I’ve had a busy weekend, and didn’t post anything due to a family emergency. It took up much of my spare time. I expect the situation to continue for the next two weeks, but will be able to continue with my online interactions, as there won’t be the extreme time constraints that occurred Friday through Sunday.

I did manage to walk through my gardens this morning, and take the above photograph of a blossom on one of my azalea bushes.
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I finished reading the book My Jesus Year: A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith, by Benyamin Cohen. I wanted to like this book, wanted to gain something from it, and wanted to find an inspirational aspect to it. I’m sad to say that I didn’t gain any inspiration from it, and the book isn’t for me.

The book is exactly as the title states, and is about Cohen’s year-long journey through Christianity, to find out what it was like to be a Christian. He was also hoping that his trek would bring him closer to Judaism. He was on the fringes of his own faith, and disillusioned with much of it. Some of his disillusionment was due to the fact that his Rabbi father had a synagogue built, as an extension of the family home. Cohen’s mother passed away during this event, and he blames the stress of financial loss, and the building of the synagogue on her death. Yet, some of his disillusion was due to the fact that he was a bit rebellious.

Growing up he did not like the Orthodox rules and restrictions. Before writing the book, he didn’t like them, either. After his year of wandering through church services, I didn’t get the idea he liked Judaism any better.

Cohen’s year of Christianity led him to varied religious sectors, from Protestant to Catholicism, Pentecostalism to the Mormon faith, seeking some dramatic epiphany that would bring him Jewish spiritual satisfaction. He was the only white person who was rocking and rolling in a gospel-based church, and he went to confession, saw his face lit up on an enormous TV screen while at a Christian service. All this, and more, detailed with overboard, comedic word imagery.

He writes with a lot of humor, and in my opinion, that is the primary fault that I found with the book. I like humor, that isn’t the point. There was too much humor, and it felt as if he didn’t quite grasp the spiritual intentions of each particular religion. Cohen’s humor colored any depth of religious understanding that he might have received from his year of Christianity. It blanketed over any illuminating insight he could have given the reader.

Comedy has its place, don’t get me wrong. But, when an author is supposedly on a year’s sabbatical from Judaism, and is trying to learn about varied Christian religions, and what it is like to be a Christian within each of the sectors he has visited, comedy shouldn’t be the primary force within the pages. Cohen wasn’t seeking to become a Christian, but was searching for insight.

I get the premise that he was looking for an understanding of Christianity, but also felt that he didn’t quite have the depth to realize what he was searching for. Cohen seemed to lack as much understanding of the various Christian faiths, as when he began his quest. He lacked the insight and comprehension necessary to fully understand the differences within each religious fold. Or, maybe, just maybe, he viewed all the Christian faiths as one, and couldn’t separate one from the other. Whatever the reason, he returned to Judaism, and in my opinion, wasn’t any more insightful than before he began. Was it really his “Jesus year” that brought him back to Judaism? If you read the book, you can be the judge.

I am Jewish, but am constantly trying to learn about the faiths of others, because through understanding we learn acceptance and tolerance. Christianity takes on many faiths and practices, other than the one common denominator and foundation of believing in Jesus as as savior. My Jesus Year, by Benyamin Cohen was disappointing for me. There was a lack of inspiring spirituality and religious belief within the pages. It was almost offensive how the author tried to explain and describe every experience through comedic play. If comedy was his game, he could have done stand up for the entire year.
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Monday April 27, 2009 – 3rd of Iyyar, 5769.