The Rabbi Who Prayed with Fire

Rabbi Vivian Mystery #1

by Rachel Sharona Lewis

Congregation Beth Abraham expected their newest rabbi to "sing some songs and go to an environmental rally." But Vivian Green has other ideas. She wants her flock to engage meaningfully with their city-special mayoral elections, interfaith breakfasts, fights for affordable housing and all. Also, she would like just one night off to go dancing in the leather boots that make her look like her finest gay self. Taking on the city's old boys' club is already proving difficult...but then Beth Abraham bursts into flames. Fingers get pointed, and everyone's biases rise to the surface. It turns out that wasn't the only fire burning in town. Vivian sticks to her instincts, raising tensions with her boss, her community, and a certain hottie in a power suit. And she learns that knowing whodunnit is only half the battle.

Genres: Jewish, Mystery, Judaism, Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Contemporary

276 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2021

Reviews

[Dale Rosenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This homage to Harry Kemelman's 1960s mystery novel series about Rabbi David Small is a fun tribute to those books. It is also very enjoyable in its own right. The Kemelman books (Friday the Rabbi Slept Late and following) have a murder mystery structure. In each one the rabbi in this small New England town helps his friend the police chief solve a murder. And, in the tradition of amateur sleuth mystery series, no one seems to be bothered by or even notice the high murder rate for a little town like this. What makes it different from others, though, is that Kemelman interjects opinions on American Jewry of the time through his main character's musings and through the discussions he has with the police chief. The mysteries themselves were never all that interesting, but the rabbi and his family and friends and congregation were.

Lewis very consciously copies Kemelman's style and even the book cover art looks like those old rabbi books. However, this author's rabbi is very much a person of our times. Kemelman's David Small lived at a time when none of the American rabbinical seminaries would accept women. By contrast, Lewis's main character is Rabbi Vivian. She's a young lesbian who is the associate rabbi in a congregation that decided that the way to attract younger families is by hiring a young, female rabbi. Through Rabbi Vivian, we get a contemporary view of American Jewry as well as other issues, like racial injustice and the power of big donors in congregational communities.

Again, the mystery itself is not so good, but it's also not really the point. This is a fun read with some interesting commentary on American Jews during the early 21st century.

[Maggie Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I confess that I'm a fan of Harry Kemelman's murder mystery series starring Rabbi David Small, so I was eager to read this modern homage to him. The Rabbi Who Prayed with Fire won't win a Nobel Prize in literature but it's a quick, likable read with an undercurrent of feminism and social commentary. I especially liked how the three women clergy let their hair down when they met for drinks and conversation. My husband and/or I have been on synagogue boards and committees for most of our adult lives and most are even more boring and unproductive than those displayed here. But the romance was sweet with no surprises in the classic "girl meets girl, girl gets girl, girl loses girl, girl gets girl" plot. No surprise also as to who was the real arsonist and who was the fall guy. My main complaint was that it took half the book before the crime happens, although we did get a tease about the fire in the short prologue. However, I appreciated the pun in the title, as our protagonist certainly plays with fire in her dealings with the synagogue board.

[Simona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expanding on Kemelman's 1960s mystery series, Lewis offers a new mystery and a more relevant portrayal of rabbinic leadership in Rabbi Vivian, a queer woman who prioritizes racial justice and community safety as she navigates congregational and city politics.

The mystery itself is less of a classic whodunnit but serves more as an indictment of the Jewish fear response to intergenerational trauma and everpresent antisemitism. While I found myself wanting deeper character development, this novel's strength lies in its powerful theme of building community power and solidarity across race and class to fight against police violence and racial capitalism, envisioning a world with affordable housing and safety for all.

Kol hakavod, Rachie! I am so proud to be in community with you!

[BM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wowww, this was really spot on with its depictions of an outwardly liberal yet milquetoast synagogue. I appreciate the conceit and what this book tries to do (and succeeds to an extent) and hope the author will write another.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was predisposed to like this book, both because I know the author from local Jewish circles and because it is so rare to find a book that's about Jews who aren't Hasidim or Orthodox (and therefore exotic to the reading public). It makes me very happy that there's a mystery about synagogue life where the characters are Jews like me: active involved in community, spirtuality, society, and politics.

There are no murders in this book, baruch hashem. The mystery is about arson, real estate development, and racial justice in the city. I enjoyed every bit of it, and for a first-time novelist, Lewis can keep her story moving. The spicy love story doesn't hurt!

Congratulations to Rachel Sharona Lewis, and I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great conceit...picking up on a detective series from the 1960s with a rabbi as the investigator, but this time having a young, queer, rabbi from Providence as the hero. Definitely had the familiar characteristics of the genre...sidekicks, red herrings, late night threats, etc. Appreciated the setting of Providence and the internal politics of congregational leadership. Would absolutely read another volume in this series.

[Alona · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow !! I feel like this book is about me, or rather, what I aspire to be — a mystery novel about organizing a synagogue in solidarity with communities of color, dismantling wealth as power, & featuring a queer female rabbi? yes please. will be talking about this book for years to come.

[Margaret Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on the Kellerman mysteries of the 1960s, this new mystery featured a "modern" woman rabbi. Set in Providence, this young Rabbi Vivian has been hired to bring new vibrancy to an older congregation. One Friday night the synagogue has a fire. This book covers many current topics. The role of social justice in a congregation. The role of women clergy, regardless of denomination. LGBTQ+, Rising anti-semitism. Politics. Racism. Defund the police. I love reading mysteries, for escapism. As a woman rabbi it wasn't clear whether this was work or pleasure. Ultimately it was pleasurable but a little like reading about my own life. Read it. Can't wait to see if there is another one to become a series.

[LANE · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the dialogue felt a bit unrealistic, I really appreciated leaning in to a world where a queer female rabbi can play such a massive role in propelling institutional change! Doesn’t feel so far off, doesn’t feel incredible close, but this helps.

[Aliza Cotton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was like… kinda bad… but points were made. Could have used with some more showing not telling mainly

[Leah Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might have been the first time I read a story about a rabbi and didn’t once think, “A rabbi would never do that.” Lewis knows the ins and outs of Jewish communal life and it shows! A delightful cozy mystery with a healthy dose of queer romance. And I loved the friendships Lewis’s portrayed between clergy of different faiths.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Harry Kemelman's Rabbi Small mysteries -- all the fun of small town mysteries with the added interest of Jewish learning -- so I was predisposed to like this updated tribute. Unfortunately, the writing was pedestrian, so the fiction was kind of a slog. However, the Jewish ideas were interesting and important. So, while I wouldn't recommend this book as a mystery, it does portray well the real wrestling with tradition and values and separation and community that are part of the 21st-century American Jewish world.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I made this gift from Laura and Becca last as long as I could but I was enjoying it too much to not finish it tonight! Rabbi Vivian was hired to bring in younger people to Beth Abraham and help with their social justice involvement but then a fire during a service pushes open the fragility of the congregation. Can Rabbi Vivian help the older leadership of the congregation to see what is actually happening? What part will the three-way mayoral race and developers in their New England city play, in the midst of Black Lives Matter, police bruality, and desparate needs for affordable housing? Can Vivian rely on her two women clergy friends (Unitarian and Episcopal) to have her back? And will there be romance with a certain campaign manager, Karla? Anyone who has been recently involved with a faith congregation that seeks to be viable and vibrant will recognize the endless committee meetings and challenges and want to root for Rabbi Vivian and her friends. No guns, lots of activism, and one of the most inspiring sermons I've read lately. Well done!

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn. I think this book makes some really good points, particularly when it talks about how Jewish communities turning to the police in the face of actual or threatened antisemitic violence can actually make things less safe for certain community members, especially Jews of color. However, I really didn't like that 1) the fear that the synagogue fire was intentionally set by someone with antisemitic motives was treated by the narrative/protagonist largely as an overreaction, or 2) that the actual culprit was Jewish, motivated primarily by money, and had wealth strongly linked to government corruption. That comes very close to a whole bingo card full of antisemitic tropes. I could overlook the ones centered on just the culprit to a certain extent given that he's far from the only Jewish presence in the book, but pretty much any time I see Jews calling out very real antisemitism, they're accused of making it up. I don't think we need to give that belief any weight.

CW: antisemitism, off-page police brutality, racism, arson/synagogue fire

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

What possible connections could there be between a synagogue and a frozen yogurt shop? They both serve as buildings that offer meaningful lessons, or at least they do in two recent novels: “The Rabbi Who Prayed with Fire: A Rabbi Vivian Mystery” by Rachel Sharona Lewis (Ladiesladies Press) and “Milk Fed” by Melissa Broder (Scribner). I’m not certain how the two main characters of these works would interact: Rabbi Vivian might be less than impressed with Broder’s heroine Rachel’s obsession with calories, while Rachel might scoff at Vivian’s social organizing. Fortunately for readers, we can enjoy both heroines without worrying whether they would clash.
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/past...

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the idea of this book more than the implementation. The depiction of the out-of-touch synagogue board and rabbi who want more young congregants but who don't want to do anything differently felt on-target. The characters felt more like they existed to fill roles rather than real people. And despite multiple references to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, it didn't feel like the book took antisemitism seriously. It was portrayed as the concern of insular white men who won't build connections with the broader community, and at moments the concern about antisemitism was even positioned as being in opposition to supporting black lives matter (especially in Alex Santiago's response at the mayoral forum), which it does not need to be.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good Shabbat read by a friend of a friend. (Or really, a friend of several friends! People who work as organizers in the Jewish community know a lot of people!) It's a mystery novel based on the Harry Kemelman rabbi mysteries. This time, the rabbi is a lesbian. It felt like Lewis got a lot of things just right, including the reaction of a Jewish congregation to dropping a Torah scroll. A lot of things here went really well. The actual mystery was not that mysterious. I think it's hard to construct a novel where there are clues but the clues are difficult to solve. I did not mind--I enjoyed the book overall and would recommend it.

[Faith Reidenbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doesn't have substantial queer content (even though the main character is a likeable "gay" woman). But the novel was interesting to me as a community organizer because the author captures the nuances of local politics and organizational dynamics so well, and with a light touch. She's also to be congratulated on including a prominent subthread about police brutality toward Black people and contrasting it with the white privilege of Jews—without setting up a false hierarchy of oppression.

I don't normally read mysteries so maybe I'm not the one to say, but there was never any mystery to me about whodunnit.

[Cecelia Beyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the greatest mystery, but the younger woman as the junior rabbi with an older male rabbi of a certain generation and all of the insider baseball of congregational life was spot on and a little too close to home, lol. I enjoyed that aspect of it, and the absolute truth of the struggle to bring Jewish communal life out of its own backyard into the bigger community is a struggle worthy of highlighting.
I enjoyed it, and enjoyed seeing a female rabbi character with whom I could identify, struggling the struggles I also face.

[Gwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming successor (of sorts) to the Rabbi Small series*: same location (Providence), only with a queer female protagonist. Will Rabbi Vivian find love? Will the developers in town collaborate and scheme to manage another political election? Will the senior rabbi ever be called Rabbi Joseph, and our protagonist Rabbi Green?
It's reassuring that clergy can find friends among other clergy (support networks matter!). It's distressing that politics (both governmental and within organizations) can be so corrosive.

*nearby in our synagogue library

[Aaron]

This book is well-written (for the genre) and interesting, but it had a few characteristics that kind of turned me off. It was societally preachy in a way I wasn't enjoying, and the charicatures (which weren't terrible) also weren't doing it for me. Maybe I'd be in the mood for it another time, especially since there's a lot about the setting (a young woman rabbi, queerness, people with interesting gaps across social & generational groups) that does appeal to me.

[Jaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable and quick read! It feels realistic in the problems its grappling with, and Rabbi Vivian has very human flaws along with her good moral instincts. I'd have loved to see deeper nuanced development of the characters, (there were many, and they were sometimes difficult to keep track of), but hopefully there'll be more room for some of that fleshing out in future books!

[Sarah]

A very disappointing DNF at 13%. I didn't click with the multiple-POV formatting and I also found the overall atmosphere to be one of a very specific strain of Jewish American culture that I don't really connect with. I liked Vivian and I was intrigued by the prologue but not enough to read through the POVs of Old White Men.

[Sharon Bromberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounding up to 3. Maybe I'm harsher because I went in with great expectations.
I enjoyed the Kemelman Rabbi books and was looking forward to an update. The talmudic reasoning really wasn't present here, nor were there any big surprises in the plot development/solution to the mystery.
I did enjoy the sermons, though.

[Brenden O'Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great cozy mystery! And so queer. This book helped me think through the relationship between intra- and inter-group politics against the backdrop of a digestible setting. More lesbian rabbis please!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great. It's a nice, easy read and multi-layered and smart at the same time. I hope the author comes out with many more Rabbi Vivian mysteries, and I hope to one day be inspired by a Rabbi as enlightened as her.

[Zach Strassburger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a modern update to the Rabbi Small mysteries my parents used to read. I really enjoyed it. Took me forever to actually sit down and start reading it, but what isn’t to love about a dorky queer Jewish rabbi solving mysteries, trying to act against racism, and finding love? It is great.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found out about this book because it was written by the wife of a friend, and bought it because the topic looked intriguing and unique. It did not disappoint! A very fun and thought-provoking read.

[Rivkyk · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to put this one down.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

delightful