Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate

Last spring, after nearly a year of having no Adult Education at my synagogue, I decided that I'd take it upon myself to create a kind of Adult Education Light program. I mean, who am I to teach anything very, very serious. So far we've had a cooking class, we've watched and discussed a documentary, and in January we are going to have a book discussion. I'm hoping it will be the start of a Jewish-themed book club.

First order of business, after selecting the date to meet, was selecting the book to discuss. I asked a few of my friends for suggestions and go what you'd expect. Mostly books about the Holocaust. Those books are popular and abundant. (One year nearly all the books my community book club read were Holocaust books until someone said enough was enough. I don't know that we've read one in a long time.) But I wanted something different for this group of readers. I wanted something that might seem more relevant to us.

I started looking at lists of Jewish books, mostly from the Jewish Book Council. I read description after description of novels. I now have a short list of other books I might want to read on my own. The description of Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate by Letty Cottin Pogrebin made me think that this book might be the perfect book.

Feminist icon Letty Cottin Pogrebin's second novel follows Zach Levy, the left-leaning son of Holocaust survivors who promises his mother that he'll marry within the tribe. But when Zach falls for Cleo, an African American activist grappling with her own inherited trauma, he must reconcile the family he loves with the woman who might be his soul mate. A New York love story complicated by legacies and modern tension of Jewish American and African American history, SJM Seeking explores what happens when the heart runs into the reality of politics, history, and the weight of family promises.

What Jewish person living today can't relate to some of that? Not only that, this novel combines so many different topics into one neat and concise storyline. How important is it to marry someone Jewish? As I was reading Single White Male, I was able to imagine conversations with people who might attend this new Jewish book club. I wish we were meeting sooner than the middle of January. I'm so anxious for this discussion.

Lots of Zach's issues stem from being the child of Holocaust survivors. So those would ordinarily not be issues faced by young adults the ages of my children. But my children's father was the child of Holocaust survivors and exhibits many of the traits of a survivor. That just made for one more connection that other people my age might not have been able to make.

I loved the book. I'm excited to discuss it. I hope this kicks off our Jewish book club with a positive start. And I'd highly recommend this novel for any other Jewish book club.