Book of Mercy #16-
jlaz...@gmail.com
"They know me at this café. When I come in from the vineyards they put
a drink in front of me. As a sign of respect I take off my sunglasses
whenever I speak
to the proprietress. Here I can reflect on the Romans, their triumph,
and the tiny thorn in their side that we represent. The owners are
exiles too, scattered people, as are their customers, who all seem to
wear dark suits and flash gold teeth behind their cigarette-holders.
Our children go to the Roman schools. We drink coffee, and some kind
of powerful fruit brandy, and we hope that the grandchildren will
return to us. Our hope is in the distant seed. Occasionally the card-
players in the corner lift little glasses in a toast, and I lift mine,
joining them in their incomprehensible affirmation. The cards fly
between their fingers and the mica table-top, old cards, so familiar
they hardly have to turn them over to see who has won the hand. Take
heart, you who were born in captivity of a fixed predicament; and
tremble, you kings of certainty: your iron has become like glass, and
the word has been uttered that will shatter it. "
At last the prayer comes from a unitified heart, at last the man who
was last seen hanging from a thread has called on Her who does not
write the history books and has found his place in the world. His
prayer speaks from the ordinary, the holy places where the races meet.
He begins by showing his respect to she who is in charge.
Here he can talk about the Romans. The Romans who conquered. The
Romans speak english, they speak french, they speak spanish. When the
framers of the american constitution created the presidency they
remarked that they wanted to create the "Augustan Age." When speaking
about the Romans he can be talking about any or all of the conquerers,
including the US. Those who do not go along with the flow of the
conquering become the exiles.
Why a thorn in their side? Why not something else? A pebble in their
shoe? A burr in their saddle? An itch in their brain?
I'm not sure - it all depends.
I was thinking that Leonard being a Jew would not write those words
without thinking about history's account of the great conquering and
the words of Joshua.
Joshua was the one who led the Jews into the promised land. Just
before he died he gathered all the people together and reminded them
of the covenant that must not be transgressed unless all gets lost.
He reminded them that all their enemies were slain and will continue
to be as long as a certain thing didn't happen. The certain thing was
that the children of Israel were not to mix with the people of other
nations or join them or get married to them. Joshua told them that if
they do then they should know for sure that God will no longer destroy
their enemies and these enemies will become amoung other things
"spears in their sides"
Maybe that is what Leonard is talking about, maybe he even is one of
the deserters who mixed with them and even went about singing "Whither
thou goest I will go, your people will be my people" etc.
What the words "thorn in their side" also reminded me of was a book
that became heavily discussed in Israel at the turn of the century
called "The Struggle for Israel's Soul." By Yoram Hazony
He makes the case that israel has been wounded in the side by Jews who
didn't go along with the idea of a Jewish state that came by way of
people being conquered. To quote:
"The greatest challenge facing the Jewish state is not securing it
from external enemies, but rather preventing its internal
disintegration. An ascendant 'post-Zionism' threatens Israel's very
foundations as a Jewish state"
He traces the root of what is causing this internal disintegration and
he finds it source in the thoughts of some of Israel's past
intellectuals and then names people like Hannah Arendt, Judah Magnes,
Albert Einstein, Martin Buber amoung others and writes of how they had
caused a wound in the side of Israel that Israel needs to be cured
of.
I think that if Leonard is speaking of himself as a thorn in the side
of a conquering Israel then he is placing himself in the company of
people like Judah Magnes and Martin Buber. He could do worse than to
be in their company.
Around the time of this book when Leonard was asked about Palestine he
started his answer in a peculiar way by saying "I don't want to add
salt to an old wound but" then spoke about the fact that the land was
a place where more than one people is to live. He also went on to say
"But last week I was reading the Quran" which according to Joshua is
not something that he is suppose to be doing.
I will continue with this prayer later if
Jack
jlaz...@gmail.com
> Book of Mercy :I.18
> "As a sign of respect I take off my sunglasses whenever I speak
> to the proprietress."
I don't know if this relates but recently Leonard and Anjani were in
Montreal for a concert which I attended. After the concert Anjani
came into the room where we were still drinking our beers and talked
to us. Before leaving my niece and I decided to say hello and goodby
to Leonard and so we went by his dressing room and since the door was
opened I walked in. he was there with one or two people and was very
welcoming. When my niece followed a few moments later we noticed a
peculiar thing. The second he saw my niece he took off his glasses
which he was wearing. My niece commented on it later as how immediate
it seemed to her that as soon as he saw her he took off his glasses.
jack
Manna
one comes from a unified heart, and about how that relates to the end
of the prayer. And I came to the thought that if one has community,
it becomes possible to wage war.
On May 18, 3:20 pm, "jlazar...@no-spamgmail.com" <jlazar...@gmail.com>
wrote:
jlaz...@gmail.com
> I've been thinking about what you said at the beginning - that this
> one comes from a unified heart, and about how that relates to the end
> of the prayer. And I came to the thought that if one has community,
> it becomes possible to wage war.
Thanks for showing me that connection and i follow how this can lead
to the possibility of waging war. I was in a car one early morning
with someone from a very different culture than mine who i had been
working on a project with that involved us having to deal with some
very painful issues and I put some loenard cohen in the tape deck and
we started listening to "First we Take Manhatten" He asked me about
who that was singing the song and we both agreed that it seemed to
perfectly express the feeling of the work we were doing. We did seem
to be fighting some kind of war together but no one was seen as the
enemy.
"I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons"
The kings of certainty might be wanting something they think of as
more substantial.
Jack
Manna
> The kings of certainty might be wanting something they think of as
> more substantial.
I don't understand what you mean by this, Jack. More substantial?
Manna
Well, it could be that it is late, I haven't been sleeping so well for
a couple days, and I'm just brain dead.
I think a little thought may help.
You were talking about war in some abstract way - like not being able
to talk very well with a friend, or rather a co-worker, yeah? The
"Kings of certainty" are looking for something bloodier? But it
doesn't seem to me that they're the ones who are looking for a war.
jlaz...@gmail.com
It might be the wrong word. I was trying to convey that joy might be
underestimated. It may be a way of telling myself not to be
intimidated into thinking that joy is not important just because it
didn't seem to matter much when I talked about it.
Manna
wrote:
> It might be the wrong word. I was trying to convey that joy might be
> underestimated. It may be a way of telling myself not to be
> intimidated into thinking that joy is not important just because it
> didn't seem to matter much when I talked about it.
Ohhhh...
Joy.
Hmmm.
ok.
Will you talk more about that?
I can ask better questions. Whose joy? What kind of joy? (I didn't
see it having anything to do with joy at all, so this idea has become
very interesting.)
I think I understand the last three paragraphs of your original post
here better now too than when I first read them. Boy I'm having an
oddly lucid day. Too bad you're not posting to the forum anymore.
They're already on the next one, and nothing like this came up. I'm
not familiar with these histories and thorns and land rights, etc, and
I'm decidedly glad to learn about them. (My goal in life is to learn
everything, interesting stuff first.) And what do I have if not
questions?
In this prayer, he's with people, but he's still an outsider as far as
I can tell. And the difference between I and We in this one means
something that I just noticed I don't yet get.
jlaz...@gmail.com
This time before hitting the send button I saved a copy of my post and
so when it didn't appear there was no need for tears.
I'll send again
> Ohhhh...
> Joy.
> Hmmm.
> ok.
> Will you talk more about that?
> I can ask better questions. Whose joy? What kind of joy? (I didn't
> see it having anything to do with joy at all, so this idea has become
> very interesting.)
1.19 is mostly all about you, what you did and how much it means and
at the end he prays for what he can do (maybe in return or in response
although that is not said) and the prayer is
"let me dare the boldness of joy." That is the only thing in the
prayer that doesn't involve the past tense.
In 1.18 he writes "our hope is in the distant seed"
If that is the hope then it is the distant seed that the boldness will
nourish.
I'm assuming that if he can speak about the boldness of joy then he
has known joy.
I can see no other way that he can be in exile and be content to let a
seed be just a seed unless he has know joy.
I can't imagine that he would use the words "explanation of the smoke
and cruelty" unless he has known joy.
I can't see him taking the position that a word has been uttered that
will shatter like glass what the kings of certainty think of as iron
unless he has known joy.
What mercy brings is joy.
joy shows you that there is not a single spec of dust that is
deserving of your scorn.
Joy shows you that there is not a single fault you can see in others
that is not being seen because it is in you.
Joy shows you that everything, no matter how aged, is all about a
beginning.
The Bible starts with the words "in the beginning" and joy shows you
that the completeness of it is about a beginning.
So much of Leonard's songs are about things like closing time etc. but
it always seemed to me that the totality of it was about a beginning.
Joy must have been in the house when
"the birds sang at the break of day"
Jack
Dare Naïveté