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Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song

In partnership with Ohr Kodesh Congregation

Presented by Alan Light,
Music Journalist

Sunday, January 28, 2024This “thoughtful and illuminating” (The New York Times) work of music journalism is an unforgettable, fascinating, and unexpected account of one of the most performed and beloved songs in pop history — Leonard Cohen’s heartrending “Hallelujah.”

How did one obscure song become an international anthem for human triumph and tragedy, a song each successive generation seems to feel they have discovered and claimed as uniquely their own?

Celebrated music journalist Alan Light follows the improbable journey of “Hallelujah” straight to the heart of popular culture. Mr. Light will speak about his 2012 book, The Holy and the Broken, now a full-length documentary available on Netflix (watch it before you come!).

Join us for this illuminating presentation about Leonard Cohen and this most famous song. Books will be on sale at the event, in partnership with Politics & Prose.


Location: In person at Ohr Kodesh Congregation
8300 Meadowbrook Lane, Chevy Chase, MD 20815


Alan Light is one of America’s leading music journalists and is the cohost of the daily music talk show Debatable on SiriusXM. He was a senior writer at Rolling Stone, founding music editor and editor-in-chief of Vibe, and editor-in-chief of Spin. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Esquire, among other publications. Alan is the author of Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain; biographies of Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, and the Beastie Boys; and was the cowriter of New York Times bestselling memoirs by Gregg Allman and Peter Frampton.