Now that we got Obama, I mean Osama, Book Review

Three months ago some Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden.  When I think about the raid, I prefer to imagine a kid friendly version where actual seals enter the compound while barking for bait fish and balancing beach balls on their noses.  As the seals bombard Osama with beach balls his multiple wives form a human shield forming the largest animal v. human game of dodge ball the world has ever known.

I suppose it also could have been this guy.

As meaningful as the Osama take down was for its retributive benefit and as an operation to fight terrorism around the world, it holds a different significance for me.  It affirms a universal truth about men.  No, I am not discussing our penchant for human shields.  Rather, I refer to our undeniable exposure to pornography.  In case you didn't hear, Osama had porn.  The leader of jihadists throughout the world who was often referred to as pious was anything but.  Surprised?  I'm not.  The  skeptic in me has known for a long time that there are no truly pious men, just men biding their time until they have a some time alone with the Internet. Of course the issues involving global terrorism and jihad are way more serious and complex that every man's porn habit.

I recently finished a book which deals with some of those issues and more, The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, ("TFQ").  Let me say first that I'm not a fan of books about Jews.  I'm a Jew, (genetically at least) and I have read, mostly on my mother's suggestion, a shitload of novels that could best be described as Jew centered fiction.  There was the one about the inquisition, the biblical one; she just tried convincing me to read one about a Jewish civil war soldier.  I  picked up TFQ because I heard the end of an interview with Jacobson on NPR where his response to a question about winning the Man Booker Prize was, "it was about time."  So I read TFQ and was not disappointed.

The novel revolves around three friends (two Jewish and one who desperately wants to be Jewish) and touches upon the complexities of their relationships and their feelings about their own religion.  The book, though not lengthy, is not what you'd call a fast read.  What little action there is takes place early on and sets the stage for many chapters which can best be described as "discussion of earlier events".  The entire novel is set against a backdrop of ever increasing European anti-semitism and its relationship to sympathy for Palestinians under Israeli occupation.  One of the main characters has chosen to be an "ashamed  Jew" speaking out against the occupation while the other Jewish character is less political and deeply mourning his wife.  The main character, a gentile, longs to be a Jew; something which he perceives to be special with an intellectual flair which he cannot grasp.  There are other minor characters all which play somehow into the themes of being  Jewish in a Christian world.  The book is funny at times, incredibly well written and rewarding.  It may have Jews but my mother will probably hate it because it's not pulpy trash.

There is one overarching reminder throughout the book.  This is a Christian world (at least Europe and America).  My son is about to start public school after going to a temple school for pre-kindergarten.  We didn't want to send him there but we quickly realized that the non-denominational schools were by default, Christian schools.  Now we are faced with the same problem, public school is Christian.  Christmas is in the curriculum.  We are not religious people, really we are atheists.  But if there is  no true non-denominational option, we'd rather him have a Jewish education than a Christian one.  Today we were at local public high school for my son's basketball trophy ceremony.  The High School rents its cafeteria to a church on the weekends and there were church flyers everywhere.  I wasn't offended but should I be, it's a public school.  We're going to see how it goes with public school, but the second my kid tells me Jesus died for my sins I'm going to start saving up to get him back in the Jewish day school.

Anyone who thinks there is a war on Christianity should feel secure that the war is over and the Christians won.