Someday the Rabbi Will Leave

"Someday the Rabbi Will Leave" by Harry Kemelman, © 1985 Mr. Kemelman always writes a good story. The best part is the Jewish instructions. They are so simple and informative. The story is the important part, though, and it is interesting. You have a feeling that things will turn out his way in the end, but you have to get there and it is so entertaining in the meantime. In this story the situation revolves around the election of a new council to run the synagogue and the election of the state legislature. Rabbi Small is very persistent and consistent. He has been schooled in the Jewish law and is not going it deviate from it if he can help it. The problem is that hi new president of the council wants to marry his daughter to a goy and Rabbi Small can not, in good conscience, do this marriage. It is against the rules. How it turns his way is anticlimactic, but he does, in a round about way, get his way. It is nice that there is only one murder, not one after another trying to cover the first or something. It is a simple and to the point murder mystery: it happened, what is the evidence, how does the evidence fit the stories the various characters tell?

Nothing new (after 7 books) is in Bernard's Crossing, Massuchutes. A faction wants the Rabbi out, a faction wants him to stay, and the Rabbi David Small wants to be loyal to his faith. This time the president of the temple is rich and powerful, and his daughter wants to marry a Christian. It's political - the young man is going for an office in a republican district once he gets inside information that the incumant can't run due to poor health. The rebel daughter of the Jewish temple present runs his campaign, and plots to be both the power behind the throne and married by a rabbi. Despite a huge raise in salary given by the president of the temple, Rabbi David Small refuses to marry his daughter- or allow another Rabbi to do so in his territory. Because the Rabbi David Small won't sell his beliefs for money - or his decective skills either.

David Small is the rabbi of the small Jewish community in Barnard's Crossing, Massachusetts. A conflict with the influential president of the temple and a deadly hit-and-run accident provide opportunities for Rabbi Small's keen observation and knowledge of Talmud. While sometimes intrusive, the rather one-sided monologues on Judaism provide an interesting background, and the flawed but generally sympathetic characters make for a warm, humanistic investigation of the crime. --inotherworlds.com