The Rabbi, A Novel

I'm the daughter of a Reform Rabbi who is the son of an Orthodox one. I knew these people, spoke their language, lived their lives. I served in the Israeli Defense Force and now am searching for my own Jewish identity in America. This book brought me home and reminded me of my history. Every moment was wonderful.

I first read this book when I was a kid and recently re-read it. Much of the dialogue and beliefs seem outdated now, as "The Rabbi" was written 41 years ago, when the WWII generation was in charge of morality and interfaith marriage was considered daring and shocking. Noah Gordon understood human nature and wrote compassionately of the fears and failures we all experience in life. He lets us know what Leslie is thinking and feeling in a beautiful way that most male authors would be incapable of doing. He shows Rabbi Michael Kind as a loving but imperfect man who is forced to be strong for those who are weak--even though he himself has many moments of weakness and doubt. At age 14 this book touched my soul and taught me compassion. Decades later, it still does!

This novel is not just the story of the Rabbi Michael Kind and his wife Leslie but the story of four generation of jews in United States different in their way of feel, believe, keep their faith and religious identity. A very well written novel full of descriptions where the retrospective technique help the reader to understand the present of the Rivkind-Kind family knowing the past of each other of the members of the story.

Michael Kind, the main character in this book is a goodwill man that shows us his experiences as a rabbi in several U.S. communities. His commitment is love and he fights against social and religious obstacles. Is a very good novel, and this is a very good moment to understand (better if you are not hebrew or jewish) why the world needs to stop neonazis or any antisemitism position. Read it and you'll understand how a simple man, has pain as a legacy, has a God that is not always understood, belongs to a prosecuted race and a historical tragedy. But nevertheless thousands of years suffering the rabbi still keeps the hope alive, and the love that will eternally be...Noah Gordon is such a clever writter!