This is the second of A.J. Jacobs' books that has made me enthusiastic about offering recommendations to folks who aren't sure what they want to read. The first, The Know-It-All, was his outrageously funny memoir of a year he devoted to reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. As it chronicled his alphabetical descent into most-avoided-person-at-cocktail-parties, it also touched on the struggle he and his wife were having conceiving.
Well, they finally did, and after his son was born, Mr. Jacobs felt he needed to brush up a bit on his heritage. He is Jewish, but in a very secular and dispassionately interested sort of way.
This journey led him to wonder at all the rather bizarre rules laid down in the Jewish scripture -- things like not mixing fabrics, and not eating most bugs, and hundreds (literally) of other things that don't make any sense to us today -- and the challenge to himself to see how many of these things he could incorporate into modern living.
His wife was not amused. It is hard to live with a man who ceases to shave, and who wanders about the city dressed like he is on the cover of the book -- let alone a man who takes so seriously the directive to refrain from flattering speech that in a casual "let's do lunch" moment he announces to the old friend of his wife that no, he just doesn't want to do that. They have quite enough people in their lives, thank you.
By far, the funniest moments in the book are those tied to his need to participate in the most common form of punishment in the Jewish scripture -- stoning. He doesn't want to be stoned, of course, but he is pretty sure that he needs to participate as a stoner in order to grasp the idea. He sets off to find an adulterer, pebbles in his pocket, and winds up on a park bench with an elderly man who not only confesses to adultery, but with whom he winds up having a spirited pebble tossin' session. To Jacobs' credit, he did ask the man if it was okay if he tossed a couple of them at him.
Underneath the humor runs a deeper current -- Jacobs, who did not set out to become a more religious man by pursuing this quest -- begins to discover that somewhere in all these ridiculous proscriptions is a beauty and order and much evidence of God's mercy.
In his search he meets and spends time with people from all across the religious spectrum -- highly observant and Orthodox Jews, very conservative Christians -- and it is a testament to his spirit of learning that he never makes fun of any of them. He actually comes away from some of the most potentially volatile meetings with a respectful view of each of their convictions.
This is not a book meant to convert anybody, its intent is not to bring anybody into any fold at all, but it is scathingly funny, unusually thoughtful, and one of the best things I read in 2007.
3 comments:
This one sounds interesting - I hadn't heard of this one. This is why I need you here!
I've heard that this one is laugh out loud funny. You seem to have the same opinion.
It really is, Joy. I am a devout Christian, and I tend to get a little nervous when folks who aren't religious write about religion -- but this one was funny in all the right places and unexpectedly thoughtful in others.
The bug thing, for instance. Why would God forbid the Hebrew nation to eat almost every bug EXCEPT locusts, for instance?
Well, to Jacobs' mind, it was evidence of God's mercy, and I agree with him. While they were on their desert trek, locusts were prevalent at times and would devour crops. Had the locust loophole not been in place, the hungry Hebrew nation, who were trying their best to obey God, would not have dared touch the leavings, and might have allowed themselves and their children to go hungry.
Beautiful!
Post a Comment