Someday the Rabbi Will Leave Read Online Free

made up of people who believe in Conservative Judaism. But in a small town like Barnard’s Crossing, the Conservative synagogue is essentially a compromise among the three elements, Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox. We’ve got to maintain a balance. If we lean too far in one direction or the other, we’ll lose members. If Kaplan and his crew got in, there is a strong possibility that the Reform element would pull out and start a temple of their own. And the community is just not large enough to support two temples. That’s mainly what worries Feinberg. And it worries me, too, of course. But I’m also bothered because Kaplan and his group represent what I think of as the New Orthodox.”
    â€œThe New Orthodox?”
    â€œThat’s right. They’re terribly religious. They work at it, and when you work at it, religion is apt to turn into religiosity. You know, for all that my father was a Conservative rabbi, ours was what is nowadays thought of as an Orthodox home. And of course my grandfather was an Orthodox rabbi and all my relatives went to Orthodox synagogues. Well, their religion was easy. Actually, it was more of a way of life than an attempt to commune with the divine. Observance of the commandments was a matter of habit. They could no more eat nonkosher food than most people can eat snake meat. And using separate dishes for meat and for dairy products was as natural as—as eating from dishes at a table rather than from an old newspaper on the floor. The first time I ate in a restaurant and saw someone buttering his bread before cutting into his steak—and, mind you, I was in college at the time—I almost retched.”
    â€œHow about the Sabbath? Wasn’t it restrictive?”
    â€œRestrictive? Not at all. It was a holiday. You dressed up in your Sabbath best and went to the synagogue. Then there was a special dinner. It was a day for visiting and for guests. My grandfather quizzed me on what I had learned in the religious school during the week and sometimes augmented it with his own instruction, especially after I started studying Talmud. If no guests came, or after they left, my folks would nap in the afternoon. The day proceeded with a different rhythm. It wasn’t hard, and I was never aware of any strain.”
    â€œWell, it wasn’t that way with us,” said Miriam.
    â€œOf course not, because your family is Reform,” he scoffed. “You went to the temple the way Christians go to church, full of solemn dignity. Well, Judaism isn’t like that, at least not by tradition. You people prayed fervently, or felt a little guilty if you didn’t. But normally, Jews don’t really pray at all; they daven . That is, they mumble the set text as rapidly as they can, and since it’s in Hebrew, hardly any of them understand it. That was the reason for the Reform change from Hebrew to the language of the country, English in our case.”
    â€œDoesn’t it make sense to know what you’re saying?”
    â€œI’m not so sure. You remember old Mr. Goralsky?”
    â€œYou mean Ben Goralsky’s father? Of course.”
    â€œWell, he once told me that he had never missed reciting his daily prayers from the time he was five years old. He was seventy-five or eighty at the time. He knew them by heart, but he didn’t know what the words meant. He explained, however, that when he was engaged in praying he had different thoughts than he ordinarily had. In effect, he was meditating and the prayers, mumbled so rapidly that he finished the Amidah before anyone else was halfway through, they were a sort of mantra. He was an observant Jew in the sense that he observed the commandments expeditiously and then went about his business. I never thought of him as religious, that is, as someone intent on divining God’s will. Now, I do think of Kaplan and his group as religious.”
    â€œAnd you’re afraid that if they get in,