Bob Dylan - Jew to Christian to Jew Again?
Jew to Christian to Jew again? Such was the journey of folk-rock poet Bob Dylan.
Born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minn., Dylan attended Hebrew school at an Orthodox synagogue and enjoyed summers at the Zionist-oriented Herzl Camp. Although Dylan became a bar mitzvah, he did not identify strongly as a Jew as a young man. Later, he changed his name to Bob Dylan and remade himself as the voice of the typical mid-Western American folk singer.
Dylan’s work as a singer-songwriter in the mid-60s exemplified the era in many ways. It transformed rock and folk music with lyrics rich with imagery and social significance. Literature professors dissected Dylan’s lyrics much like they did with other great poets like Keats and Shelley.
Some of his lyrics were borrowed from Hebrew scripture. The title song from Highway 61 Revisited (1965), released in 1965, references the binding of Isaac:
“Oh G-d said to Abraham, ‘Kill me a son’
Abe says, ‘Man, you must be puttin’ me on’/ G-d say
No.’ Abe say, ‘What?’
G-d say, ‘You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin’ you better run’
‘Well,’ Abe says, ‘Where do you want this killin’ done?’
G-d says, ‘Out on Highway 61.’”Well,’ Abe says, ‘Where do you want this killin’ done?’
G-d says, ‘Out on Highway 61.’”
In the late 70s, Dylan became a born-again Christian. He released a couple of gospel music albums before he returned to his Jewish roots in the early 1980s and studied with Chabad rabbis.
In 1983, his son became a bar mitzvah at the Kotel (the Western Wall) in Jerusalem — and Dylan released the song “Neighborhood Bully” on his album “Infidels.” The song references an “exiled man” who is unfairly labeled a bully for fending off constant attacks from his neighbors. Many see it as a metaphor for the way Israel is treated by the world.
It sure sounds like the story of the Jews to me. Welcome home, Bob Dylan.
“Neighbor Bully” lyrics:
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man
His enemies say he's on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He's criticized and condemned for being alive
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He's wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He's always on trial for just being born
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it, and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him
'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He's the neighborhood bully.
Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He's the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that's enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one's command
He's the neighborhood bully.
Now his holiest books have been trampled upon
No contract that he signed was worth that what it was written on
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health
He's the neighborhood bully.
What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothing, they say. He just likes to cause war
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed
They wait for this bully like a dog waits for feed
He's the neighborhood bully.
What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill
Running out the clock, time standing still
Neighborhood bully.