From Torah To Television

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin is everybody's favorite scholar •
on ethics, humor and Jewish identity.
He sa s he never lanned that.

TODD LEOPOLD
Special to the Jewish News

Savannah

111

abbi Joseph Telushkin is trying to make a
point. Several, actually.
"How many people here can name all
of the Ten Commandments?" he asks an
audience at Agudath Achim. It's late Saturday after-
noon at the Conservative synagogue here, where
Telushkin, 51, is serving as scholar in residence for a
weekend. Over the course of Shabbat, he's already
given three lectures — one on Jewish humor, one on
the goals of being Jewish and one on antisemitism —
each a subject he has written about extensively and
continues to ponder.
This final talk, in a social hall prior to closing ser-
vices, is on Jewish literacy. About 75 people have
gathered at large round tables; sipping soft drinks and
coffee and eating cake.
About two-dozen hands from the audience go up
in response to his question.
"How many people can name at least five?" More
hands.
Telushkin looks bemused. Now, he says, we're
going to start naming them.
Hands go up and, one by one, each of the
Commandments is mentioned. After each one,
Telushkin pauses to give an explanation. His
demeanor is casual, with the air of a beloved profes-
sor, there are no histrionics, no fire-and-brimstone
motivational speeches. He cracks jokes. He puts a fin-
ger to his forehead as if trying to remember more.
He may have given this talk hundreds of times —
he probably has given this talk hundreds of times —
but it seems all new, as if he's trying to teach himself
as much as the audience, immersing himself in his
subject and his faith.
In the Jewish world, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin is a
celebrity, a star, a scholar whose talks and writings on
ethics, antisemitism, humor and Jewish identity have
made him a household name. His books — particu-
larly 1991's Jewish Literacy and 1996's Words that
Hurt, Words that Heal — are bestsellers. (His latest
work, The Book of Jewish Values, comes out this
month.) He packs everything from federation break-
fasts to college auditoriums. He's even crossed over to
Hollywood, penning scripts for episodes of The
Practice and Touched by an Angel. -
The stardom was unintentional, he insists.
To begin with, he didn't grow up thinking he
would be a rabbi. His grandfather, Nissen Telushkin,
was a rabbi — and a prominent one at that — and

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Rabbi Joseph
. Telusaih, despite .
. a rabbinic lineage,
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