When a Minnesotan went to Israel
Recent events have had me thinking about Minnesotans who visited Israel. I confess, I only know one, personally. But, over the years, one of Minnesota’s most famous sons has been a regular visitor.
As far as I can tell, Bob Dylan first visited Israel in the early 1970s. His embrace of Christianity in the late 1970s was followed by a turn towards his Jewish heritage. In 1983, he visited Israel again, allowing himself to be photographed there for the first time, including a shot at Jerusalem’s open-air synagogue wearing a yarmulkah, phylacteries, and tallith. Later that year, he released one of his best albums of an admittedly barren decade, Infidels. The back cover featured a moody shot of Dylan on a hill overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem.
Here is an alternate take of one of the tracks from the album, ‘Neighborhood Bully’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UImf8Uo2GHU
John Phelan is an economist at the Center of the American Experiment.