There was something in [Judaism] for me. I still had to go whoring after false gods, and maybe I’m still in the bed of one, but there was something about what I saw. I grew up in a Catholic city, and my Catholic friends have horror stories about what Catholicism is, and my Jewish friends have horror stories about what Judaism is. . .I never had them. I never rebelled against my parents. Even when I was taking acid and living at the Chelsea Hotel and feeling miserable about myself, it never occurred to me once to blame my situation on my family, my city, my religion, or my tribe. So, I always thought it was great — what they were practicing — and I’ve tried to keep it up in my own half-assed way.

 

 

Leonard Cohen

 

Jewish Book News Interview With Leonard Cohen by Arthur Kurzweil And Pamela Roth: 1994. Photo by Ratnesh Mathur.

I am republishing selected posts from my former Leonard Cohen site, Cohencentric, here on AllanShowalter.com (these posts can be found at Leonard Cohen). This entry was originally posted Aug 1, 2013 at DrHGuy.com, a predecessor of Cohencentric.