What is the meaning of hallelujah6/9/2023 ![]() ![]() Light: When you think about other songs that are like it, like John Lennon’s “Imagine” or Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” the original always comes to mind. And I think that enabled it to function in a very different way than a lot of those kinds of songs, those kind of big songs that connect so universally.Īlan Light is Temple Sinai’s Scholar in Residence next Shabbat.ĪJT: But it doesn’t seem very much like those other big songs. It can ultimately be melancholy, or it can be transcendent. You can make it a song that’s very much about perseverance or triumph or you can make it a song that’s very much about heartbreak and loss. There’s a mutability, there’s an adaptability to this song and Leonard sanctioned that. Then over time there were hundreds and hundreds of versions and it was embraced all around the world in all of these different ways. This was a song that not only didn’t get noticed, it didn’t even register. It was the only time that ever happened to him. It’s was one of the songs recorded for an album his label rejected. Light: The story of “Hallelujah” is a story of an unprecedented journey from absolute obscurity. I spoke with Light recently about the song’s inauspicious beginnings and how it came to be such a beloved part of the American songbook.ĪJT: What happened to this song when it was first recorded? His book, “The Holy or the Broken” is a full-blown study of the song’s path to widespread success and the life of its composer, who was born into a prominent Jewish family in Montreal. ![]() Get The AJT Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Light, who is Temple Sinai’s Scholar in Residence next Shabbat, will speak on “Unlocking the Mystery of Hallelujah.” ![]() ![]() Now, Temple Sinai and the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival have invited music critic and author Alan Light to discuss the complex and often obscure work. ![]()
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