Bob Dylan, arguably one of the most famous and enigmatic Jewish songwriters of all time, will be performing in Kansas City, Missouri, for two nights.
The octogenarian folk singer will perform on Oct. 1 and 2 at The Midland Theatre. These shows will mark the beginning of the fall leg of his “Rough and Rowdy Ways” worldwide tour. Dylan has been touring regularly since 1988.
Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman, was raised Jewish and became a bar mitzvah in Minnesota. By the 1960s, he’d established himself as a countercultural folk icon with songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “My Back Pages,” and his iconic status has continued throughout his career. During his 82 years, his personal connection with Judaism has fluctuated between devout and rejecting.
The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle first mentioned Dylan in 1971, nearly a decade after he first appeared on the folk music scene in Greenwich Village in New York City. On June 4, 1971, The Chronicle published a Listening Post item with a photo of Dylan adjusting his kippah at the Kotel in Jerusalem, followed by two more articles later in the year about Dylan’s relationship with his Jewish identity. In 1973, The Chronicle reported that Dylan was considering making aliyah to Israel.
According to The Chronicle archives, Dylan has been mentioned more than 100 times since then, mostly being used as an example of either a Jewish role model or a celebrity who strayed from Judaism, depending on the decade.
In the early 1970s, he sparked controversy when he met with Rabbi Meir Kahane, who founded the Jewish Defense League (which the FBI now labels as a terrorist group). Then, he spent some of the 1970s and ‘80s preaching Christian gospel (which The Chronicle first reported in 1979). Rabbi Scott White, then a Chronicle staff writer, wrote an editorial titled “Dylan Sacrificing Fans for Faith” after seeing a Dylan concert in 1980.
“Dylan cast away his Shield of David and replaced it with the cross,” Rabbi White wrote. “... [he] played a full repertoire of songs in praise of his savior, much to the dismay of thousands of ardent fans who came to hear the songs that gave the counterculture of the ‘60s a voice.”
After his “born-again Christian” period, Dylan’s affiliation with Judaism has ebbed and flowed. In 1983, he released the pro-Israel/Zionism song “Neighborhood Bully,” and The Chronicle reported in 1986 that he would join Richard Dreyfuss, Whoopi Goldberg and Elliott Gould for a Chabad telethon.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, many Jewish publications (including The Chronicle) would report when Dylan attended High Holiday services. In 2009, much like Jewish songwriters Irving Berlin and Mel Tormé had done decades earlier, Dylan wrote a series of Christmas songs.
Over the last decade, as Dylan aged into his 70s and 80s, public and critical opinions (both Jewish and not) have shifted to general acclaim. In 2016, he won the Nobel Prize for literature, and his 2020 album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways” (which his current tour is promoting), was a best-selling album during the week it debuted.
Tour information and ticket sales are available at bobdylan.com/on-tour.
