and pessimists die the same way. They just live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist.”

Words of the Week

It’s better to be controversial for the right reasons than to be popular for the wrong reasons.
– Shimon Peres

Jew of the Week: Lou Lenart

The Man Who Saved Tel-Aviv

Lou Lenart

Layos Lenovitz (1921-2015) was born in a rural Hungarian village, the son of farmers. While still a child, his family fled to America to escape persecution. They settled in Pennsylvania, and survived by selling home-made noodles. Growing up, Lenovitz was commonly a victim of anti-Semitic attacks, so he took up bodybuilding to protect himself. This led him to join the Marines at 17. Now going by the name Louis Lenart, he ended up in flight school and became a fighter pilot. During World War II, he served in the Pacific, and participated in a number of key battles, including the Battle of Okinawa – one of the war’s largest. Upon returning home (with the rank of Captain), Lenart learned that many of his relatives, including his grandmother, perished in the Holocaust. In response, he moved to Israel and volunteered with the Sherut Avir, the “air force” of the Haganah – which had no military planes at the time. Lenart helped to secretly smuggle four S-199 fighter planes from Czechoslovakia. Following its declaration of independence, Israel’s Arab neighbours immediately invaded. By the end of May 1948, the Egyptians were nearing Tel-Aviv with a force of 10,000. Lenart was called up to command Israel’s only four fighter planes to stop the Egyptian advance – the very first mission of the newly-created Israeli Air Force. The Egyptians thought Israel had no air force, and were shocked when they were being attacked from above. Thinking that Lenart’s four planes were just the first small foray of a larger attack, the Egyptians retreated in fear. Israel’s most populous city was spared from what could have been a devastating battle, and Lenart was nicknamed “the man who saved Tel-Aviv”. Following the war, Lenart played an important role in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, which airlifted over 120,000 Iraqi Jewish refugees to safety in Israel. Outside of the military, Lenart was a pilot for El Al. Later in life, he moved to Los Angeles and helped to produce six Hollywood films while at the same time working as the general manager of the San Diego Clippers basketball team (before the team moved to LA). Lenart retired in Israel, where he spent the last years of his life. His story was featured in Nancy Spielberg’s award-winning 2014 film Above and Beyond, and the 2015 A Wing and a Prayer.

Words of the Week

It was the most important moment of my life, and I was born to be there at that precise moment in history… I survived World War II so I could lead this mission.
– Lou Lenart, on his mission to save Tel-Aviv during the Independence War