In his first work of fiction, Rabbi Marc Angel creates a dynamic stage for the competing worlds in an Orthodox learning institution. The setting is the Board Room of an established yeshiva created in the philosophical learning style of the “old school” Lithuanian/Polish yeshivot. The story unfolds through a series of interviews conducted by the Search Committee as it looks for the next head of the Torah Academy. Two candidates — from opposite ends of the Orthodox spectrum — are being considered for the position. The contrasting interviews disclose the deep-seated belief of each group that it has the unequivocal formula for how to live the “correct” Orthodox life.
The heated tone is set from the very first interview, given by the grandson of the first head rabbi of the yeshiva. His astonishment that a search committee would have been established to choose someone other than himself, who was groomed for this position, reveals the obdurate attitude toward change that the established Orthodox community lives by. Rabbi Marc Angel, who himself is currently at the forefront of a similar debate within the Modern Orthodox community, uses the story to promote his agenda, exposing the staid and stoic attitude of the right wing Orthodox community. The contrasting points of view given in the book decidedly favor Marc Angel’s more modern leniency. However, the story ends with a surprising twist. Perhaps Rabbi Angel’s book will encourage the long overdue open discourse that is necessary between the right wing Orthodox community and its more modern counterpoint.
