Yeah, I wonder why the verses that reference specific Jewish mystical and chassidic concepts that arenât readily understood by American âI love Jews, you know, Jesus was Jewish!â Christians never get any airtime. Funny that.
You say I took the name in vain
I donât even know the name
But if I did, well really, whatâs it to you?
Thereâs a blaze of light
In every word
It doesnât matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
These are specifically about Chassidic Jewish theories of the holy language, how each letter and combination of letters in Hebrew contains the essence of the divine spark and if used correctly, can unlock or uncover the divine spark in the mundane material word. And of course, there are secret names of God which, when spoken by any ordinary human would kill them, but if you are worthy and holy and righteous can be used to perform miracles or even to behold the glory of God face-to-face. The words themselves have power. Orthodox Jews often wonât even pronounce the word âhallelujahâ in itâs entirety in conversation, because the âyahâ sound at the end is a True Name of God (there are hundreds, supposedly) and thus too holy to say outside of prayer.
None of this is to mention how Davidâs sin in sleeping with Batshevah (the subject of much of the song, with a brief deviation to Shimshon and Delilah) is considered the turning point in the Tanach that ultimately dooms the Davidic line at the cosmological level and thus dooms Jewish sovereignty and independence altogether. From a Christian perspective this led to Jesus, the King of Kings, and thatâs all very well and good for them, but for the Jews, the Davidic line never returned and is the central tragedy of the total arc of the Torah. Like, our Bible doesnât have a happy ending? And thatâs what this song is about? Thereâs no Grace - you just have to sit with the sin and its consequence.
Of course, Cohen is referencing all of this ironically, and personalizing these very high-level religious concepts. Like the point of this song is that Cohen, the songwriter, is identifying with David, the psalmist, and identifying his own sins with Davidâs. The ache that you hear in this song is that the two thousand year exile that resulted from one wrong night of passion and Cohen feels that the pain he has caused to his lover is of equally monumental infamy. Basically, in a certain light, the whole of Psalms is a vain effort for David to atone for his sin and I think Cohen was writing this song in wonderment that David could eternally praise the God who would not forgive him and would force him and his people into exile. But he ultimately gets how you have to surrender to the inexorable force of God in the face of your own inadequacies and how to surrender is to worship and to worship is to praise - hence, Hallelujah. You can either do the right thing and worship God from the start, or you can fuck up, be punished, and thus be forced to beg for His forgiveness. Itâs the terrible inevitability of praise thatâs driving him mad.
Like honestly, I identify with this song so strongly as an off-the-derech Jew, I sometimes wonder what Christians can possibly hear in this song, as it speaks so specifically to the sadomasochistic relationship that a lapsed Jew has with their God. Itâs such a different song from a Christian theological perspective itâs almost unrecognizable, man. This song continues to be a wonder of postmodern Jewish theology and sexuality from start to finish. Donât let anyone give you any âJudeo-Christianâ narishkeit. This is a Jewish song.
(Sorry about the wild tangent itâs just 2AM and I love this song so dang much, you guys.)
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