THE RABBI

The Rabbi

He always got a laugh. A natural comedian and a gifted storyteller who, like a magician, could cast a spell on his audience. Drawn in by his charm and quick wit, he owned the stage he walked out on. It was his for as long as he chose to remain, and while other acts would come and go, he was the one who stayed on long after the lights went out. A master of ceremonies and an award winning performance … but no one saw the whip he unleashed. 

From an early age, he was always the class clown and the one who made as much fun of himself as he did of others. Born in New York City in 1906 to Russian Jewish immigrants, he was given the birth name of Calev Ze’ev Iscariot. That was the first joke on him, and the second was a nickname given to him many years later, when they began calling him ‘The Rabbi’ because he was always making fun of the Jewish religion. The black sheep of the family, he ran away from home at the age of 15, lied about his age and began working in vaudeville as a stage hand. A new identity, and a new name, were created. 

Willing to work long hours for little pay, The Rabbi was a quick study playing any part they gave him. Always dreaming of the day when he would make it big and everyone back home would hear about his success, he kept looking for the niche that would separate him from all the other want-to-be’s. It wasn’t until he tried stand-up comedy that he knew he had arrived. This was it. This was what he was meant to do. Now he had them. 

And so it began …. another legend was born. Witty and entertaining one-liners mixed with stories from his childhood and the neighborhood he grew up in. The audience always laughed when he described himself as a nerdy but nice Jewish boy born with curly hair, glasses and a large hook nose. Then they laughed even harder when he described his mother as one who never wanted to burden anyone else but was a nit-picking nag who was always interfering in his life or scheming to marry off his sister, the Jewish princess, to the banker’s son next door. One by one, the laughs just kept coming, as they all got labeled … from the grandmother right down to the paper boy. Guilt-ridden and anxious, yet greedy and dishonest. Shifty misers who counted their coins and collected their diamonds. Overprotective and overbearing, loud and obnoxious, clever and cunning. A cast of characters who all played their part in The Rabbi’s tale of the Jewish American. 

When it was over and The Rabbi took a bow, the crowd stood up as they applauded. No one could remember the last time they had laughed so hard.   Priceless but memorable stories that seeped into one’s blood, told by a Jew about his own family and his own people. A genocide from words.

Copyright © 2015 (Michelle Parsons, Getting Back on Your Path). All Rights Reserved.

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