Culture, Politics, Religion

If you want to kiss this sky, better learn how to kneel…

In a course at the U of North Texas, R’ Geoffrey Dennis asked his students to offer a kabbalistic commentary on U2’s mysterious ways. He’s posted some of the choicest bits over at his blog.

Johnny take a dive with your sister in the rain
K.Gr. – Water = Divine experience.
A.D. – Go to the waterside and pray. The Shekhinah will reveal the hidden to you and your soul will awaken.
W. Got – [Into] the feminine side of the Sefirot power.
K.F. – Let [God’s] glory fall on you; dive as deep as you can.
Let her talk about the things you can’t explain
J.P.H. – The esoteric.
V.I. – Donkey drivers and women can reveal things that are profound, even thought they don’t seem important.
C.D. – A tzadik or rebbe is required to talk about the things you [the hasid] can’t explain yourself.
K.F. – Find the meaning, keep asking questions.

Anybody got any other pop songs with obvious kabbalistic imagery? YehuditBrachah once told me that “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bil Withers is about the departure of the Shekhina.
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6 thoughts on “If you want to kiss this sky, better learn how to kneel…

  1. I dunno about kabbalah but Pink Floyd quote tehillim in “Free Four”: You get your chance to try, in the twinkling of an eye, in eighty years with luck or even less. Cf. The years of man are seventy, eighty with some luck.

  2. The “she” in the song is supposedly the Holy Spirit–the third person of the trinity. More a take on Christian imagry from my perspective.

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