Jonathan Rosen, the former editor of The Forward Arts and Letters section, currently is the editorial director of Nextbook, which publishes original works by established authors on Jewish subjects. His first novel, Eve’s Apple, was published in 1999 and was followed in 2000 by the non-fiction work The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey Between Worlds. In 2004 Rosen won both the Edward Lewis Wallant award and the Chaim Potok Award for his latest work, Joy Comes in the Morning. Like Potok, Rosen writes about people who struggle with their Judaism in relation to the outside world.
About the Novel
Joy Comes in the Morning, a novel set on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is the story of the courtship and love affair of Deborah Green, a Reform rabbi, and Lev Friedman, the son of Henry Friedman, a patient who Rabbi Green was counseling. This is very much a story about faith, both spiritual and human. Like so many of us, these characters are on a journey of self-discovery as they attempt to work through their crises of faith.
Questions to Discuss
Henry Friedman, Lev’s father, takes the title of his memoir, Joy Comes in the Morning, from Psalm 30. Why did he choose this title? Why do you think Rosen chose this title for his novel?
In Joy Comes in the Morning, we learn much about the life and responsibilities of the Jewish clergy, mostly but not exclusively through Deborah’s daily activities. How do they mesh with your understanding of what a rabbi or cantor does each day? How might they affect your future interactions with your own clergy?
During Lev’s “Shehecheyanu moments” he sees a new bird for the first time that season; later he discovers that his father is still alive. In both instances Lev responds by reading the appropriate blessing. Have you experienced any similar moments recently? Did you recite the appropriate blessing? How did it make you feel?
What can we learn about aging from portrayals of the elderly, such as Lev’s parents and those whom Deborah visits in the hospital?
The novel begins with thoughts of death and ends with a wedding. Life-cycle events occur as the narrative develops, as they do in life. How have life-cycle events affected your life? Which have been most significant?
In the January 29, 2005 edition of Torat Chayim, the Union commentary on the weekly Torah portion, Rabbi Peter Knobel interprets Parashat Yitro. He reflects on Exodus 19:18-19, in which Moses initiates an encounter with God and God responds. Knobel asks the question, “So, if we reach out to God, will God indeed reach out for us? This is the essence of the ongoing struggle between faith and doubt, between feeling God's presence and experiencing God's absence.” How do these reflections inform your understanding of what happens when Deborah begins to question her faith?
Lev’s childhood friend Neal commits suicide after a long struggle with mental illness. Several other characters experience tests of faith, with different outcomes. How do they resolve their spiritual crises? Have any events or experiences tested your faith? What has enabled you to work through these tests?
Ritual and prayer play significant roles in this work. How important are they in your life? Can even nonbelievers be engaged in ritual and prayer? Have any religious observances become more compelling to you since reading this novel?
As Lev begins to confront his questions about faith, Deborah tells him, “Jewish tradition, for me, creates a kind of counter-routine that doesn’t dissolve in a crisis…there’s something to hold onto that lots of other people have held onto.” (p. 134) What does Jewish tradition give to you?
Joan Carr, a former congregational educator, is regional educator for the Northeast Council of the Union for Reform Judaism and a member of the board of the National Association of Temple Educators (NATE).
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