Following our last event, we are excited to continue the Beth El Virtual Book Club with the reading of, "Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai," by Raffi Berg.

"In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen’s previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads."

We will be holding a group discussion via Zoom on Motzei Shabbat, Saturday night, Oct. 29th, moderated by Ruth Vishniavsky.

When: Saturday night, Oct. 29th, at 8:00pm
Where: Zoom, link will be sent via email in the coming weeks
Book: "Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai" by Raffi Berg