That Day the Rabbi Left Town Quotes

“Instead of going back to teaching, she began to do housework because it paid more.”
― Harry Kemelman, That Day the Rabbi Left Town

“The rabbi shrugged. “It’s a common enough belief among nations that they have a special mission with respect to the rest of the world. The Greeks thought they alone were civilized and all other people were barbarians or savages. The Romans thought it was their duty to spread the benefits of Roman law and order to the rest of the world. The Spaniards thought their function was to spread Catholicism, and the English felt that they were conferring the benefits of Victorian England on India and Africa. Our own country feels a mission to spread democracy, just as, until very recently, the Russians thought it was their function to spread communism. And then there is Islam, which once again feels it has a special mission. The big difference is that we were enjoined to do it by force of example rather than by the sword. You may ridicule the idea that an Almighty God would select one group of people from all the rest, but the fact is that that group believed it, and more or less acted accordingly.” A student ventured, “Is that the official view?” “How do you mean ‘official’?” asked the rabbi. “Well, you know, the accepted version of the Jewish church or synagogue, or whatever you call it?” “If you’re thinking of an official creed,” said the rabbi, “we don’t have one. Every synagogue is autonomous. And every Jew tends to interpret the Law as he sees fit, as it applies to himself. We have”
― Harry Kemelman, That Day the Rabbi Left Town