My visit to Leonard Cohen’s house on Hydra and its lesson

(RNS) — Some pilgrimages you plan. Others plan you.

This summer, mine took me first to Israel, the birthplace of my faith; then to Athens, the birthplace of rationalism and democracy; and finally — an hour and 10 minutes by ferry — to the Greek island of Hydra.

Why Hydra? Because that was where Leonard Cohen had lived with his partner, Marianne Ihlen, and their young child, Adam. I wanted to see his house and the steps leading to and from it because I love his music, and because those steps had led Cohen to one of the most consequential journeys of his life.

If I might quote the cultural moment of “ The Odyssey,” Hydra was Cohen’s Ithaca — the place that was supposed to be home. But his journey ran “The Odyssey” in reverse. Odysseus wandered for 10 years to get home. Cohen had to leave his home to find out where home actually was — a people.

In the autumn of 1973, Cohen was in the midst of a deep crisis, as described in Matti Friedman’s book “ Who By Fire? Leonard Cohen in the Sinai .” His most recent albums had been both critical and commercial failures. He struggled with depression — or, at the very least, a profound sadness.

That October 1973, on Yom Kippur, the…