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So Help Me God!
It is the height of the Vietnam War. Draft-dodging has become America's number one vocation, with some 15 million scrambing for deferments, pyschiatrists, Canada, obscene tatoos, anything to escape the Army or jail. Ironically while the devout Levi Simon submits to Selective Service, his wayward goy friend Andrew Baron flees to a rabbinical school. Andrew has a problem. He is after all, a Gentile, the wrong half of him being Jewish. Andrew's absentee father is a Jew—descended from the first Jewish High Priest, no less—but of course Judaism regards only the child of a Jewish mother as a Jew.
The draft aside, the two friends respond as one to the beautiful Isaca Zion, who is herself studying to be a rabbi. Andrew and Levi fall in love with her—and she with each of them. But then, Isaca is forced to choose between a fiancé and the rabbinate.
Andrew's imposture is lit with comedy (his first freshman assignment is to conduct High Holy Day services, though he barely knows the difference between a bagel and a Twinkie) and very real danger. One mistake means loss of his draft deferment and Canadian exile. And when, in an attempt to redeem himself, Andrew flies to the aid of Soviet Jewry, his illegal activity in Russia propels him toward the prison term that he's been evading. Meantime, Levi fares even worse. He, who vowed never to shed a drop of blood, is shipped to Vietnam and ends up in battle.
Searching, touching. brimming with humor, this important work is an exquisite blend of the timely and timeless. Andrew Baron's venture into alien cultures—those of the philosopher rabbi, the rebel priest, and the refuseniks—gradually changes his perceptions and transforms his life. It may very well alter yours, too.
The draft aside, the two friends respond as one to the beautiful Isaca Zion, who is herself studying to be a rabbi. Andrew and Levi fall in love with her—and she with each of them. But then, Isaca is forced to choose between a fiancé and the rabbinate.
Andrew's imposture is lit with comedy (his first freshman assignment is to conduct High Holy Day services, though he barely knows the difference between a bagel and a Twinkie) and very real danger. One mistake means loss of his draft deferment and Canadian exile. And when, in an attempt to redeem himself, Andrew flies to the aid of Soviet Jewry, his illegal activity in Russia propels him toward the prison term that he's been evading. Meantime, Levi fares even worse. He, who vowed never to shed a drop of blood, is shipped to Vietnam and ends up in battle.
Searching, touching. brimming with humor, this important work is an exquisite blend of the timely and timeless. Andrew Baron's venture into alien cultures—those of the philosopher rabbi, the rebel priest, and the refuseniks—gradually changes his perceptions and transforms his life. It may very well alter yours, too.
250 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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January 1, 2019
I had read Heaven Help Us! many years ago and greatly enjoyed it, so when I saw So Help Me God! at a used book sale I immediately bought it but then didn't read it for a long time.
The blurb is somewhat misleading because Andrew is the main character and narrates the story in first-person. His friend Levi isn't present for most of it. Andrew's father is Jewish but his mother is not, so by Jewish law Andrew is a gentile. Despite this, he enrolls in a rabbinical school in an attempt to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war. I'm not sure whether my lack of enthusiasm while reading (in comparison with the author's other book) is because of how the story is dated or because of how I've changed.
The blurb is somewhat misleading because Andrew is the main character and narrates the story in first-person. His friend Levi isn't present for most of it. Andrew's father is Jewish but his mother is not, so by Jewish law Andrew is a gentile. Despite this, he enrolls in a rabbinical school in an attempt to avoid the draft during the Vietnam war. I'm not sure whether my lack of enthusiasm while reading (in comparison with the author's other book) is because of how the story is dated or because of how I've changed.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review