Yom Kippur, Saying Sorry, and...Leonard Cohen?

And who by fire, who by water

Who in the sunshine, who in the night time
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial
Who in your merry merry month of may
Who by very slow decay
And who shall I say is calling?

And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate
Who in these realms of love, who by something blunt
Who by avalanche, who by powder
Who for his greed, who for his hunger
And who shall I say is calling?

And who by brave assent, who by accident
Who in solitude, who in this mirror
Who by his lady's command, who by his own hand
Who in mortal chains, who in power
And who shall I say is calling?

Who By Fire -- Leonard Cohen 1974

Rabbit Hole alert! During the week I saw this headline in the New York Times and had to take a look. The author expressed why these days, including Yom Kippur, are important to him and chose songs, including Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground and a song by Canadian  Leonard Cohen (blessed be his memory),a Jewish Buddhist poet and songwriter. 

Is It Too Late Now to Say Sorry? 8 Songs for the High Holy Days   Apology, forgiveness, moving on: These are some of humanity’s richest  themes, and they have rich songs to match.

For some of us, this is a week of reflection, repentance and weaning ourselves off caffeine: It’s the Days of Awe, the 10 days between Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, which was last Thursday and Friday, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which begins this Friday night. There are more superficially appealing holidays; Yom Kippur in particular is a fast day and is not supposed to be “fun.” But I earnestly don’t know what I would do without this time of year and the space it provides to pause and take stock. You don’t need to belong to any particular faith to find that a useful exercise.

6. Leonard Cohen: “Who by Fire”

Leonard Cohen’s lyrics are directly inspired by a High Holy Day poem that frames the holiness of the days in trembling terms: On Rosh Hashana, it is written whether in the coming year one will live or die (and how — fire, water, you get the idea), and on Yom Kippur, the book is sealed. The song appears on Cohen’s “New Skin for the Old Ceremony” (1974), an album that, as described in Matti Friedman’s book Who by Fire  arose partly out of Cohen’s experience in Israel and Egypt during the Arab-Israeli War of 1973 — often referred to, after the day it began, as the Yom Kippur War.

I would offer that it is never too late to say sorry, seek forgiveness, apologize, and move on. As I rummaged around I recalled that this Cohen song was the theme for the Bad Sisters dark comedy. Bad Sisters, Leonard Cohen, and Yom Kippur? Go figure!