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A review by brianlokker
Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home by Harry Kemelman
2.0
The unique pleasure of the Rabbi Small Mysteries books comes from their integration of a cozy-ish mystery story with insights into Judaism and Jewish cultural life. In my view, though, this third book in the series shortchanges the mystery part of the mix, resulting in a weaker book than its predecessors.
There is a murder in this book, but it doesn’t occur until more than halfway through the story. Before that point, the book is mostly about the conflict between two warring factions in Rabbi Small’s temple, with the rabbi caught in the middle as he typically is. A small dose of temple politics can go a long way—for me, anyway (as well as for the rabbi himself). It’s a setup for the murder mystery, but it felt unnecessarily drawn out.
Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home does treat readers to numerous pearls of Jewish wisdom and lessons on Jewish tradition from Rabbi Small. I enjoyed those elements of the book. I also liked the comparisons that are made between Judaism and Catholicism, which are prompted by the rabbi’s encounters with a priest and with his friend Hugh Lanigan, the police chief.
A significant theme in the book is the gap between the generations, which was, of course, a hot topic when the book was published in 1969. The two factions in the temple mostly represent different generations, the older tradition-oriented conservatives and the younger social-justice-oriented progressives. A third generation is made up of college-age young people (I was their age in 1969), but most of them could hardly be described as counter-cultural, so to me, it seemed to be “generation gap lite.” Marijuana comes into play, but I don’t recall any references to the Vietnam War, which was top of mind for many of us at the time. Rabbi Small’s rapport with these young people plays a key role in the plot.
Rabbi Small sees himself as a scholar and a teacher (chafing at the temple politics he has to get involved in). But readers have come to see him also as an amateur detective, if a cerebral one. I would have liked to see this part of Rabbi Small’s persona developed more fully in this book.
There is a murder in this book, but it doesn’t occur until more than halfway through the story. Before that point, the book is mostly about the conflict between two warring factions in Rabbi Small’s temple, with the rabbi caught in the middle as he typically is. A small dose of temple politics can go a long way—for me, anyway (as well as for the rabbi himself). It’s a setup for the murder mystery, but it felt unnecessarily drawn out.
Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home does treat readers to numerous pearls of Jewish wisdom and lessons on Jewish tradition from Rabbi Small. I enjoyed those elements of the book. I also liked the comparisons that are made between Judaism and Catholicism, which are prompted by the rabbi’s encounters with a priest and with his friend Hugh Lanigan, the police chief.
A significant theme in the book is the gap between the generations, which was, of course, a hot topic when the book was published in 1969. The two factions in the temple mostly represent different generations, the older tradition-oriented conservatives and the younger social-justice-oriented progressives. A third generation is made up of college-age young people (I was their age in 1969), but most of them could hardly be described as counter-cultural, so to me, it seemed to be “generation gap lite.” Marijuana comes into play, but I don’t recall any references to the Vietnam War, which was top of mind for many of us at the time. Rabbi Small’s rapport with these young people plays a key role in the plot.
Rabbi Small sees himself as a scholar and a teacher (chafing at the temple politics he has to get involved in). But readers have come to see him also as an amateur detective, if a cerebral one. I would have liked to see this part of Rabbi Small’s persona developed more fully in this book.