Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network – New Books and Music
Episode: Matti Friedman, “Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai”
Host: Bradley Morgan
Guest: Matti Friedman
Date: February 9, 2026

This episode features journalist and author Matti Friedman discussing his book Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, which chronicles the extraordinary story of Leonard Cohen’s impromptu concert tour on the front lines of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The conversation explores not only Cohen’s journey, but also the context of Israeli society during the war, Cohen’s struggles with identity and faith, and the long-lasting impact of this remarkable intersection of art and conflict.

Main Themes

• Leonard Cohen’s concert tour for Israeli soldiers during the Yom Kippur War
• The cultural and historical context of 1970s Israel
• Cohen’s personal crisis and complicated relationship with Judaism
• The transformative power of music at moments of crisis
• War, trauma, memory, and the enduring influence on Israeli culture and Cohen’s later career

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Yom Kippur War & Israeli Society

• The war was a follow-up to the 1967 Six-Day War, motivated by Egypt and Syria’s desire to regain lost dignity and territory. (01:25)
• The early 1970s in Israel still reflected the optimism of the 1960s, a spirit shattered by the surprise attack on Yom Kippur in 1973. (03:31)
  • Notable quote: “In Israel, the ‘60s were still going on... the 60s really come crashing to an end on the day that the Yom Kippur War started, which was October 6, 1973.” – Matti Friedman (03:31)

2. Focus on Soldiers and Personal Stories

• The book weaves stories of individual Israeli soldiers and citizens, making the war’s impact intimate and real. (04:53, 09:51)
• Soldiers attending Cohen’s concerts were facing death; the music’s power grew from that context of fear and vulnerability.
  • Notable quote: “Cohen played for them, knowing that this might be one of the last things they ever heard.” – Matti Friedman (04:53)

3. Finding the Stories

• Israel’s small, interconnected society made it possible to track down veterans who saw Cohen perform, piecing together memories and rare photographs. (07:43)
• The hallucinatory, surreal quality of those performances stuck with everyone who witnessed them.

4. Art and War: The Intersection

• The book is as much about art dropped into war as it is about Cohen. (09:51)
  • Notable quote: “That meeting of art and war, I think, is a very potent one... I find the electricity of that meeting between war and art very interesting and worth exploring.” – Matti Friedman (09:51)

5. Jewish Liturgy and Cohen’s Identity

• Three liturgical moments shape the book and Cohen’s experience:
  • The Unetaneh Tokef prayer on Yom Kippur: “Who by fire, who by water...” – echoed in Cohen’s famous song “Who by Fire.” (11:13)
  • The story of Jonah: The theme of inescapable fate, paralleled in Cohen’s own journey and artistic returns to Judaism. (11:13)
  • The priestly blessing: Cohen’s own heritage as a “Cohen” and what it meant to use words to call down protection. (11:13)
    • Notable quote: “If you grow up as a kid being told that you have the power to say a blessing that will protect the congregation, then you will believe that words have power.” – Matti Friedman (17:39)

6. Cohen’s Personal Crisis & Escape to War

• Cohen was living on Hydra, Greece, feeling trapped and depressed when the war broke out. (20:02)
  • Notable quote: “He sees our crisis in Israel as a way out of his own personal crisis.” – Matti Friedman (20:02)
• He left his family, traveled to Israel, and initially thought about volunteering on a kibbutz, not playing music. (32:09)

7. Struggles with Judaism and Religious Identity

• Cohen grew up deeply immersed but critical of Jewish religiosity, never fully leaving but also never wholly conforming. (22:51)
  • Described as “stubborn and kind of inconvenient clinging to his own religious identity.” (25:58)
  • Returns again and again to religious themes in his music and life, culminating in his last album (“You Want It Darker”) and his burial in Montreal’s synagogue cemetery. (22:51)

8. Piecing the Story Together

• There were no official military records; Friedman relied on personal interviews and uncovered an unpublished, raw Cohen manuscript detailing his mindset during and after the war. (27:29, 30:09)
  • Notable quote: “He was a poet. He wouldn’t stoop to actually describing events... but the manuscript allows us to understand Cohen’s state of mind.” – Matti Friedman (29:21)

9. The Concerts: Raw and Real

• Cohen’s performances were spontaneous: no plans, no guitar, no sound system, just art stripped bare. (32:09)
  • Notable quote: “No one was selling tickets and no one was selling records and everyone was completely sober. Right? No one’s stoned, no one’s drunk... it’s not even entertainment, really. Something very deep is happening.” – Matti Friedman (36:06)

10. Cultural Transformation and Israeli Music

• The war marks a shift in Israeli music from collective optimism to introspective individualism—coincidentally, Cohen’s style influences a new wave of singer-songwriters. (38:13)
  • Israeli musicians felt a patriotic obligation; Cohen’s outsider status made his songs about personal longing and depth resonate all the more. (41:16)

11. Music & Memory: The Soundtrack of Soldiers

• Even in other wars, soldiers preferred longing and sentimental songs over heavy, political music; Cohen’s empathetic presence resonated deeply, even for those who couldn’t understand the lyrics. (45:03)

12. Song Origins & Artistic Struggle: "Lover Lover Lover"

• Cohen wrote “Lover Lover Lover” at an air force base in the middle of the war. Its original verse called Israeli soldiers “my brothers”—later changed, likely due to his struggle between loyalty, honesty, and universalism. (46:38)
  • Verse read aloud at 48:42; notable edit from “my brothers” to “the children.”
  • Notable quote: “He has this very deep kind of tribal identification... as the war progresses... he’s a universal poet. He can’t be perceived as being on one side of a war.” – Matti Friedman (49:40)

13. The "Myth Home" & Cohen’s Ongoing Relationship to Israel

• Israel for Cohen was always “my myth home”—part aspiration, part reality, never fully one or the other. Returning in 2009, his concert became a moment of collective and personal reckoning. (52:07, 52:31)
  • Notable quote: “It was like being in love with someone you don’t really know.” – Leonard Cohen (quoted by Matti Friedman) (52:22)

14. Lasting Impact: Art and Healing

• The war appears to have restored Cohen’s faith in himself and art, inspiring a new creative period. (55:32)

  • Without this moment, New Skin for the Old Ceremony, “Hallelujah,” and more might never have happened. (55:32)

• Cohen’s 2009 concert, ending with him reciting the priestly blessing, symbolizes the enduring spiritual and personal connection. (58:42)

  • Memorable moment: “And you can hear 50,000 people in the stadium shouting Amen... So it was more than an ordinary concert.” – Matti Friedman (58:58)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “In Israel, the 60s were still going on... the 60s really come crashing to an end on the day that the Yom Kippur War started, which was October 6, 1973.” – Matti Friedman (03:31)
• “Cohen played for them, knowing that this might be one of the last things they ever heard.” – Matti Friedman (04:53)
• “If you grow up as a kid being told that you have the power to say a blessing that will protect the congregation, then you will believe that words have power.” – Matti Friedman (17:39)
• “He sees our crisis in Israel as a way out of his own personal crisis.” – Matti Friedman (20:02)
• “No one was selling tickets and no one was selling records and everyone was completely sober... Something very deep is happening... it’s a matter of life and death.” – Matti Friedman (36:06)
• “I went down to the desert to help my brothers fight. I knew that they weren’t wrong, I knew that they weren’t right. But bones must stand up straight and walk and blood must move around and men go making ugly lines across the holy ground.” – Lost verse from "Lover Lover Lover" (read at 48:42)
• “It was like being in love with someone you don’t really know.” – Matti Friedman quoting Leonard Cohen (52:22)
• “And you can hear 50,000 people in the stadium shouting Amen... So it was more than an ordinary concert.” – Matti Friedman (58:58)

Major Timestamps

• [00:33] – What the book is about: Cohen’s concerts in the 1973 Yom Kippur War
• [01:25] – Historical and cultural backdrop: From Six-Day War to Yom Kippur
• [03:31] – The ‘60s lasting into the ‘70s in Israel
• [04:53] – Profiles of Israeli soldiers, centrality of their experiences
• [11:13] – Jewish prayers and liturgy, their meaning to Cohen and the war
• [20:02] – Cohen's crisis and escape from Greece to Israel
• [22:51] – Cohen's struggle with faith and religious identity
• [27:29] – Research process: tracking stories, finding rare Cohen manuscript
• [32:09] – Cohen’s first wartime performances and the impact on soldiers
• [38:13] – Transformation in Israeli music culture post-1973
• [45:03] – What music soldiers really listened to—sentiment over politics
• [46:38] – The making and evolution of “Lover Lover Lover”; discovery of the missing verse
• [52:31] – Myth home: Cohen’s complex and enduring connection to Israel
• [55:32] – The war’s creative and personal impact on Cohen’s career
• [58:42] – The 2009 return concert: Cohen recites the priestly blessing

Conclusion

Matti Friedman’s Who by Fire reconstructs a little-known but transformative moment in both Leonard Cohen’s life and Israeli history: when a poet-musician brought solace to soldiers in the Sinai, forever tying his mythic search, Jewish identity, and art to a national trauma. This conversation vividly brings that story—and its echoes in modern culture—to life.