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Harry Freedman

Goodreads Author

Born

London, The United Kingdom

Website

https://www.harryfreedmanbooks.com

Twitter

@harryfreedman1

Genre

History, Religion, Nonfiction

Member Since

November 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/harryfreedman

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My publishers describe me as Britain's best known writer on Jewish topics. I couldn't possibly comment! You can find out about all my books here on Goodreads. My website is harryfreedmanbooks.com and if you like what I write please subscribe to
my newsletter.

My most recent book is Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius. It explores the religious folklore, spiritual ideas and mystical concepts that run all the way through Leonard Cohen’s music.

Anyone who has listened carefully to Leonard Cohen’s music will know that songs like Hallelujah, Story of Isaac and By the Rivers Dark are based on biblical narratives. But Leonard Cohen’s music contains many more songs based on ancient lore. The Window is packed with kabbalistic insights, Who by My publishers describe me as Britain's best known writer on Jewish topics. I couldn't possibly comment! You can find out about all my books here on Goodreads. My website is harryfreedmanbooks.com and if you like what I write please subscribe to
my newsletter.

My most recent book is Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius. It explores the religious folklore, spiritual ideas and mystical concepts that run all the way through Leonard Cohen’s music.

Anyone who has listened carefully to Leonard Cohen’s music will know that songs like Hallelujah, Story of Isaac and By the Rivers Dark are based on biblical narratives. But Leonard Cohen’s music contains many more songs based on ancient lore. The Window is packed with kabbalistic insights, Who by Fire is based on both an ancient mystical text and a synagogue prayer, and You Want it Darker is one of the most powerful challenges ever written to the God whose presence Leonard Cohen was always aware of, whose purpose baffled him and whose world he struggled to come to terms with.

Cohen was deeply learned in both Judaism and Christianity; they helped shape his self-identity and the way he made sense of the world. In the book I explore twenty of his songs that are rooted in ancient biblical or kabbalistic sources. I explain the sources he drew upon, discuss their original context and the stories and ideas behind them, and show how Leonard Cohen has harnessed them for his own purposes. The book is not a biography, though it contains biographical information. I hope that it will offer an insight into the soul and imagination of one of the greatest singers and lyricists of our time.

My previous book was Reason to Believe: The Controversial Life of Rabbi Louis Jacobs. Louis Jacobs was Britain’s most gifted Jewish scholar. A Talmudic genius, outstanding teacher and accomplished author, cultured and easy-going, he was widely expected to become Britain’s next Chief Rabbi.

Then controversy struck. The Chief Rabbi refused to appoint him as Principal of Jews’ College, the country’s premier rabbinic college. He further forbade him from returning as rabbi to his former synagogue. All because of a book Jacobs had written some years earlier, challenging from a rational perspective the traditional belief in the origins of the Torah.

The British Jewish community was torn apart. It was a scandal unlike anything they had ever previously endured. The national media loved it. Jacobs became a cause celebre, a beacon of reason, a humble man who wouldn’t be compromised. His congregation resigned en masse and created a new synagogue for him in Abbey Road, the heart of fashionable 1970s London. It became the go-to venue for Jews seeking reasonable answers to questions of faith.

A prolific author of over 50 books and hundreds of articles on every aspect of Judaism, from the basics of religious belief to the complexities of mysticism and law, Louis Jacobs won the heart and affection of the mainstream British Jewish community. When the Jewish Chronicle ran a poll to discover the Greatest British Jew, Jacobs won hands down. He said it made him feel daft.

Reason To Believe tells the dramatic and touching story of Louis Jacobs’s life, and of the human drama lived out by his family, deeply wounded by his rejection. ...more

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Average rating: 3.89 · 805 ratings · 179 reviews · 20 distinct works • Similar authors

	Leonard Cohen: The Mystical Roots of Genius 4.05 avg rating — 238 ratings — published 2021 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Talmud: A Biography 3.95 avg rating — 186 ratings — published 2014 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Murderous History of Bible Translations: Power, Conflict and the Quest for Meaning 3.66 avg rating — 183 ratings — published 2016 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shylock's Venice: The Remarkable History of Venice's Jews and the Ghetto 4.10 avg rating — 63 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kabbalah: Secrecy, Scandal and the Soul 3.76 avg rating — 58 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bob Dylan: Jewish Roots, American Soil 3.24 avg rating — 41 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reason to Believe: The Controversial Life of Rabbi Louis Jacobs 4.50 avg rating — 8 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Gospels' Veiled Agenda 4.71 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Britain's Jews: Confidence, Maturity, Anxiety 4.14 avg rating — 7 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jerusalem Imperilled 3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Harry Freedman's Blog

The Pieces of a Puzzle

Constantinus II Coins, via Wikicommons

Around the year 360, an obscure Roman historian, Sextus Aurelius Victor, wrote about a power struggle within the Roman empire. In the middle of his narrative he went off on a tangent, telling his readers that “In the meantime, a revolt of the Jews, who had criminally elevated Patricius to a sort of kingship, was suppressed.”

That is all he wrote on

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Harry Freedman wrote a new blog post The Pieces of a Puzzle Constantinus II Coins, via Wikicommons Share Around the year 360, an obscure Roman historian, Sextus Aurelius Victor, wrote about a power struggle wit Read more of this blog post »
Apr 17, 2026 12:48AM · like

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Quotes by Harry Freedman (?)

“Far from it; the Talmudic centres were so distant from Arabia, and the prevailing lifestyles so different that we can imagine a local, exotic Jewish culture which would have been virtually unrecognizable to a Jew from Babylon.”
― Harry Freedman, The Talmud – A Biography: Banned, censored and burned. The book they couldn't suppress

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“It has been argued that the hostility of the Arabian Jewish tribes to Mohammed was due to his alliances with dissenting Jewish sects.8 Our modern conception of religion prevents us from appreciating just how fluid the ancient faiths were.”
― Harry Freedman, The Talmud – A Biography: Banned, censored and burned. The book they couldn't suppress

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“But it’s not the multi-volume, two-million-word, densely argued version. It’s a highly abridged version, containing some of the stories and ethical teachings from the Talmud. Aspirational Koreans appreciate that Talmud study is an effective way of training the mind in problem solving. Combing its cut–and-thrust method of debate with the more rigid Confucian methods of teaching gives Korean students a multi-dimensional, educational experience that is unheard of anywhere else in the world.”
― Harry Freedman, The Talmud – A Biography: Banned, censored and burned. The book they couldn't suppress

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