Mary

It's amazing what some people (meaning myself) will pick out of their bookshelf at 2am when they are waiting to see if their three year old will go back to sleep. I chose 'Mary', by Sholem Asch - and have no regrets with the choice. Mr. Asch, though long since departed from this earth, is an author that, like many others, I dearly wish were still alive to continue to write novels to read for years to come. His trilogy of 'religious' novels, of which this is included, may have angered Jews and Christians alike upon release and over the years, but to me this was simply a great work of fiction. Anyone who ever attended Sunday School, or listened to Christmas songs like Away In A Manger, or Silent Night, etc. - know the 'basis' of this story. The virgin bride, the miraculous pregnancy, the no-frills birth in the stable of an inn with 'no room' for Mary and Joseph, etc., etc., etc. But, with the talent and imagination of a gifted writer, there's much, much more to the tale. Filled with lavish, believable period detail, historical fact about the people of the time of Jesus, Herod, and Pontius Pilate - this story is a fascinating historical novel on a grand scale. The people of Nazareth come to life in page after page of deeply thought out, moving, and inspirational witness to the birth of the Lord, to his upbringing and the discovery of his 'gift' for prophecy and interpreting the word of God, to the crucifiction at Golgotha. With such a character as Jesus as part of the story, Mary would have been overshadowed in the hands of a less capable writer. But Sholem Asch goes to great lengths to keep Mary, or 'Miriam' as she is called here, vital, lively, and very much the star of this book, while not sparing any of the known details about the life and times of Jesus Christ. I am, admittedly, not a religious person...I am more a spiritual person with a love of good writing and a well-woven tale. This is every bit that and more. Highly recommended for reading by those who, like myself, enjoy tales of this genre without any 'preaching', regardless of the subject matter.

When I was done reading this book, my soul sat in a collapsed heap, drained but cleansed, awaiting the Spirit's rejuvenating touch. I was first introduced to the works of Sholem Asch some 25 years ago by an old and dear Jewish friend in NYC. Though he wasn't sympathetic to Christianity, he loved Asch's vivid writing. He gave me a copy of Asch's phenomenal "The Apostle", but I had to wait a bit for him to find a copy that he hadn't annotated during his many readings of the work. Such was his regard for Asch's work. Through the wonders of online browsing, I recently came across "Mary", the earliest leg of Asch's trilogy about Christ. Thinking I could use some easy background reading to break up my more serious pursuits, I started skipping around the early part of the book. But the descriptions of Yeshua growing in stature before God and man began first to interest me, and then to arrest me. It turns out that Jesus wasn't air-dropped over Israel as the full-blown Messiah. As it is with us, his destiny didn't come automatically to him. He had to study the scriptures and interact with family and townsfolk in a developmental way over what we call his hidden years. And that is where this book began to shine. I don't know where else you will get so deep a feel for Jewish life in Israel under Rome. As he did with "The Apostle", Asch weaves culture and religion with history and geography, all the while emphasizing the narrative of sacred text, to give the reader rare contextual insight into the lives of the protagonists. The experience for me was eye-opening and penetrating. Our culture has been so Christianized (and post-Christianized) that we do not recognize the radically disruptive nature of the historical Jesus event. Even the Jews of today, though perhaps unaware, have been theologically and culturally liberalized by it. Back then, the dominant culture held that Almighty God had dictated that, for example, one who didn't wash his hands up to the elbows before eating could not enter heaven - period. Illegitimate children were categorically unclean under sacred law and were cruelly rejected and left to their own devices. Those who had fallen onto hard times had incurred God's disfavor and thus were considered to be beneath redemptive human mercy and kindness. Into this Asch introduces the theologically developing Jesus, befriending a half-feral illegitimate boy without even a name, and taking him into Mary's home; Jesus, visiting field workers forced by their debts to bitterly work the land they once owned, teaching and living out God's love to them that believed they were abandoned not only in this world but in the next as well because of their inability to keep the detailed ceremonial requirements of the Law; Jesus, issuing a revolutionary proclamation in the parable of Lazarus and Dives, whereby it's not clean hands that gain one's admittance into heaven, but a clean heart; Jesus, breaking bread with the oppressed and estranged, giving

My wife and I have just finished reading aloud (a chapter a night on average) the book Mary by Sholem Asch. I've read it at least twice before but it had just as great an impact this time round as in the past. I found myself in tears at the end of almost every chapter. It's the most sensitive account of the life of Jesus' mother Mary I've ever come across, and is truly anointed writing.

I have an original edition of "Mary" by Asch, as well as a version in Yiddish, both of which I have read.This book interested me because I am a convert from Orthodox Judaism to Catholicism. Asch, an unconverted Jew, portrays the Mother of Jesus in a very positive light, and portrays her authentic Jewishness in a way seldom seen. I highly recommend this book to Jewish Christians, Jews, and Gentile Christians!