When Sholom, my dialysis ride-along buddy, entered the car during this morning's shared commute, he handed me a copy of the first volume in his series of books on "early Chassidic personalities." His works are mostly geared to an audience of Chassidic kids between the ages of 10-14, but he wanted me to check one of them out because he knows I write, so he wanted honest feedback on the writing, the structure, and the overall package. I began reading during the ride, and I have to say that he writes well for his intended audience without talking down to them due to their age, but his liberal deployment of Hebrew words was way beyond my layman's familiarity, so I occasionally asked him to clarify some pronunciations and context. I plan to read the whole thing, as I enjoy biographies, especially when it's introducing me to someone I know nothing about.
And his cover credit was the first time I became aware that Sholom is a rabbi. That said, he is a self-proclaimed rabbi, as he is not ordained. He says he did all of the studying and took the test to be a licensed slaughterer, but they asked him to take the test again because they claimed he never took it. He called bullshit on that, so he teaches, gives advice to the community (people approach him), leads prayer groups from the shul in his basement, and pretty much performs as a rabbi, and ordination be damned. Upon explaining that, he once again fell back on "If you understand," and to that I told him of Bruce Lee's maxim that when it comes to martial arts, a belt is only needed to hold up one's pants. If one has earned the skills and teaches from the heart with knowledge, then have at it. When I told him that, Sholom's eyes widened and a huge grin split his bearded face. "You DO understand!!!" he exclaimed, and he smiled all the rest of the way to the center.
