Temple

by Robert Greenfield

A sad but warm story of how tradition sustains values and can be a vitalizing force in contemporary life.

Paulie Binder is a modern-day pilgrim of sorts, a young Reformed Jew whose roots lie buried, and seemingly withered, in the Yiddish sector of Brooklyn, which he had left in favor of the bohemian-fringe campus life of Cambridge. But when fulfillment eludes him, he returns to New York seeking inspiration from his grandfather, who tenaciously clings to the old, familiar, Orthodox ways of his homeland. Greenfield establishes a dialectical relationship between Paulie and his grandfather, emphasizing the shared sense of profound alienation from home and self. The temple stands at the center of this tale both as a social hub for the Jewish community and as a symbol of a quest for the sacred.

Genres: Fiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

A former Associate Editor of the London bureau of Rolling Stone magazine, Robert Greenfield is the critically acclaimed author of several classic rock books, among them S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones, as well as the definitive biographies of Timothy Leary and Ahmet Ertegun. With Bill Graham, he is the co-author of Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out, which won the ASCAP- Deems Taylor Award. An award winning novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, his short fiction has appeared in GQ, Esquire, and Playboy magazines. He lives in California.

Reviews

[Reginareads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful self hating Jewish twenty something travels between Cambridge and Brooklyn… what’s not to love