* * * * * * * * * * * * * *** * * * * vakt . ;,,VMnftWP.MTIMIMM:Mt;`,),-,:,Z,V:Z4W141M, STAR DELI she runs away for a bit, and Lev ends up leading a funeral serv- ice, impersonating a rabbi. Joy In the Morning is told from the point of view of an all- knowing narrator, who sees into souls of all, revealing their inner lives. It has much in common with the 19th-century novels that Rosen favors, books about families with strong characters where things happen, and where people ask big questions. As an influence, he cites George Eliot's novel Adam Bede, featuring a female preacher who has a powerful presence. He says that writing a book with religious themes is "almost like writing about sex at the dawn of the mod- ern period, what had only been written about by indirection." Before his stroke, Henry Friedman is careful and refined, the kind of man who wouldn't venture out- side without a tie. After, he suffers many indignities. Other characters include Lev's childhood friend Neal, whose mental illness overtakes him, and Reuben, Deborah's former Orthodox boyfriend. When she runs into him again and admits that she can't pray and is feel- ing estranged from God, he responds, "Jews aren't expected to feel God's presence. That's why there's the Torah." Rosen's characters are compelling and knowable. He says that he creates characters and then tries to simply remain in their presence — they are beings that cease to be like him or like anyone else, yet are mysteriously fueled by his own experience and knowledge. "I wanted my characters to have a soul in that real sense," he says. The author of the novel Eve's Apple and the nonfiction The Talmud and the Internet, Rosen speaks thoughtfully and eloquently, with care, favoring long answers that give him a chance to wrestle with ideas before deciding what to reveal; he is, as he admits, a wandering Jew in conversation. The author is, in fact, married to a Conservative rabbi, although he insists that his wife is not the rabbi in his novel. "But I'd be lying if I told you that being married to a rabbi hasn't Style Magazine's Oakland County Favorite "BEST CORNED BEEF" r EVERYBODY \KNOWS STAR HAS THE PEST HOMEMAD TUNA IN TOWN! comes in the ) T 0 RN 1 N A STAR'S HOMEMADE \ FAT-FREE TUNA ALSO CAN'T BE BEAT! NOW I 0 N fi A N ROSEN '41 coirium - $6.95 STAR'S TRAYS CAN'T BE BEAT FOR QUALITY & PRICE! S WE HAVE THE BEST . * RY OUR ;STAitaliSTR EPIZ R HOMEMADE OAR ANYWHER T A' E POTATO SALAD E F. + STAF„ 1 WE CUT OUR CARRY-OUT LO STAR * STAR BY HAND! STAR * STAR STAR *STAR COMPARE OUR LOW PRICES WITH ANY DELICATESSEN IN TOWN! 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He adds, "Caring about what hap- pens to imaginary people reminds you at some level how much you should care about the actual people around you. Although he has written a novel about faith and holiness, Rosen, who is editorial director of Nextbook (www.nextbook.org — an online gate- way to Jewish literature, culture and ideas), admits that those are difficult subjects to speak briefly about. "The answers to those questions are a con- versation." About tradition in his own life, he says, "I'm constantly negotiating — it's a dance with the tradition." He adds, "To me, it's the dialogue that matters. The argument itself is a kind of prayer. To be in dialogue with these questions is a form of worship." 3) NUM 6123 Haggerty Road Between Maple & Pontiac Tr. 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