And the Flames Did Not Consume Us : A Rabbi's Journey Through Communal Crisis

Rating:
Summary: I Easily Consumed This Book!
Review: This book is an emotional true story about a junior rabbi who is torn between the love for his mentor, the senior rabbi in his synagogue, and the horror that his mentor inflicts, not just on his own family, but on an entire congregation. This junior rabbi is thrust into the flames that the horror ignites. And The Flames Did Not Consume Us is the story of the journey that a rabbi takes his congregation and himself on in order to regain spiritual peace in the sanctuary of their synagogue. It is a journey undertaken in the face of insensitive lawyers and the media. It is a journey that will usurp the young rabbi's life. This story is rivetting. It is a book that you just can't put down as you, too, are taken through the horrors. You, too, are taken through a journey to a most powerful message. At the end of this book you just can't help from saying, "WOW!"

Rating:
Summary: A Cautionary: How to Pick a Rabbi
Review: This memoir is, on its surface, an account of what happened to Congregation M'kor Shalom, a moderately affluent congregation in a moderately affluent New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia. (In fact, it is an interesting study of rabbinical temperament and style.) In November 1994, the synagogue was plunged into crisis by the murder of the wife of its founding rabbi, Fred Neulander. Eventually, Neulander, a charismatic (read: highly seductive) figure was driven from the congregation in disgrace when the murder investigation uncovered a pattern of sexual excesses; later he was charged with capital murder for arranging the "hit" on his wife. Throughout this mess, it fell on young Rabbi Gary Mazo simultaneously to deal with his disillusionment over the sins of his hero/mentor and serve as the "spiritual leader" of a shaken community. This book consists of a series of sermons delivered at critical moments in the unfolding of the story, interspersed with what appear to be personal journal accounts of the events. It is more a personal than analytical book: the working out in public of one young clergyman's private torment. It is also a cautionary sermon against charismatic spiritual leaders, who tend become romanced by their own charms and, thence, led to the borders of sociopathology. The contrast is between the colorful, bombastic, voluble, womanizing Neulander and the soft-spoken, modest, family-oriented Mazo, who sacrificed his personal needs to sustain people in need (all the while dreaming of a small congregation who'll leave him time to attend his kids' soccer matches). It is a warning to every Conservative and Reform synagogue about to hire a rabbi: Beware the charms of the smooth talker!

Rating:
Summary: Surviving the unimaginable
Review: When I was young if someone in the news did something terrible, inevitably my mother would say "Thank God he wasn't Jewish". It was always apparent that one should never do anything to embarrass the Jewish community. This is a book about someone who was not only Jewish but also a Rabbi who did something very terrible, he allegedly had his wife murdered. The book while telling the story in a very respectful way is really about how a Jewish community copes with the fact that one of their own has done the unimaginable. It is the story of a young Rabbi who is thrust into a leadership position he did not desire. This young Rabbi led the congregation of M'kor Shalom through this crisis. I know Rabbi Gary Mazo. I was the head of the search committee that brought him to our Synagogue to pursue his dream to become the spiritual leader of a small congregation on Cape Cod. From the very first it was obvious he was a Rabbi whose abilities were well beyond his years. A read of this book and you get an understanding why. My guess is that Rabbi Mazo probably had special gifts before the murder of Carol Neulander and the later accusations about her husband Rabbi Fred Neulander. Whatever skills he possessed could never have prepared him for this crisis. One cannot help but have compassion for the members of this Synagogue as they journeyed through their healing process. I have known Rabbi Mazo for several years and I have seen him struggle with his own feelings as he seeks closure on this terrible episode. This is a wonderful book for religious communities everywhere who must cope with unforeseen disasters. The book shows how with caring and loving leadership a community can emerge with a feeling of healing and perhaps become stronger. Oddly enough there was a power outage as I was finishing the last fifty pages and I was forced to finish this book by the flames of a candle. It might seem odd until you read this book.

Neil L. Ringler

Rating:
Summary: Surviving the unimaginable
Review: When I was young if someone in the news did something terrible, inevitably my mother would say "Thank God he wasn't Jewish". It was always apparent that one should never do anything to embarrass the Jewish community. This is a book about someone who was not only Jewish but also a Rabbi who did something very terrible, he allegedly had his wife murdered. The book while telling the story in a very respectful way is really about how a Jewish community copes with the fact that one of their own has done the unimaginable. It is the story of a young Rabbi who is thrust into a leadership position he did not desire. This young Rabbi led the congregation of M'kor Shalom through this crisis. I know Rabbi Gary Mazo. I was the head of the search committee that brought him to our Synagogue to pursue his dream to become the spiritual leader of a small congregation on Cape Cod. From the very first it was obvious he was a Rabbi whose abilities were well beyond his years. A read of this book and you get an understanding why. My guess is that Rabbi Mazo probably had special gifts before the murder of Carol Neulander and the later accusations about her husband Rabbi Fred Neulander. Whatever skills he possessed could never have prepared him for this crisis. One cannot help but have compassion for the members of this Synagogue as they journeyed through their healing process. I have known Rabbi Mazo for several years and I have seen him struggle with his own feelings as he seeks closure on this terrible episode. This is a wonderful book for religious communities everywhere who must cope with unforeseen disasters. The book shows how with caring and loving leadership a community can emerge with a feeling of healing and perhaps become stronger. Oddly enough there was a power outage as I was finishing the last fifty pages and I was forced to finish this book by the flames of a candle. It might seem odd until you read this book.

Neil L. Ringler