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A review by ncrabb
Monday the Rabbi Took Off by Harry Kemelman
4.0
The relationship between Rabbi David Small and his synagogue attendees in the small Massachusetts town where he lives is rocky and uneasy at best. He’s been working for a while without a contract, and the board isn’t sure it wants to renew him. But it doesn’t know quite how to diplomatically cut him loose.
Frustrated by the board’s behavior, Rabbi Small, his wife, and small son pack their things and go to Israel for several months. It’s while he is there that he discovers there are differences between the ritualistic nature of his work and the spiritual nature of things. This is a fascinating look at the age-old battle of outward appearance versus inner discipleship, although that ‘s probably the wrong word to use in this case, but I think you get the picture well enough.
Within days of his appearance in Israel, a terrorist bomb explodes not far from the house he has rented. He gets on the police radar by innocently asking someone directions to his new abode, and he does that late at night while dealing with insomnia.
When a second bomb goes off weeks later, killing a car broker whom Small and some associates of his from the States had visited earlier that day, the intelligence officials and the cops come looking again. But this time, Small must use the Talmudic wisdom he has to solve the killing and clear a young American suspected of orchestrating the death.
There isn’t any adrenaline-rich heart-palpating action here, but there rarely or never is in this series. Instead, these mysteries are rather cerebral, and you get a fascinating snapshot of at leas one faction of Judaism in the 1970s. It is fascinating indeed.
Frustrated by the board’s behavior, Rabbi Small, his wife, and small son pack their things and go to Israel for several months. It’s while he is there that he discovers there are differences between the ritualistic nature of his work and the spiritual nature of things. This is a fascinating look at the age-old battle of outward appearance versus inner discipleship, although that ‘s probably the wrong word to use in this case, but I think you get the picture well enough.
Within days of his appearance in Israel, a terrorist bomb explodes not far from the house he has rented. He gets on the police radar by innocently asking someone directions to his new abode, and he does that late at night while dealing with insomnia.
When a second bomb goes off weeks later, killing a car broker whom Small and some associates of his from the States had visited earlier that day, the intelligence officials and the cops come looking again. But this time, Small must use the Talmudic wisdom he has to solve the killing and clear a young American suspected of orchestrating the death.
There isn’t any adrenaline-rich heart-palpating action here, but there rarely or never is in this series. Instead, these mysteries are rather cerebral, and you get a fascinating snapshot of at leas one faction of Judaism in the 1970s. It is fascinating indeed.