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P INSKER /THE CONTEMPORARY JEWISH-AMERICAN NOVEL
13
gruity, a staple o f Jewish-American fiction. What
God’s Ear
ex
plores by jux taposing talmudic worship with the American West,
Master o f the Return
achieves by pou ring old obsessions into new,
technological bottles. Here, for example, is how Reich handles
the Bratzlavers’ fascination with Gematria:
Can you imagine [Reb Lev Lurie exclaims] what a blessing
a computer would be at Uman House? All the Gematria work
that I now do by hand, referencing and cross-referencing the
numerical values of the letters and words in the Torah, could
be programmed into the computer . . . Did you know, Roman,
that the numerical value of the word ‘computer,’
mehashev (sic),
is three hundred and fifty, which is only eight less than the nu
merical value of the word
mashiah,
‘messiah’? Is it too presump
tuous to suggest that the
mehashev (sic)
of Uman House will lead,
say, in eight years’ time, to the coming of the
mashiah
? (Reich,
61-2)
But Israel, being Israel, there are problems: import duties,
taxes, the differences in electrical cu rren t, warranties, repairs,
spare parts — in short, a wide array o f potential
tsoris.
To all
these, Rab Lev brings an indefatigable spirit and a comic in
genuity tha t is typical o f Reich’s Dead Hasidim: Reb Lev Lurie
(his last name suggesting Lurianic kabbalism) is Uman House’s
ostensible leader, bu t that does not mean his opinions — es
pecially about the precise meaning o f Nahman’s words — are
beyond question. Indeed , Abba Nissim (who holds to more fun
damental, purist interpretations) can be counted on to argue
vigorously with Reb Lev and his liberal tendencies. But when
Reb Lev “deviated publicly on the issue o f the importance o f
making the pilgrimage to Um an” (Reich, 114), the issue between
them is jo ined with a hasidic vengeance.
GOING TO UMAN
T h e issue at stake is simultaneously serious and comic —
namely, whether certain prayers recited at N ahm an’s grave can
prevent nocturnal emissions in young boys. Rev Lev holds that
the prayers can be said anywhere; Nissim insists that they are
most effective at Nahm an ’s grave. I quote a section o f the re
sulting debate to give a sense o f how Reich transmogrifies re