THE RABBI

by Noah Gordon ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 30, 1965

If you wonder what true love is, this novel has some satisfying answers. It traces into middle age the career of a rabbi who marries a shickseh (converted from Christianity), an act which his congregations view with grave distaste. Surely a dedicated rabbi, who is almost a Talmudic scholar, can find a good Jewish girl the rabbi has very original ideas. He feels to marry, not merely a convert. Also, quite worthy of his congregations; his anguish is that they aren't worthy of him-not if he is to sign a lifetime contract with them. Thus, the rabbi has a string of failures around the country, congregations which slip through his fingers or which he abandons because they are at fault. His San Francisco congregation merely wants a spiritual factotum, a rabbi for the high holy days who won't bother them on lesser occasions. His Georgia congregation wants a rabbi who will turn his head away from the color problem. His Pennsylvania congregation builds him a half-million dollar temple adorned with famous art--and then they avoid him like a tax-collector, which, in effect, he is . After twenty happy years of marriage, the rabbi's wife falls into involutional melancholia and undergoes shock treatment. Her successful recovery and return home provide a deeply moving climax to a generally illuminating novel. Sinclair Lewis would have liked this national cross-section of a profession!

Pub Date: June 30, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1965

Categories: FICTION