Toldot
What I Learned From Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen
Dear Friend,
Much of my adolescence revolved around playing guitar and singing the songs of two nice Jewish boys—Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. I suppose it’s inevitable that their influence should be somewhere in my writing now.
So when Dylan recently snatched a Nobel Prize and Cohen passed on just within walking distance of my home, there was memory, there was introspection. I had to learn something from that past of mine that they had filled.
Here’s what they told me: That with a few strums on the guitar and lyrics from the heart you have the power to move mountains. You can change the way a generation thinks. You can change the soul of a nation.
And if a guitar and a raspy voice can accomplish that, maybe we should start believing that yet more change comes from within our own homes, our own communities, our own selves.
That all it takes is a family where peace dwells on Friday night, a community where people know each other’s joys and sorrows and come running to help, and a heart that says hineini—I’m here to serve,
And we can have a new world.
Hey people! Write to me! What did you do today to change your world today?
Tzvi Freeman
on behalf of the Chabad.org Team
A condensation of the weekly Torah portion alongside select commentaries culled from the Midrash, Talmud, Chassidic masters, and the broad corpus of Jewish scholarship.
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Emunah (eh-moo-na): A knowing, deep in the soul, that there is only one G-d, that He is good, and that He loves you unconditionally.
Simchah (sim-kha): A mighty current of life-energy felt when contemplating emunah.
Bitachon (bi-ta-khon): A surge of invincible confidence that emerges when emunah is challenged by circums...
