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Picking a new rabbi? A new novel about a church shows how
(JTA) — About a decade ago, I served on my synagogue’s rabbinic search committee. Normally I am allergic to any activity at which minutes will be taken, but it was a great experience, thanks to the care and intelligence that my fellow committee members brought to the process. Flush with satisfaction for a job well done and probably a little full of ourselves, we even imagined other synagogues might learn from our example. We spoke about putting together a seminar, or perhaps a how-to book.
No one, I recall, suggested turning the experience into a novel.
That’s why I’m not Michelle Huneven, who this year published a novel about a church’s search for a new minister. I’ve been recommending it to anyone who wants to understand shul politics, or wants reassurance that Jews are just like everybody else, no more and no less.
“Search” is narrated by Dana, a 50-something restaurant critic, former seminarian and once-active congregant at a Unitarian Universalist church in Arroyo, California, who is recruited to the search committee when the current pastor announces plans to retire. The book tracks the search process from in-house focus groups to Skype interviews with applicants to the finalists’ “candidating week” — what you and I might call “auditions.”
Despite an unlikely premise for a mainstream novel, ”Search” is a smart, funny and enlightening book about contemporary religion, especially of the liberal, undogmatic variety that is typical of Unitarian Universalism and, well, much of non-Orthodox Judaism. It’s a worthy companion to “The New Rabbi,” Stephen Fried’s 2002 nonfiction book about a Philadelphia-area synagogue and its own search.
Huneven captures the impossible nature of a clergy person’s job, and especially the unrealistic expectation of congregations that want their spiritual leader to be all things to all people. Trying to narrow down what they are looking for, members of the search committee call out qualifications:
“‘Sermons with more spiritual depth and intellectual content,’ said Charlotte.
“‘Someone with an efficient, organized management style,’ said Belinda.”
Wonders Dana: “Who didn’t want a warm presence with a progressive social conscience, the management skills of a corporate CEO, and the work-life boundaries of a New Age life coach?”
As the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly warns in its manual for search committees, searches founder “not because of a dearth of qualified candidates but because the congregation’s expectations of rabbinic candidates is unrealistic.”
Regular synagogue-goers will recognize the tensions in the novel between the older members and the newcomers, between boomers and millennials, between theists and humanists. At one point, the assistant minister remembers when a midweek service led by a student intern began attracting a core of people who weren’t showing up on Sundays.
“You can’t have two congregations, no matter how small one is,” she explains. “It sets up a potential schism.”
Clergy searches are fraught because nearly every congregant regards themself as the rabbi’s boss. On the flip side, members grow attached to longtime rabbis, even when they outlast their changing congregations. In “Search,” the senior minister has been with the church for eight years, but remains under the shadow of his beloved predecessor, who had served for 28 years. (I was married by the “new rabbi” at my wife’s family’s synagogue, who at that point had been on the job for about 20 years.)
“Search” isn’t a satire, exactly, but Huneven has fun with the political and social winds that are blowing through liberal denominations. Some of the congregants are set on hiring a woman after almost four decades of male leadership. “But we can’t say that explicitly,” Dana warns. Another character is angling to be the head of the national church association, “though it’s not such a clear shot for straight white guys these days,” says a church consultant.
Unitarian Universalist, or UU, churches are also staunchly secular, which means the clergy don’t have to express a belief in God, let alone Jesus or a strict theology. That brings with it the paradox of choice: “Our ministers can be gay, trans, Buddhist, atheist, any race, or same-sex adoptive parents with mixed-race families. You name it,” says a member of the committee. “That’s the future. Everybody’s in.”
I would guess that a lot of liberal synagogues would love to be as open and diverse as that, but bump up against the reality that, despite a growing number of Jews by choice and Jews of color, synagogues tend to be white, upper-middle-class and heteronormative. As for theology, rare is the synagogue that doesn’t want its rabbi to “have been inspired to serve God,” as the R.A. handbook puts it; on the other hand, search committees disagree about how much theology and “God talk” they want from the bima.
And yet, even the most secular UU church or most liberal synagogue pursues the sacred in the ways they gather, worship, mourn and serve the community. As the squabbles intensify in “Search,” one older member of the committee laments that they’ve lost sight of their goal: how the search for a new clergyperson is a “a sacred task that will grow us spiritually.”
During my time on the search committee, I saw the sausage-making of synagogue life. Compromise is always hard. Even the most thorough, transparent search process is bound to disappoint someone.
And “Search” the novel can be, at times, as tedious as a real-life rabbinic search, as characters deliberate over candidates at painstaking length. But Huneven understands that holiness is not just a matter of reading from a prayer book or studying from a text, but lives in the way people create communities and choose their leaders. It’s a messy process, but if you do it in good faith and in a spirit of humility, you might end up with a pretty great rabbi.
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The post Picking a new rabbi? A new novel about a church shows how appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Germany’s Merz Heads to Saudi, Gulf in Quest for New Partners
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks during a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 4, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz began a tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday aiming to forge energy and arms partnerships as Europe’s biggest and richest economy sought to reduce dependence on the US and China.
“We need such partnerships more than ever at a time when politics is increasingly being determined by major powers,” Merz said at the start of his three-day trip, adding the aim of such alliances was to preserve freedom, security, and prosperity.
“Our partners may not all share the same values and interests, but they share the view that we need a world order in which we trust agreements and treat each other with respect,” he added.
The tour, which follows visits to Brazil and South Africa last year and India last month, is part of a broader German initiative to diversify global alliances.
“In such a network of partnerships, we reduce unilateral dependencies, mitigate risks and create new opportunities together for our mutual benefit,” said Merz.
In the Gulf, Merz said he wanted deeper cooperation in the energy and armaments sectors, adding Berlin was adopting a less restrictive approach on arms exports. Germany’s economy minister prepared the ground last week.
QATAR ALREADY ONE OF GERMANY’S BIGGEST FOREIGN INVESTORS
Relations with Saudi Arabia deteriorated after the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Merz said while some improvements in human rights had taken place, there was more to be done and he would discuss this.
The Gulf states, with large sovereign wealth funds, already play a role in Germany’s economy. Qatar is one of the largest foreign investors in Germany, holding stakes in companies such as Volkswagen, utility RWE and shipping group Hapag-Lloyd.
Merz said he would address broader regional issues, calling for greater peace, stability, and cooperation, including normalization with Israel.
“One day, Israel should also be a welcome part of this order, not a rejected foreign body,” said Merz, addressing the balance Gulf states maintain on Israel and Palestinians.
On Iran, Merz said he had three demands: that Tehran stops violence against its own people, halts its military nuclear program, and ends destabilizing activities in the region.
Germany remains one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe, while Gulf states have navigated differing approaches to Iran, particularly since the Gaza war.
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The US and Europe Are Funding a Palestinian Authority Army in Gaza — That Doesn’t Exist
People attend the funeral of Palestinian critic Nizar Banat, who died after being arrested by Palestinians Authority’s security forces, in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
While donor countries continue sending hundreds of millions in aid for Palestinian Authority (PA) salaries, they might want to ask a simple question: What are we paying for?
In a staggering admission on official PA TV, a Palestinian economic expert revealed the existence of an entirely useless financial sinkhole:
Economic expert Muayyad Afaneh: “We have about 17,000 [PA] Security [Forces] employees in the Gaza Strip, and 20,000 civil employees. They are still receiving salaries from the PA, and there are many services in the Gaza Strip that the PA is spending money on.”
[Official PA TV, The Economic Discourse, Jan. 3, 2026]
Could you imagine that there are 17,000 PA Security Forces members in Gaza, where Hamas — not the PA — has ruled with an iron fist since 2007?
To be clear, these PA Security Forces have no authority and no involvement in Gazan policing. Hamas does not allow them to operate. They are a ghost payroll. Yet month after month, the PA sends them salaries funded by international aid.
This financial farce is made worse by the fact that Israel has already made it clear that these forces must not have any post-war role in Gaza. So, what exactly is the PA paying for?
Worse still, the economic expert on PA TV explained that PA employees in Gaza receive salaries equal to their counterparts in actual PA-controlled areas, despite doing nothing.
Currently the PA is paying twice to the Gaza Strip. The first time is the money being held [by Israel], and the second time, it is still obligated to pay the allocations to the Gaza Strip [it does] to the West Bank, meaning the same salary rate a [PA] employee in the West Bank receives, an employee in the Gaza Strip receives.
[Official PA TV, The Economic Discourse, Jan. 3, 2026]
This is a slap in the face to American and European taxpayers who genuinely believe they are contributing to peace, governance, and development.
The Palestinian Authority’s lack of respect for donor money is systemic. From glorifying terrorists with salaries and promotions to financing people not to work, the PA treats foreign aid like a bottomless ATM with no accountability.
It’s time donors ask: Why are you paying salaries to people who protect nothing and serve no one?
The author is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
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How October 7 Changed Jewish Identity Across the World
The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Oct. 12, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The impact of October 7 and its aftermath on Jews around the world will be felt for at least a generation to come.
There is a concern that since the hostages have been returned, and the war in Gaza is over, that the energy and commitment on the part of Jewish people will subside. This is not the case. People have been recalibrated in ways that have not yet been fully understood, and those changes apply to Jewish people from all different walks of life.
Long after the headlines fade and the news cycle moves on, the psychological, emotional, and communal reverberations will continue to shape how Jewish people understand themselves and one another.
The questions about how to maintain “Jewish peoplehood,” have also largely been answered. For decades, Jewish leaders and thinkers have pondered how to maintain a shared sense of peoplehood — especially in open societies where assimilation and secularism were not only possible but often encouraged. Many Jews, particularly outside of Orthodox communities, experienced Jewishness as cultural, incidental, or even optional. The events surrounding October 7, 2023, shattered that assumption. What has become clear is that Jewish identity, whether embraced or ignored, is not something that can simply be set aside.
While Orthodox Jews may have always felt a strong and explicit sense of belonging to the Jewish people, the shift among secular and loosely affiliated Jews has been particularly striking. Individuals who once felt no sense of “otherness” have been forced to confront the reality that others see them as such.
A brief anecdote illustrates this shift. Recently, a customer of mine, who is otherwise completely secular, remarked to me during a routine conversation, “You know, Dan, I really didn’t realize how much people hate Jews. I’m honestly shocked by it.”
What had changed was not his theology or observance, but his awareness. He had come to recognize that his identity connected him to a broader people — and that this connection carried meaning, consequences, and responsibility. He indicated that while in the past he felt no particular affiliation, he now understood himself as part of something larger. The feeling of this man is not an isolated feeling; it is one that is shared by countless people. Out of his pain a reawakening occurred that will ultimately serve to preserve his Jewish identity.
When looking at the glass half full, one can take comfort from the phrase “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Jewish people have been quite literally forced to reinforce their connections and identification with their Jewishness. This has made the Jewish people stronger. It may be hard to see since people are still in the midst of it, but from 10,000 feet away and over the arc of time, this will become clear.
This observation does not, in any way, minimize the profound pain, grief, and suffering endured by victims, families, and communities. None of that is diminished here. But alongside the trauma exists another truth: a reawakened sense of peoplehood is real. This, too, is part of the Jewish story in this moment — and it deserves to be told.
Daniel Rosen is the co-founder of a non-profit technology company called Emissary4all, which is an app to organize people to move the needle on social media and beyond. He is the co-host of the podcast “Recalibration.” You can reach him at dmr224@yahoo.com