This one should deepen your spiritual prep for High Holidays: Leonard Cohen performing his “Who By Fire” with able assistance from the great Sonny Rollins on shofar (I mean tenor sax…) I believe it was taped on “Night Music with David Sanborn” back in 1989.
(Tip of the hat to JRC Prez Josh Karsh for directing me toward this transcendent clip.)
And who by fire, who by water,
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
Who in your merry merry month of May,
Who by very slow decay,
And who shall I say is calling?And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
Who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
And who by avalanche, who by powder,
Who for his greed, who for his hunger,
And who shall I say is calling?And who by brave assent, who by accident,
Who in solitude, who in this mirror,
Who by his lady’s command, who by his own hand,
Who in mortal chains, who in power,
And who shall I say is calling?
Shalom Rav 
splendid. thanks for digging it up.
Brilliant piece and excellent solos…Thanks.
Thanks for the beautiful reminder of the fragility of our time here on earth. By the way, are you aware that today is Sonny Rollins’ birthday? He was born 79 years ago today.
you sure know how to reach your sax playing audience.
Now if we can find a YouTube clip of Cohen performing Isaac’s Song, that would be brilliant!
My own blog post about the Akedah is here.
Pingback: Who By Fire? | Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place
Is this performance of Who By Fire available on DVD?