Question to someone who has contact with Mr. Cohen

[pipskicks]

I have been told since I was a child that I was related to Leonard Cohen fairly closely (he was my Grandma's cousin I believe she said, but I have trouble remembering so I'm not 100% sure). I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to either contact him to ask him, or if they know much about his family history so that I could figure out how I was related to him.

I sort of want to see if he would even just e-mail me about my Grandma, she passed away and I know Leonard has been aging well, but I don't want to lose my chance...

[pipskicks]

Well guess not, hopefully his manager will forward a message with my Grandma's name to him, I would like to see if he remembers her or how we are related. I know it's the Polish side, but nothing else.

[B4real]

Hi pipskicks,

I was just about to give you Leonard's manager's address but it seems you already have it. Unfortunately, no one here can help you any further than that.
I wonder to myself how you have left it all this time to make some contact with him. I hope you can resolve the situation. Good luck.

....and welcome to the forum - I hope you can stay around for a while.

[pipskicks]

I was raised an ultra-Orthodox Jew (I am unsure of how Leonard was raised but I know my Grandma was less religious, my parents became religious in college right before I was born). I lived in a very closed-in community and although I had this mentioned to me, I never really knew much about it, and of course being as religious as we were it was forbidden. Curse words, he's not too Jewish, so I was basically dissuaded from showing any interest in his work or himself.

That being said, I still had many years after to find out about him, but I can't give you a good reason other than that as to why I don't know more. By the time I was in college and out of my parents' house, my grandma was no longer alive to ask her anymore information.


I just recently thought why not ask his manager and see if he recognizes the names, but I should have done this 8 or so years ago when I was in college, unfortunately I guess the thought just never occurred to me, not many people I know (I am 28 years old that is why) know who he is. I also know he is not close to my family, it would just be neat to see how he was related to my grandma and see if he remembers anything, I don't expect to strike up some friendship, we are distantly related.

[Cate]

I hope you are able to connect with Mr. Cohen, his sister or somebody else along those lines. It’s funny the questions that come to us once we no longer have a chance to ask.

[Maarten]

Hi Pipskicks,

A bit more info can be found in Ira Nadel book "Various Positions". Info from the first pages (in short):

Cohen’s maternal grandfather was Rabbi Solomon Klinitsky-Klein, a rabbinic scholar and a disciple of Yitzhak Elchanan, a great rabbinic teacher. Rabbi Klein was born in Lithuania and he and his family escaped the pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, fleeing first to England and then emigrating to Canada in 1923 (Halifax, later Montreal). Rabbi Klein had a daughter named Manya and one named Masha (which is Leonard Cohen’s mother).

Cohen’s father was Nathan B. Cohen, they got married in 1927.

Lazarus Cohen arrived in Ontario in 1869 and after 2 years sent for his family who were still living in what was then Lithuania. Lazarus’ younger brother was called Hirsch. Lazarus died in 1914, age 70.
In 1891 Lyon Cohen, eldest son of Lazarus, married Rachel Friedman and they had 4 children: Nathan (Leonard’s father), Horace, Lawrence and Sylvia.

Hope this helps...?

Maarten

[pipskicks]

Yeah I don't recognize those names and the people that would are all gone

I am not 100% sure, but I am fairly certain that they were all in Poland, this is the only part that confuses me since I don't think my grandparents were in Canada much if at all. I know my grandma spoke Yiddish, she emigrated to America in her early childhood, maybe they met in America somehow but I'm not sure at all. My grandparents were not religious, I know I am not Leonard Cohen's grandson or anything close to that, it's a distant relative, I was just curious if I could figure it out since I know that somehow my grandma knew exactly how to trace it. Jews are so close together I bet there's a ton of people who are "somehow" related to him, I just think my grandma knew him as a child (although I'm not sure how or where) as I remember her speaking about him quite a bit. In fact, that's about the only time I heard about him until I was much older...

I thought it was worth a shot, and as I said, I am probably very quickly running out of time to figure it out, most of the people who would have been able to trace this have passed, it's kind of frustrating. That and my family doesn't talk to me much, but one of my grandma's sons are alive and I think I may ask him the next time I can to see if he can give me a more definitive answer. I wish I was close enough to be able to recognize the names in that lineage, but I don't think she was that closely related, although I do recall her talking about meeting him as a young child. I guess I'll wait and see, I'll definitely update you guys with whatever I get back from his manager if I do get something back.

Thanks so much for the help, I tried doing whatever research I could do but I really can't figure it out. I wish I did a family tree when I was younger, if I had my grandma fill it out I wouldn't be so clueless

[pipskicks]

Actually I can tell you one name that could possibly be something helpful. Jews name their kids after relatives that are deceased (as opposed to naming after living relatives, I think it's a religious superstition thing). My middle name is Herschel, I know that I am named after my great-grandfather whose name was Herschel (I believe, although a lot of names got mixed up/changed when they emigrated so maybe that's it?) and I'm named after him, whether it was Lazarus's younger brother Hirsch or my great-grandfather was named after that Hirsch I do not know. In fact that's just my best guess, it could not have anything to do with that name, but that is the only name I recognize.
I wonder what the Hebrew names are for some of those people as I think I know the Hebrew names a lot better than the English names.

I don't think it will help, but my grandma's name was Ida, I have to actually search to find her maiden name as I do not even know what it is now, I have issues with contact with my family members. My parents are ultra-Orthodox to the point that I look at is as a cult, and they no longer speak to me.

[B4real]

pipskicks,
If you haven't already tried this; why don't you just go to your local government registry office and apply for the appropriate birth, marriage and death certificates? At least that way it will be official and you will know for sure without hearsay. Give them your parents details and then you can work backwards to your grandparents and then your great grandparents and so on. Or maybe try one of those 'find your ancestors' web sites. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you could discover. Once again, good luck!

[tomsakic]

I was raised an ultra-Orthodox Jew (I am unsure of how Leonard was raised but I know my Grandma was less religious, my parents became religious in college right before I was born). I lived in a very closed-in community and although I had this mentioned to me, I never really knew much about it, and of course being as religious as we were it was forbidden. Curse words, he's not too Jewish, so I was basically dissuaded from showing any interest in his work or himself.

That's not really true - Mr. Cohen has also been raised as Ultra Orthodox (he said so, but "with temper"), he is very Jewish and traditional, keeps Sabbath every week... and his albums and books are very spiritual since early 1980s and Jewishness is major part of his work (and articles and books were written on that issue by number of scholars).

Leonard's maternal grandfather was also a Rabbi (as Lazarus and Hirch Cohen were) and famous Torah scholar so Jewishness is really a major part of his singer's power and identity. Many scholars do think (as myself) that in some way Leonard's path in music was modernised version of that tradition, being a cantor. Also, as being from Kohanim family, he have Kohanim blessings while cosing his concerts in 2009, e.g. in Israel in September 2009.

[Geoffrey]

. . .my parents don't want anything to do with him . . .

ha ha ha!!!