Rabbi Small

David Small is the new rabbi in the small Massachusetts town of Barnard’s Crossing. Although he’d rather spend his days engaged in Torah study and theological debate, the daily chores of synagogue life are all-consuming—that is, until the day a nanny’s body is found on the rain-soaked asphalt of the temple’s parking lot.

The day before Yom Kippur, the synagogue sound system is on the blink, the floral arrangements are in disarray, and a member of Rabbi David Small’s congregation—in the Massachusetts town of Barnard’s Crossing—is terribly concerned with how much a Torah weighs. The rabbi is determined not to let these mundane concerns ruin his day of prayer and contemplation. But the holiest day of the Jewish year is interrupted when a member of the congregation is found dead in his car.

As Rabbi David Small’s 5-year contract winds down at the synagogue in Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, some members of the congregation are plotting to remove him; others are whispering about starting a new temple of their own across the street.

David Small has spent 6 years as the rabbi of Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, and every year his job has been in crisis. In desperate need of time away, he embarks on a 3-month trip to Israel. He expects a relaxing, soul-nourishing stay, but wherever Rabbi Small goes, murder follows.

When a member of his congregation expresses that she does not want him to officiate her wedding, Rabbi Small has had enough. He seeks escape by dabbling in academia with a part-time teaching gig at a local college. But his fantasy of a tranquil life in an ivory tower is about to come tumbling down.

New Age thinking has come to Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts. The recently elected president of Rabbi David Small’s synagogue is intent on using temple money to build a meditation retreat. The congregation is practicing yoga, buying crystals, and reciting chants. When a troubled young man returns to the town after spending time in a controversial Hasidic cult, the rabbi expects him to be another New Ager. But things take a grisly turn away from new-fangled mantras of peace and love when something terribly old fashioned happens: murder.

Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, is thriving. Every year, more young couples move to this cozy New England village to raise their families, and many of them join Rabbi David Small’s synagogue. But the town is jolted out of domestic tranquility when Ellsworth Jordon, the town selectman, is murdered. An outspoken anti-Semite, and one of the town’s richest and most powerful men, it seems like everyone had a reason to dislike Jordan. When he’s murdered, not even the rabbi is surprised.

Since becoming the rabbi at the synagogue in Barnard’s Crossing, Massachusetts, David Small has seen his congregation through a fair share of unholy bickering and corruption. So when millionaire Howard Magnuson is elected president of the synagogue, the rabbi isn’t surprised that Magnuson wants to bring corporate efficiency to the temple—at the expense of religious tradition. Conflict flares when Rabbi Small refuses, on the basis of temple rules, to officiate the interfaith wedding of Magnuson’s daughter to a non-Jewish Boston politician, and the new president calls for the rabbi’s dismissal.

Retired millionaire Barney Berkowitz, from the small Massachusetts town of Barnard’s Crossing, invites Rabbi David Small to come to Israel and bar mitzvah him, as Berkowitz never went through the ceremony in his youth. On what should be a joyous occasion—and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Holy Land—the rabbi discovers danger lurking in every corner and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the state of Israel.

For nearly 25 years, Rabbi Small has maintained an uneasy relationship with his congregation. He sees his role as that of a teacher, while they often look to him as more of a spiritual leader. Now, just as his congregation is set to reward him for his long service, the rabbi has decided to explore new options with his life. To make things more complicated, the recent murder of a college professor has the Barnard’s Crossing police baffled. Can the rabbi’s quiet introspection offer insights the police may have overlooked?

In Conversations with Rabbi Small, the rabbi finds himself taking a well-deserved vacation at a Jewish retreat in the mountains, where he reads, plays cards, and furthers his studies, which have been languishing for too long. When the rabbi’s wife is called back to the city to deal with an illness in the family, the rabbi meets a curious young woman in the midst of a life-changing moment.