Broken Hallelujahs ....

I've been listening this morning to the late Jeff Buckley's definitive performance of Leonard Cohen's lovely (and dark) "Hallelujah." Cohen introduced the song in 1984, but Buckley's 1994 version --- on his only complete album, "Grace" --- put the wind under its wings, so to speak. I also like Rufus Wainwright's version --- and then there's k.d. lang's magnificent performance during opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Oft-performed recent versions have sanitized and Christianized the lyrics, in part because it has such a compelling melody, but at base the words are about love and sex and loss and that redemptive quality in human nature that produces broken hallelujahs even under dire circumstances.

I was reminded of it Saturday when Rabbi Angela Buchdahl used the melody as the setting for a Psalm during a memorial tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg during morning Rosh Hashanah services at Central Synagogue in Manhattan. That seemed appropriate for a woman who specialized in hallelujah. Here's the Buckley version: