No, that's not our headline, the popular Israeli magazine "Shiva Yamim" (7 Days) in the national paper Yediot Achronot did an inset box interview with Andrew on his thoughts on Israel.

Reshef Levine, a journalist from the popular culture and arts magazine Time Out penned his assessment of Andrew in last week's issue -- whose cover (below) sports one of the most recognizeable revolutionaries and the headline "Want Change?!" No Andrew isn't aligned with that kind of revolution but we take the sentiment as a compliment. :-) Enjoy the article, it gives insight both on modern Israeli mindset and Andrew as a teacher.

   

The Great Cohen

 

by Reshef Levine

Andrew Cohen, spiritual teacher, is coming to Israel.

This time also as a musician.

 

It's difficult to read texts written by Andrew Cohen. Reading requires great concentration, attention to every word and sentence, and most of all a change in perception and great openness, or else reading quickly turns into another cynical scanning of a text from another spiritual teacher, who "will get us enlightened in a second." Cohen, who is arriving this week in Israel, and not for the first time, is not "another" spiritual teacher, but one of the greatest teachers still living among us.

Unlike others, Andrew does not offer easy solutions. His teaching combines perspectives and concepts relating a lot to what's happening around us today, in a complex but structured spiritual model, which can be easily perceived as "over-philosophized" but that's not the case. Distinct from ancient and classical spiritual theories, which he considers no longer suitable for life today, Cohen sees the process of spiritual development on the time axis (the teaching of evolutionary enlightenment) as a path that individuals go who aspire for personal development and understand that they are part of the process of human transformation, that actually requires them to support also the evolution of the whole. It's like a combination of spiritualism and socialism. Personal enlightenment, according to Cohen, is not the end of the path but its beginning. The actual leap in consciousness is achieved only after the individual's consciousness has been liberated from the remnants of cynicism, fear and denial, and is then ready to develop within a collective and take part in its development. A bit complex for reading, as we've already said.

Surprisingly, listening to Cohen is a completely different matter. Cohen is a man with a captivating personality and an impressive didactic capability. Aware of the complexity of his teaching, he succeeds in his lectures to communicate and clarify these issues (provided you sit quietly and behave nicely). In his upcoming visit Cohen will give three lectures in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa and a one-day seminar in Kibbutz Shefayim, all under the rather banal title "introduction to evolutionary enlightenment," although the content of each lecture and seminar is not planned in advance - each time they develop in a different direction, interwoven with actual issues, questions from the audience and meditations.

Choosing the spiritual path led Cohen to give up his great love for music but over the last few years he started playing again, and for the first time he is coming to Israel with his jazz-fusion band, Unfulfilled Desires. The internet site of Cohen promises gigs of "jazz-fusion from another dimension" and "dynamic and sophisticated tunes that make the audience dance to almost hypnotic rhythms."

TimeOut, July 5-12, p. 15; translation by Igal Moria

Andrew Cohen in Israel, Thu. (7.12), 20:00, Eretz Yisrael Museum, 65 NIS. Seminar with Andrew Cohen, Kibbutz Shefayim, Fri. (7.13), from 9:00. For additional information and registration 03-6811810 www.EnlightenNext.org.il

Celebrating 10 years of creativity, consciousness, and culture in the Berkshires, EnlightenNext opens its doors to the neighborhood with a free jazz concert, featuring Unfulfilled Desires and jazz guitar legend Oz Noy.   If you're in the neighborhood, please come by! The Oz Noy Trio Oz Noy - guitar James Genus - bass Rocky Bryant - drums Oz Noy invigorates New York City's music scene with a distinctive style that seamlessly integrates jazz, rock, funk, pop, blues, and heavy metal. "...this amazingly accomplished guitarist has an unbound sense of creativity, adventure and fun." -Jazziz Magazine "Oz brings a startling innovation and command of the instrument rarely encountered...he is the future of the guitar." -Chris Botti, Grammy Winning Trumpeter "Oz is a fantastic guitar player...one of the best" -Mike Stern, 3-Time Grammy Nominated Guitarist "Oz is one of the most creative guitar players on the scene today...blowing people away with his unique style and compositions...You gotta check this guy out!" -Keith Carlock, Drummer for Sting and Steely Dan » Biography » Audio clip: Say What?!  (5:50, MP3) » Audio clip: Hit Me  (5:07, MP3) » Audio clip: Just Groove Me   (4:37, MP3) » Web site Unfulfilled Desires Andrew Cohen - drums Rodrigo Tarraza - sax/ewi John Suters - guitar Carl Oman - bass Special guest Jim Campagnola - tenor sax "A hard-driving jazz-funk sextet playing virtuosic jazz and jazzrock." -Time Out London (Hot Pick of the Week) "Powerful and expressive, they play with infectious enthusiasm." -Johnny D's, Boston "Unfulfilled Desires are real masters of their style . . . they know how to groove and rock with explosive energy." -Baiser Sale, Paris » Biography » Audio clip: Freedom Jazz Dance   (2:33, MP3) » Audio clip: Al Dente   (7:10, MP3) » Web site

Haim Tovim, one of Israel's popular daytime cable stations, runs a program on spirituality and culture. At the end of Andrew's visit, they will be filming a 5-part series with Andrew and a live studio audience to air later this year. As part of their support and promotion for Andrew, they produced this commercial which is running on 17 stations all week. Whoever thought, daytime TV meets Evolutionary Enlightenment? And . . . it works! If you think you recognize the background music -- you're right, it's our favorite jazz-fusion from the 4th dimension . . . "Enlightened Dog" by Unfulfilled Desires :-)

For those non-Hebrew speakers, the spot starts like this:

"Do you want real change? It's up to you!"