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Editorial Review:
Bob Dylan and his artistic accomplishments have been explored, examined, and dissected year in and year out for decades, and through almost every lens. Yet rarely has anyone delved extensively into Dylan's Jewish heritage and the influence of Judaism in his work. In Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet, Seth Rogovoy, an award-winning critic and expert on Jewish music, rectifies that oversight, presenting a fascinating new look at one of the most celebrated musicians of all time.
Rogovoy unearths the various strands of Judaism that appear throughout Bob Dylan's songs, revealing the ways in which Dylan walks in the footsteps of the Jewish Prophets. Rogovoy explains the profound depth of Jewish content -- drawn from the Bible, the Talmud, and the Kabbalah -- at the heart of Dylan's music, anddemonstrates how his songs can only be fully appreciated in light of Dylan's relationship to Judaism and the Jewish themes that inform them.
From his childhood growing up the son of Abe and Beatty Zimmerman, who were at the center of the small Jewish community in his hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, to his frequent visits to Israel and involvement with the Orthodox Jewish outreach movement Chabad, Judaism has permeated Dylan's everyday life and work. Early songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" derive central imagery from passages in the books of Ezekiel and Isaiah; mid-career numbers like "Forever Young" are infused with themes from the Bible, Jewish liturgy, and Kabbalah; while late-period efforts have revealed a mind shaped by Jewish concepts of Creation and redemption. In this context, even Dylan's so-called born-again period is seen as a logical, almost inevitable development in his growth as a man and artist wrestling with the burden and inheritance of the Jewish prophetic tradition.
Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet is a fresh and illuminating look at one of America's most renowned -- and one of its most enigmatic -- talents.
Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet Reviews:
Ain't no neutral ground--and shouldn't be 
2009-12-08 - Seth Rogovoy's book is a valuable new voice in the already crowded field of writing on Dylan and spirituality. He traces an arc through Dylan's career based on the tradition of Jewish prophecy, and he works hard to do justice to several scruples: one scruple acknowledges that Dylan's own beliefs are not accessible, and that this *prophetic* interpretation is not, in fact, a decoding of Dylan's own faith. Another scruple acknowledges that the facts of Dylan's life and career are too many branches from too many roots to be reduced to a single, unifying source. Another scruple is Rogovoy's personal commitment to his argument, which makes the book an affecting narrative of one man's decades-long relation to art that speaks powerfully and constantly to him.
The practical benefit to serious Dylan listeners is Rogovoy's inventory of passages from Jewish scripture throughout Dylan's lyrics. We're familiar with many Biblical phrases in the songs, and Rogovoy opens up that familiarity into discoveries that were new and interesting to me. Most are utterly defensible, some allusions in the book require a generous imagination to hear, but on the whole this inventory is compelling and reflects hard and rational work.
As an overview of Dylan's career, serious and informed fans may find some familiar summary here, but there is enough that's provocative to merit reading the entire thing. And I'm grateful that Rogovoy found the time to rush in a brief and lively coda chapter on Together Through Life.
If you're new to Dylan, and have a strong interest in the spirituality and religious traditions in his work, this book provides a smart and accessible overview to Dylan's career in that context.
I had the great pleasure of hosting Seth Rogovoy in a Dylan course I'm leading in NY, and he is a generous and passionate, quick-witted and knowledgeable speaker. (And in the interests of transparency, I did buy my own copy of his book before meeting him.)
The book and the person, I can recommend both.
Nina Goss
Editor, Montague Street
[...]
Great book 
2009-11-30 - I plan on giving this book a shout out at all my gigs. Finally, a lively and accessible 'Rosetta stone' for the lyrics of Bob Dylan. Anyone who cares about the art of songwriting and the fascinating and surprising influences of sacred text on American music will treasure this. I do. Laura Wetzler, singer songwriter
Loving it!
2009-11-29 - I am really enjoying this book!
I thought I should weigh in because I am neither a Dylan fanatic, nor am I particularly religious. Rogovoy got it just right - I am reading this for kicks and I seem to be "accidentally" learning something along the way. I think I am going to get some additional copies to give as gifts this holiday season!
The Missing Piece to the Dylan Puzzle
2009-11-23 - Although a Dylan fan and admirer of his philosophic and poetic lyrics for the last 40 years, there was always a nagging feeling that I didn't quite get something about them. I understood them for their political and social importance, but, for me, that just didn't add up to everything that was really there. Now I know why. With this book, Rogovoy has supplied the key to the missing piece. In reading "Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet" and re-evaluating the lyrics in the context of Dylan's Jewish influences, they become richer and fuller. What was resonant before, now is revealed to have a multi-layered depth that makes them all the more meaningful.
This book isn't just for Dylan fans (and it's a must-read for them), it's for anybody who's ever wondered how the precepts of religion can impact life in a practical and profound way.
Buy the book.
a new way of viewing dylan
2009-11-22 - i have read well over 100 books about bob dylan and this book frames his emergence in a manner that none before have accomplished
the links between old testament quotes and passages and lines and thoughts in dylan's output are a revelation
highly recommended for both the casual and the devoted follower
