Free That Day the Rabbi Left Town by Harry Kemelman Page B

has become a function of the American rabbi, I’m afraid.”
    â€œBut two are girls,” the same student objected.
    â€œTrue, but quite acceptable in liberal Judaism,” said the rabbi. “As for those of you who are Orthodox, there is no reason for disapproval since we are not here to daven but to study.”
    At that point, the door opened and Sarah McBride entered breathless. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but I was detained.”
    â€œQuite all right,” said the rabbi. “This is Ms. McBride, whom some of you may know is in the English Department. She will be auditing the course. And now I shall read off your names, and will you stand or raise your hand when your name is called.”
    He noted as a matter of minor interest that some of those who had Jewish first names had not Anglicized them. Mosheh did not become Morris or Maurice as it would have a generation ago, or Moses as it would have several generations earlier, and Yitzchak did not become Isaac or Isadore or Irwin. He thought it might portend a greater interest in Judaism, until it occurred to him that Hispanics tended to remain José and did not become Joseph; and that among Italians, Mario tended to be preferred to Mark.
    â€œI arranged for this blackboard to be brought in so that I can make an occasional note for you to copy—mostly names of books or writers. But right now, I’d rather you didn’t take notes. For my own purposes, I would like each of you to write a short account of what religious education you have had. List what Religious Schools or Sunday Schools you may have attended, for how long, and the material that you covered.”
    â€œWhat if we didn’t go to any?” asked one.
    â€œThen you will say so, of course. But you may have received instruction at home. I’d like you to tell me about that.”
    â€œHow long?”
    â€œWhen is it due?”
    â€œLook,” said the rabbi, “let’s not make a big thing out of this. I’d like it in by the next meeting. And it can be as long as you like: a dozen pages or a single page, or even a paragraph. I don’t want an essay on your personal religion, just some indication of your background in Judaism. And by the way, there is no need to raise your hands when you want to say something or ask a question. We’re like a committee meeting here, so the common courtesy that you would naturally observe in a small group should be satisfactory. Now let me explain what I have in mind for this course. I intend to outline basic Jewish ideas that are generally agreed to by informed—not necessarily learned—Jews. Informed, rather than scholarly. The distinction is important.
    â€œWe are an ancient people with a continuous history covering several thousand years, and since we have never discouraged, much less forbidden, discussion and disagreement, it is inevitable that there should be many, many different views of what Jews should believe. But the fundamental character of the belief cuts across lines of disagreement, and our basic beliefs are fundamentally the same.
    â€œOur religion starts with Chapter Twenty in Exodus, and—”
    â€œDoesn’t it start with Genesis, with Adam and Eve?”
    The rabbi smiled. “No, those are myths and fables attempting to explain our origins on earth. All people wonder about two things: how they got here, that is, how mankind got here on earth, and how evil came about. For example, the ancient Greeks attributed the origin of man to Prometheus and explained the presence of evil by the legend of Pandora’s box. Characteristically, perhaps, we explain it by disobedience to God’s commandment. The stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and later Joseph, however, probably have some historical validity. And I say this because all have faults. If they were purely legendary, if they were merely thought up, I don’t think we would have included their