Bob Dylan ; Rebel With Him

Acrylic on canvas

24’’x36’’ 

My first thought regarding Dylan was a quote from Tzvi Freeman's book about the Rebbe. As he put it, "There were never any followers of the Rebbe- followers couldn't keep up. The Rebbe has only leaders. Those who rebel with him.”

Dylan is and was an enigma. What he thought and wrote was certainly from a raw, deep place, and while he wouldn’t often explain what he meant by many of his deliberate yet confusing lyrics, I like to think that the point wasn't about him. The point was about us and what we were going to do with it, how we were going to translate it and use it, to fuel our lives. That is at least what he did for me. 

All of my greatest Torah inspirations that I look up to have a rebelliousness to them, an awareness that they need to fight even amongst "their own" to bring out the truth within themselves. Dylan is an example to me of that type of Jew, whose inwardness, reflectiveness, and expression successfully take flight. 

Let's join him.